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Crosstown Brawl-Out
12/10/2011
 | | Kenny Frease, after being hit in the eye during an altercation at the end of the game, walks off the court.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Dez Wells slams in two of his fourteen points.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Tu Holloway is fouled by UC’s Yancy Gates as he drives to the basket.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Head Coach Chris Mack and other Xavier coaches restrain players from participating in an altercation at the end of the game.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Freshman Dez Wells celebrates after a Xavier basket.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Mark Lyons scores two of his 19 points.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Xavier fans celebrate after Xavier’s 76 to 53 victory over UC.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Redshirt freshman Justin Martin joins the crowd after Xavier’s victory and yells his approval.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |
With a few minutes left in the game, during a TV timeout, one of the referees walked to the end of press row. A few people from the student section yelled at him, questioning why they were calling the game so close. His response: "Why do you think? We have to."
Clearly, that wasn't enough.
Did that happen? Not the game, I'll get to that. But that fight? Throughout the whole scene, and for an hour afterwards, all I could think about was how surreal it was. Sitting across from the UC bench, I had a clear view of what happened. Yet, I couldn't tell you anything about it.
It was a blur. Dez Wells shoved Ge'Lawn Guyn after he had made contact with Tu, who he was clearly jawing with. Mark Lyons and Octavius Ellis (probably, didn't have a clear view) exchanged swings. Lyons was also involved with Sean Kilpatrick.
"Both groups are tough guys and sometimes it gets out of control," said Holloway.
Benches cleared. Chaos ensued. Yancy Gates landed a haymaker on Kenny Frease, who was bloodied, bruised, and stomped on by Cheikh Mbodj. Andre Walker was dragged away by coaches. It was as ugly as a scene as you will ever witness. Both sides are to blame, regardless of who started it.
The brawl overshadowed the game; it became the focal point of the talk afterwards. That it ended in such a way was embarrassing. Both schools are better than that. Jawing was going on throughout the game, much of it on Xavier's side with UC's bench. That's unacceptable. Comments were made that I won't repeat.
"I'm really disappointed in the way that both teams conducted themselves down the stretch," said Coach Chris Mack, "It's disappointing. We're all competitors, we all played our hearts out. This game means so much. There's a lot of pressure on both teams to win. And for it to play itself out, the way it did in the end, I don't know any way to describe it other than disappointing."
Cincinnati Coach Mick Cronin had the following to say, "From our standpoint, we accept full responsibility, and it will be handled. There is zero excuse for that in basketball. You gotta learn how to win on one side, and learn how to lose on the other side. These kids gotta learn they are here to get an education.
"They need to learn how to act. They need to have respect for the fact they are on scholarship, that people come to see them play. That's just the fact of college athletics. ... It's a prime example of everyone thinking they're too important."
Nonetheless, we forget, they did play a basketball game today at Cintas, shortly before the UFC event of the year began. For the first 15 minutes of the game, it was like any other Crosstown Shootout: tough, physical, bad shooting, good defense. It was the typical UC-Xavier matchup.
The Bearcats led 23-22 with 5:45 to go. From there on out, momentum swung, and the Cats never recovered, as Xavier stormed to a 76-53 victory. The moment that swung everything? A Tu Holloway three. For a while, it looked like typical Tu. He couldn't get anything going, and most would have assumed he was waiting for his usual second half heroics. That three energized the team and the crowd, though, as Xavier ripped off a 12-0 run.
Give UC credit, though. They followed the game plan against Xavier, but just didn't have the depth to keep up. Dion Dixon hounded Tu Holloway for much of the first half. He shut him down. He also looked worn down when they went to the locker room.
Cashmere Wright did not play well, and couldn't guard Mark Lyons. That was a huge key in this game. Ultimately, what kept UC in it for the first 20 minutes was the big guy, Yancy Gates. He dominated Xavier down low for the game, finishing with 18 and 12.
For whatever reason, Coach Mack decided to run the smaller in mass Travis Taylor and Jeff Robinson at him. There was very few times in the first half where it looked like Kenny Frease actually guarded him. Perhaps that's the repercussions of the clinic Gates put on in last year's 66-46 UC victory.
"Xavier's defense on the perimeters is really good," said Coach Cronin,
"They've got a lot of quick guys out there. They're an impressive team, in that regard. We thought we had to establish the low post to beat them, and we didn't do that."
With under 5 minutes to go, however, Mack put Frease back on Gates. It slowed him down long enough to get the Muskies' offense going. Cincinnati's lack of a solid halfcourt offense killed them, unable to consistently get points in their possessions. Xavier turned that into their 12-0 run.
After those first 15 minutes, where UC's intensity matched XU's, things changed. The excitement and adrenaline leading up to the game wore off, and Xavier calmed down. Going into half time, Xavier had a significant advantage in field goal percentage and assists. That's due to their guard play. At the end of the day, Lyons and Holloway significantly outplayed Wright and Dixon. Lyons finished with 19, 3 threes, and 4 assists, while Tu had 17 with 6 assists.
While Xavier's leading scorers took control, UC's Sean Kilpatrick failed to ever get his game going, shooting just 3 of 12 for the game, and 1 of 8 from three point land. That one three pointer he hit was the only one UC had for the game. They would finish with 10 turnovers and 8 assists, while Xavier had 16 assists and 12 turnovers. Guard play is often the difference in college basketball. It clearly was today.
While Yancy Gates was the only effective offensive threat on the Bearcats' end, Xavier attacked UC's defense with Wells, Lyons, Holloway, and Frease. They all had big games. Wells, playing in his first ever Crosstown Shootout, finished with 14 points. Frease finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds, holding his own in the second half with Gates.
"The way we played, certainly was our best game of the year," said Mack, "I thought we were better on offense, we attacked more. We were better in transition from defense to offense. I think our defense has been fairly consistent all year. But I think we took a big step forward in the end."
Ultimately, many would have thought that Xavier's depth and bench would have been the difference in the game. It wasn't. They came up with 13, but it wasn't their biggest effort of the year. The difference, again, was the guards. Xavier used the athleticism of Holloway, Lyons, and Wells to break down UC and get to the rim. Xavier shot 51.8% for the game, while the Cats shot just 27.9%. The Muskies had 36 points in the paint against UC's 24, and finished with 12 fast break points, to the Cats' 2. Offensively, the teams weren't close.
"We've been one of the toughest teams in America," said Mark Lyons, "Take nothing away from Cincinnati or any other team in the country. Our first seven games proved that. We're a tough team, we don't ever let down. We're not scared of nobody."
"Toughness isn't like a fight or something," Tu Holloway added, "It's every possession. How we play defense and stay in the game, that's toughness."
When I wrote my article on the Butler game, I ended it by saying to expect a knock down, drag out fight. I didn't think that would come out to be so literal.
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