December 27th, 2012: The Cincinnati Bearcats are 12-0 and one of four undefeated teams left in college basketball. Later in the day, they would face their toughest test of the season against the New Mexico Lobos, who were coming off of a shocking loss to South Dakota State. Before that loss New Mexico was a top 25 team, and everyone was anticipating the Lobos to give the Bearcats a good test.
After the 1st half of play, the Bearcats had a small 3 point advantage over the Lobos, but in the 2nd half the Lobos were dominant in the paint and took the lead and held it. In the final seconds, Sean Kilpatrick was blocked shooting a 3 pointer that would have won them the game, and the Lobos handed UC their first loss of the season.
December 31st, 2012: The Bearcats were coming off of their first loss and traveling to Pittsburgh to play the 24th ranked Pittsburgh Panthers in their first conference game. Throughout most of the game, the Panthers held a small lead over the Bearcats. But with 10 minutes to go, Cashmere Wright took over the game for the Bearcats. Wright led the Bearcats’ 14-2 run that gave them the lead in the 2nd half, and they would never look back. The Bearcats looked like they had shaken off their first loss, and that they deserved to be back in the top 10.
January 5th, 2013: The Bearcats would play St. Johns on this day. Everyone expected this game to be a Bearcats blowout, but that was not the case at all. St. Johns held the lead for most of the game, and in the final seconds Cashmere Wright missed a half court shot that would have given them the win.
January 14th, 2013: The Bearcats fell out of the top 25 poll for the first time this season.
January 19th, 2013: The Bearcats played #25 Marquette on their home court. At halftime the Bearcats held a 16 point lead over Marquette, but in the second half, Marquette came roaring back and were able to force the game to overtime. In overtime, Sean Kilpatrick scored with 5 seconds to go, which gave the Bearcats the lead, and they would go on to win.
February 7th, 2013: The 17th ranked Bearcats traveled to Rhode Island to play Providence. The Friars were big underdogs, but they proved everyone wrong. The Friars held the lead most of the game, but with minutes to go, the Bearcats made a push and had a chance to tie the game late in the game. With 10 seconds left, Sean Kilpatrick dribbled the ball off of his leg and caused a back court violation, which gave the Friars the win.
February 11th, 2013: Bearcats fell out of the top 25 again. They have not been able to get back into the top 25 ever since.
February 15th-24th, 2013: The Bearcats would lose 3 straight games against Georgetown, UConn, and Notre Dame respecctively.
Present: The Bearcats are 19-9 overall, 7-8 in the Big East, and they have 3 games left. They play at home against UConn on saturday, then they play at their rival Louisville next Monday, and they close their season out playing South Florida at home next Saturday. If the Bearcats continue their losing ways, it’s possible that they could miss the NCAA tournament, which would be the 4th time in 6 years that they would miss the tournament. A team that looked to possibly become a 1 seed earlier in the year could now possibly become a 1 seed in the NIT.
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