BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: ST. JOHN'S @ CINCINNATI

February 11, 2009


With a daunting four-game stretch right around the corner, the surging Cincinnati Bearcats can not afford a mis-step tonigh when they host St. John's in Fifth Third Arena at 7:30 PM. UC has won four of their last five and six of their last eight, including a sweep of Georgetown and a win over Notre Dame at US Bank Arena last week to pull them abover .500 in conference play at 6-5.

St. John's continues to scuffle along in the Big East under Norm Roberts. While injuries have hit a young Redstorm squad quite hard, SJU is 3-8 in the Big East and the amount of 'winable' conference games are dwindling with the schedule ahead. SJU is coming off a solid defensive effort against Louisville, before the Cards pulled away at the end for a 60-47 decision.

Here are some pregame stories and previews on tonight's game:

A Solid Building Block (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Looking ahead, after tonight's contest, Mick Cronin's squad will travel to Pittsburgh this weekend to start a stretch that also includes games with Louisville and West Virginia, at home, and then a trip to Syracuse. They can ill-afford to drop a game tonight as they have clawed their way back into the NCAA Tournament mix and have positioned themselves that finding a way to win three of these next five puts them in a real position to finish 11-7 in the Big East. While that is definitely getting ahead of ourselves, it shows how important this game is.

UC is led by guard Deonta Vaughn who iasked to carry the bulk of the scoring load as well as the ball-handling chores of the club. He has been getting offensive support in the frontcourt from Mike Williams and Yancy Gates, who was the top freshman in the Big East last week. Sophomore guard Larry Davis has also stepped up his scoring, which is a big key to UC's chances of success as it takes some pressure off of Vaughn.

These two teams met back on January 22nd and UC rallied from a double-digit deficit to post a 71-60 win. The game got really chippy as DJ Kennedy and Rashad Bishop were both ejected after earning a pair of double technicals for continued jawing after a brief altercation. SJU was already without point guard Malik Boothe and forward Rob Thomas because of injuries and the loss of Kennedy was too much for them to take down the stretch as UC ran past them in the last 10 minutes for the win.

Boothe is back and Thomas is also healthier, so if Kennedy can contain his emotions and if Paris Horne can rebound from his horrendous shooting effort against Louisville, SJU matches up pretty well with UC.

The Bearcats are a 9 1/2-point favorite in tonight's game, but look for both teams to defend very well, keeping this a relatively low-scoring affair. I liked how SJU competed in the first game until their lack of depth caught up to them, I think they will compete again tonight with the motivation from the previous game on their minds. However, Vaughn is the best player on the court and provides enough offense for UC to get the important win heading into their tough stretch.

NBE Blogger Prediction:

Cincinnati 64
St. John's 59