Unabated Sports

No, not that cancelled TV show starring the hot Italian. This is News Guy Woody coming to you from Fifth Third Arena for another round of Bearcat Basketball. Tonight, Providence is in the house. The Friars are 11-11 and 4-7 in the conference. With that in mind, this game is only big if UC loses. One of the guys from Bracketology 101 who was on our show last night said this is a "must-win" if Andy Kennedy's squad wants to get to the NCAA Tournament for a 15th straight year. Speaking of the coach, a student has been holding up a sign that simply says "HIRE ANDY." A sentiment echoed by most people in here, I'm sure. Well, as long as they win tonight.

And a valuable lesson learned by tonight's Star Spangled Banner singer: if you're asked to sing the national anthem, don't hold your last note too long. She almost got trampled by players from both sides coming across the court to shake hands.

The Cats looked sharp coming out 5-0 but really started to look sloppy with lazy passes and some poor rebounding. A media time-out couldn't come soon enough as the early comfortable lead was restored. But Jihad Muhammed, who had been averaging 18.4 points over his last five games, has reverted to his old form and Eric Hicks has been looking frustrated on the offensive side without a lot of good looks. He's begging for the ball and not getting it too much early on. The agitation seems to carry over to the defensive side. AK seems to have sensed it or maybe I'm reading too much into an early substitution.

The lead ballooned for a bit until some unpopular foul calls took away offensive chances and some lapses in defense made it a one possession game with 7 1/2 minutes to go. A media timeout seemed to spark UC again as Jihad drained two free throws and inspired defense set up a fast break opportunity. But when that was foiled, the Cats fell flat again. The Friars are still very much in this game.

A very strange thing happens, or doesn't, here on the home court. Following controversial charging calls, the giant jumbo screens flash a generic graphic instead of a replay. They don't seem to show replays after any foul call.

Connnor Barwin may be on the cover of tonight's media guide, but it took him over 15 minutes to get any playing time. But he won them an extra possession with a nice jump ball and the crowd seemed disappointed he didn't take an open looong distance shot. Fortunately, he got the ball off to Devan Downey who made a 3-pointer. Still, UC could not keep Providence down as the lead at half was just a single point.

One of the promotions that took place during the timeout is the standard "make a foul shot, three-pointer, and half-court throw to win a prize." If you can pull it off, you win rent for a year. Even if you only hit one or two shots, you win something. The poor kid tonight couldn't even hit a free throw. So much for that flat screen TV, Choke Boy.

After the acid trip that was the Dance Team's Wizard of Oz recreation which resulted with Scott Springer getting a flower from a cowardly lion... I'm gonna stop the sentence there because anything that follows it would just pale in comparison.

We all know halftme is a chance for players and coaches to make adjustments. And it looks Andy Kennedy, his staff, and players did as they came out sharp. But who knew fans also made adjustments? One of the students made a sign that featured a pair of glasses. Above them: "MISSING: If found, please return to the referees."

Strange View Of The Night: 5'10 Devan Downey stuffing 5'10 Sharaud Curry. It's just weird seeing the little guys under the basket playing big man ball.

As good as the half started, UC would let the comfortable lead once again slip through their fingers. It just seems like the attention to detail seems to fade away the longer the players are on the court. Out of timeouts, they've been fine. After a while, the Friars get back in the game. And, after a while, even tht TOs didn't seem to get Cincinnati back on track.

Despite UC trailing by 7 with less than 10 to go, that fan is still holding up his "HIRE ANDY" sign. In fact, he's also sporting an "A.K. is A.O.K." shirt. Strong support even in the face of a dissappointing performance by a team that really can't afford to lose this game.

The crowd finally reaches rockin' status with 7:30 to go. It seems like the players weren't the ony ones sluggish. I mean, the 12,000 or so fans have been cheering but nothing that loud. It got so contagious I absent-mindedly started clapping follwing a DD fast break that brought the team to within one. (Not supposed to cheer on press row.) The karma gods punished me by having him miss the ensuing free throw. Sorry, Devan. UC recovered with some impressive ball movement that led to a fantastic dunk by Hicks that raised the roof of the Shoemaker Center. The Cats resume the lead but give it back up again with a little over 3 minutes to go. Compared to how loud it was a couple minutes ago, it got real quiet real quick.

A James White "3" changed that real quick. Up two with two to go. Can Cinci hold? Nope. Tied with 60 seconds to go. Some unkind iron put Providence in the catbird seat with around 40 ticks left in the game. But their long three didn't go and Downey goes to the line with a chance to go up with less than 4 seconds. The iron was a little kinder on that first free throw as the shot went in, out, off the backboard, and finally in. The second went in with a lot less dramatics.

Did I say dramatics? Curry scoots down the court for the Friars and lays up a beauty of a shot that rattles in, then out. Instead of overtime, a 66-64 win that puts UC at 18-9 and 7-6 in the beast that is the Big East.

Remember what I said at the beginning about the crowd's feelings toward the interim head coach? Chants of "WE WANT ANDY" went up from both student sections after the victorious squad hit the locker room.