ROCKETS NO MATCH FOR CINCINNATI

The Rockets ran into a Cincinnati Bearcat buzz saw Saturday evening at Savage Arena and the final result was an 81-47 blow-out loss at the hands of the visitors from the Queen City.

Cincinnati, a member of the Big East Conference, entered the game undefeated in six previous outings and totally took apart a Toledo team that was looking to build on a tough 63-62 road loss at UIC on Nov, 28.  If anything, Saturday’s loss to the Bearcats may have been a step backwards, especially in player confidence.

Right from the opening tip it was very evident that UC was bigger, quicker, and much more talented than the struggling Rockets. Yancy Gates, a 6-9 265 pound junior forward made the first two baskets for Cincinnati and ignited a scoring blitz that saw the Bearcats connect on 11 of their first 12 shots from the floor, including a perfect five-of-five from beyond the arc.

As if their shooting accuracy wasn't enough, Cincinnati quickly threw a full court press at the Rockets, disrupting their offense and causing a number of turnovers. At the midway point of the first half Toledo found itself on the short end of a 33-7 score. The lead grew to as many as 34 points before the teams settled on a 53-21 score at intermission.

In the second half Cincinnati Head Coach Mick Cronin disbanded the full court press and went to his bench early, allowing his reserves to carry the load until the final horn

Pacing the offense for the winners was Cincinnati’s starting guard tandem of Dion Dixon (17 points) and Cashmere Wright (10 points) but a total of 11 players got into the scoring column for UC.

On a night when two Toledo starters, Hayden Humes and J.T. Thomas, were held scoreless, and leading point producer Malcolm Griffin finished with just five points, a pair of freshmen shouldered the scoring load: Dear finished with a game high 18 points and classmate Reese Holliday helped out with 13 points. Dear just missed a double-double, grabbing nine rebounds to lead both teams in that category.

For the game, Toledo was just 15-of-49 (20.6%) from the floor, and 15-of-26 (57.7%) from the charity stripe. The Bearcats got the best of the Rockets in every statistical category.

After playing the likes of Illinois and Temple on the road, the thought among the coaching staff was that the Rocket players would be mentally prepared for Cincinnati. But, as the first half showed, UT put on its “deer-in-the-headlights” look for the much of the game.

“You want your team to respect its opponent,” said Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk, “but today we really played scared to start the game. We had too much respect for Cincinnati and I thought that really set the tone for us. We got back on our heels from the first possession, turned the ball over, allowing them to make some threes, and it just went from bad to worse. We didn't defend with any sense of urgency in the first half. The second half it got better ,but it was too little too late.

We're learning lessons, but I'm sick and tired on learning lessons. It’s time for us to consistently be a team that can compete. We understand what we are; we have to be tough, gritty, and disciplined to give ourselves any chance to beat any team on our schedule, but when we don't play that way, well you see what happens.”

The Rockets get a breather of sorts for the next four games, tangling with teams closer to their talent level. Wednesday they travel to Fort Wayne for a game with IPFW before returning home for games with Valparaiso, Florida Gulf Coast, and Indiana University Northwest.

It’s time to put those “lessons learned” to good use.