The game was called with 9.4 seconds remaining when a benches-clearing brawl erupted. Multiple players from both teams threw punches, many connecting.
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The fight began with Xavier All-American candidate Tu Holloway and Cincinnati's Ge'Lawn Guyn went toe-to-toe, jawing at each other. As the referees were trying to separate the pair, Guyn used a hand to the face to push Holloway backward. Xavier freshman Dez Wells then pushed Guyn, and Cincinnati center Yancy Gates threw the ball at Holloway.
Multiple player-vs.-player scrums then ensued throughout the court before the coaches and referees were able to restore some sense of order.
"It's unfortunate what happened," Xavier guard Mark Lyons said. "Obviously, this is a heated rivalry. But we regret what happened and didn't want it to end that way.
"I'm friendly with a few of their players. It was more the new guys, they were talking a lot of trash to Tu. ... It's unfortunate, but we wanted to protect each other. When they are throwing punches, it's hard not to do anything."
Several players left the court bloodied, including Xavier center Kenny Frease, who took a vicious punch to the face by Gates.
Multiple players from both teams likely will face suspensions once school and Big East and Atlantic 10 officials fully investigate the brawl.
2. Xavier can play with anybody
The Musketeers are an established enough brand even the most rigid BCS-conference snobs will acknowledge them as the sort of team one would prefer to see in someone else’s NCAA Tournament region.
Still, it can be jarring to see Xavier ranked No. 8 in the polls.
Yes, they’ve been to the Elite Eight twice since 2004.
But No. 8?
Absolutely. At least.
Xavier (8-0) has the sort of equipment that can lead to a deep NCAA Tournament run -- and the sort of accomplishment that will lead to a high NCAA Tournament seed. The Musketeers already own victories over BCS leaguers Georgia, Vanderbilt, Purdue and now Cincinnati. They’ll enter the NCAA Tournament undefeated against the big-money leagues.
Xavier whipped NCAA runner-up Butler on the road and also will play non-BCSers Long Beach State, Gonzaga and Memphis along with an Atlantic 10 schedule that includes games against established power Temple, a dangerous Saint Louis squad and rapidly improving Saint Joseph’s.
Folks, Xavier isn’t going to lose many games. The Musketeers have a sensational backcourt. Wells is an absurdly dynamic wing athlete. They can rotate four players with quickness and leaping ability at the power forward position and slide Travis Taylor or Andre Walker into the post when Frease, its 7-foot center, needs a break.
Kenny Frease took a punch from Yany Gates square in the face. (AP Photo)Xavier is not the equal of the very best teams: Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio State and Syracuse. It is not as purely talented as Duke, Baylor or Connecticut, any one of which could develop and surpass someone in that first group. But the Musketeers are the total package.
3. Lyons is a heck of a sidekick
Is he John Oates, Andy Richter, Mr. Spock? He is all of them. For the second consecutive year, Cincinnati had a game plan to control Holloway, but this time the Bearcats had no answer for Lyons.
Playing both on the ball and as a shooting guard, Lyons controlled the game with his aggressive play. He took full advantage of the exceptional defensive attention paid to Holloway and scored 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the first half, when the game essentially was decided.
Lyons is a powerful, fast guard who gives Xavier a driving option from the wing. He has made himself into a terrific 3-point shooter, advancing from the 34 percent range in each of his first two seasons to better than 40 percent now.
Lyons also was among the players most energized by the rivalry, exchanging a few words here and there with various Bearcats and going at it with freshman Octavius Ellis when the teams had to cross paths on the way off the floor at halftime.
4. Gates is an anchor
There are two ways to look at this. Gates is the anchor of a very good Big East defense for Cincinnati, one that limits the opposition’s ability to score around the lane and controls most rebound opportunities.
He also is an anchor that weighs down the Cincinnati offense.
His refusal to commit to the potential his 6-9, 265-pound body provides was obvious inside the first 10 minutes of the Shootout, when Xavier sent in 6-8, 220-pound Taylor to give Frease a rest.
Gates could not get deep low-post position on Taylor. Because he couldn’t move him? No, because he didn’t try. He was content to position himself 12 feet from the goal -- which made it easier for XU defenders to recover to perimeter shooters when they even bothered to double down against him.
With Gates unwilling to fight to establish himself inside, Cincinnati frequently brings him to the high post for dribble handoffs that take advantage of his passing ability and occasionally create driving opportunities for guards Dion Dixon and Sean Kilpatrick. But driving to the basket from the foul line is not an easy trek against a capable high-major defense, and the Bearcats’ wing players are small enough that they can struggle to finish plays when they do get there.
On consecutive trips early in the second half, Dixon failed to muscle the ball past Frease on an inbounds play and Kilpatrick was rejected by Taylor after a middle drive. Instead of breaking their deficit to single digits, Cincinnati remained down, 43-31.
You can point to Gates’ numbers from the Xavier game and insist he did fine. But because he does not make himself hard to guard, it’s that much easier to defend the rest of the Bearcats.
5. Cincinnati wants to play power ball
The Bearcats do not run. That’s odd given that they use three guards most of the time, and even used four in the first half when bigs Justin Jackson and Cheikh Mbodj each picked up two fouls.
Nevertheless, Cincinnati never pulled the ball off the board and pushed it up the floor. When a long rebound came to point guard Cashmere Wright five minutes into the game, with a teammate to his left and right and an opportunity to at least pursue a 3-on-1 or 3-on-2 break, Wright instead dribbled in place and allowed everyone to retreat ahead of the ball. The Bearcats wound up running a nice play that got Dion Dixon a layup, but nearly all their points were either scored or earned 5-on-5.
In a game that figured to be tightly contested, easy baskets were a difference. Xavier scored on two fast breaks in the first half, one when Lyons pushed the ball ahead and found Wells for a dunk, then another when Wells broke for a long feed and finished the play himself. It happened again at the start of the second half, when Lyons took an outlet pass and raced it to the rim along the left side, then tried a reverse layup. He missed, but Frease was there to put in the rebound for a 43-27 lead.
Cincinnati was not coming back from that.
Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/feed/2011-12/ucxu-brawl/story/cincinnati-xavier-game-ends-in-benches-clearing-brawl#ixzz1gkL0Ki8n
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The fight began with Xavier All-American candidate Tu Holloway and Cincinnati's Ge'Lawn Guyn went toe-to-toe, jawing at each other. As the referees were trying to separate the pair, Guyn used a hand to the face to push Holloway backward. Xavier freshman Dez Wells then pushed Guyn, and Cincinnati center Yancy Gates threw the ball at Holloway.
Multiple player-vs.-player scrums then ensued throughout the court before the coaches and referees were able to restore some sense of order.
"It's unfortunate what happened," Xavier guard Mark Lyons said. "Obviously, this is a heated rivalry. But we regret what happened and didn't want it to end that way.
"I'm friendly with a few of their players. It was more the new guys, they were talking a lot of trash to Tu. ... It's unfortunate, but we wanted to protect each other. When they are throwing punches, it's hard not to do anything."
Several players left the court bloodied, including Xavier center Kenny Frease, who took a vicious punch to the face by Gates.
Multiple players from both teams likely will face suspensions once school and Big East and Atlantic 10 officials fully investigate the brawl.
2. Xavier can play with anybody
The Musketeers are an established enough brand even the most rigid BCS-conference snobs will acknowledge them as the sort of team one would prefer to see in someone else’s NCAA Tournament region.
Still, it can be jarring to see Xavier ranked No. 8 in the polls.
Yes, they’ve been to the Elite Eight twice since 2004.
But No. 8?
Absolutely. At least.
Xavier (8-0) has the sort of equipment that can lead to a deep NCAA Tournament run -- and the sort of accomplishment that will lead to a high NCAA Tournament seed. The Musketeers already own victories over BCS leaguers Georgia, Vanderbilt, Purdue and now Cincinnati. They’ll enter the NCAA Tournament undefeated against the big-money leagues.
Xavier whipped NCAA runner-up Butler on the road and also will play non-BCSers Long Beach State, Gonzaga and Memphis along with an Atlantic 10 schedule that includes games against established power Temple, a dangerous Saint Louis squad and rapidly improving Saint Joseph’s.
Folks, Xavier isn’t going to lose many games. The Musketeers have a sensational backcourt. Wells is an absurdly dynamic wing athlete. They can rotate four players with quickness and leaping ability at the power forward position and slide Travis Taylor or Andre Walker into the post when Frease, its 7-foot center, needs a break.
Kenny Frease took a punch from Yany Gates square in the face. (AP Photo)Xavier is not the equal of the very best teams: Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio State and Syracuse. It is not as purely talented as Duke, Baylor or Connecticut, any one of which could develop and surpass someone in that first group. But the Musketeers are the total package.
3. Lyons is a heck of a sidekick
Is he John Oates, Andy Richter, Mr. Spock? He is all of them. For the second consecutive year, Cincinnati had a game plan to control Holloway, but this time the Bearcats had no answer for Lyons.
Playing both on the ball and as a shooting guard, Lyons controlled the game with his aggressive play. He took full advantage of the exceptional defensive attention paid to Holloway and scored 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the first half, when the game essentially was decided.
Lyons is a powerful, fast guard who gives Xavier a driving option from the wing. He has made himself into a terrific 3-point shooter, advancing from the 34 percent range in each of his first two seasons to better than 40 percent now.
Lyons also was among the players most energized by the rivalry, exchanging a few words here and there with various Bearcats and going at it with freshman Octavius Ellis when the teams had to cross paths on the way off the floor at halftime.
4. Gates is an anchor
There are two ways to look at this. Gates is the anchor of a very good Big East defense for Cincinnati, one that limits the opposition’s ability to score around the lane and controls most rebound opportunities.
He also is an anchor that weighs down the Cincinnati offense.
His refusal to commit to the potential his 6-9, 265-pound body provides was obvious inside the first 10 minutes of the Shootout, when Xavier sent in 6-8, 220-pound Taylor to give Frease a rest.
Gates could not get deep low-post position on Taylor. Because he couldn’t move him? No, because he didn’t try. He was content to position himself 12 feet from the goal -- which made it easier for XU defenders to recover to perimeter shooters when they even bothered to double down against him.
With Gates unwilling to fight to establish himself inside, Cincinnati frequently brings him to the high post for dribble handoffs that take advantage of his passing ability and occasionally create driving opportunities for guards Dion Dixon and Sean Kilpatrick. But driving to the basket from the foul line is not an easy trek against a capable high-major defense, and the Bearcats’ wing players are small enough that they can struggle to finish plays when they do get there.
On consecutive trips early in the second half, Dixon failed to muscle the ball past Frease on an inbounds play and Kilpatrick was rejected by Taylor after a middle drive. Instead of breaking their deficit to single digits, Cincinnati remained down, 43-31.
You can point to Gates’ numbers from the Xavier game and insist he did fine. But because he does not make himself hard to guard, it’s that much easier to defend the rest of the Bearcats.
5. Cincinnati wants to play power ball
The Bearcats do not run. That’s odd given that they use three guards most of the time, and even used four in the first half when bigs Justin Jackson and Cheikh Mbodj each picked up two fouls.
Nevertheless, Cincinnati never pulled the ball off the board and pushed it up the floor. When a long rebound came to point guard Cashmere Wright five minutes into the game, with a teammate to his left and right and an opportunity to at least pursue a 3-on-1 or 3-on-2 break, Wright instead dribbled in place and allowed everyone to retreat ahead of the ball. The Bearcats wound up running a nice play that got Dion Dixon a layup, but nearly all their points were either scored or earned 5-on-5.
In a game that figured to be tightly contested, easy baskets were a difference. Xavier scored on two fast breaks in the first half, one when Lyons pushed the ball ahead and found Wells for a dunk, then another when Wells broke for a long feed and finished the play himself. It happened again at the start of the second half, when Lyons took an outlet pass and raced it to the rim along the left side, then tried a reverse layup. He missed, but Frease was there to put in the rebound for a 43-27 lead.
Cincinnati was not coming back from that.
Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/feed/2011-12/ucxu-brawl/story/cincinnati-xavier-game-ends-in-benches-clearing-brawl#ixzz1gkL0Ki8n
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