BearcatReport.com - Notebook: Bearcats cruise past Toledo

November 18, 2009

Scott Springer
BearcatReport.com Staff Writer

That's more like it!

While still displaying some defensive shortcomings, Mick Cronin's UC Bearcats played a much more representative offensive game Wednesday night taking down the Toledo Rockets by 24 points, 92-68.

Four Bearcats hit for double figures with Rashad Bishop leading the way with 20 points. Following Bishop was Lance Stephenson with 16, Yancy Gates with 14 and senior Deonta Vaughn had 13.

For Vaughn, his output made him a member of the UC 1500-point club.

"I didn't really think about the points too much," he said. "It feels good to be one of the top scorers in Cincinnati. I look forward to continuing to do some of the things to help Cincinnati get back to the top."

Vaughn passed Robert Miller (big man from the mid-to-late 70s) tonight. Realistically, if Vaughn could turn it on this season and score at the clip he did his sophomore year (554 points, 17.3 per game) he could pass Steve Logan for second place on the all-time list (1,985) and approach the 2,000 mark.

Of course, the only Bearcat to reach that milestone has a statue out in front of the building (Oscar Robertson 2,973 points in three seasons). Three others may have made it had they played four seasons but Danny Fortson left early and Ron Bonham and Lloyd Batts played under the same restrictions the "Big O" had-freshmen weren't eligible.

So much for your history lesson and back to the present.

While the win over Toledo was not complete domination, it was a marked improvement to the sleepwalking that took place Monday night against Prairie View A&M. The Bearcats shot 52% from the field, better from the line (75%) and a little better from the three-point arc (9-26-although they still fire those up too quick sometimes instead of looking for a better shot).

"I liked that we distributed the ball more, we were more patient, we were hitting some shots," said Vaughn who finished with nine assists. "We were hustling!"

Showing his senior leadership though, Vaughn noted some dislikes....

"We still let teams get to the paint and shoot easy lay-ups," Vaughn confessed. "I (also) didn't like that we didn't bury the team early on when we should have when we were up 15 or 20 whatever. We should have just kept burying them. We still have some things to work on as a team."

The most noticeable improvement was in shot selection. Lance Stephenson, who was a miserable 2-10 in game one, came back 6-13 (2-4 on treys). Yancy Gates was 6-8. And, having a huge impact off the bench was Rashad Bishop going 8-13 and having one of his better games as a Bearcat (20 points, eight rebounds and five assists).

Where Bishop played a lot of guard last year, even some point, he played mainly underneath as a forward Wednesday night.

"It's bigger guys I've got to go against now," he said smiling. "I don't have to guard those quick guys anymore. It's a difference in my fatigue level now. I'm able to run more, run better."

Bishop's points off the bench helped UC to a 38-11 advantage in that category as Toledo only played eight and stuck with four core guys for most of the game. In the past, Bishop was pretty much a consistent starter, but he doesn't seem to mind the substitute role with UC's new surrounding talent.

"That really doesn't make a difference to me," Bishop said when asked about not starting. "I just come in and do my part."

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE TOLEDO PHOTO GALLERY

If doing his part means 20 points, eight boards and five assists, it's a pretty wise decision by Mick Cronin to bring the lefty off the bench. His scoring night started with a simple tip-in and then blossomed from there.

"I guess I'm more aggressive," Bishop explained. "I know the spots-where to go-the open spots. Luckily today, Yancy hit me with a couple nice passes and I was able to finish. I feel I need to help the team put up some more points and I just need to be more aggressive on the offensive end because I'm already going to bring the defense."

As for his team-leading eight rebounds, Bishop was merely following orders....

"I was just trying crash the boards hard," he said. "They (coaches) preach crashing the boards. They want three men on the glass at all times, so I just try to be one of the three there every time."

Toledo tried to play zone on UC after seeing how much Prairie View had frustrated the Bearcats Monday, but the Rockets didn't have the same success. Ball movement was better Wednesday night, spacing, shooting, focus-overall a much better effort than the stinker of an opener.

"Yeah, we worked on it in practice," said Yancy Gates on facing Toledo's zone. "We actually were surprised they started in it, but we expected them to play a lot of zone. We worked a lot on our zone offense in practice."

Where the Bearcats are still lacking is in defending the three-point shot. (At least when the opposition is hitting them and they're not.) Prairie View hit their share and Toledo did the same finishing the game 11-21.

"Early on, we've got to stay more focused with the defense," said Vaughn. "We tend to early on get lackadaisical sometimes. That's what Coach calls it. We've got to stop resting on the defensive end so we can take away the three-point shot. Every team's got two or three great perimeter players that can shoot the ball and we've just got to start being more aggressive on it and taking it away early in the game."

Obviously, the more this season advances, the more important Vaughn's advice will be.

The one thing this team needs to overcome is its youth and inexperience. Deonta Vaughn knows the importance of defense and playing hard at this level, while others are still learning. Rashad Bishop led by example Wednesday night by making it happen at both ends of the floor. The more the youngsters can absorb and learn and check their egos-the better.

There's also distractions, like playing your next game in Maui for instance. While the competition for that tournament in Hawaii will be great, the distractions will also be great for guys in their late teens and early twenties.

Heck, the distractions are great for guys in their late forties for that matter. It'll be interesting to see how a team with two new freshman starters fares against some quality opponents.

If you're grading the 'Cats so far (based on their capabilities) they probably rose from a "D" to a "B-" from Monday to Wednesday. You hope to see improvement as the testing goes on, but as always, the "finals" aren't until March.

Hang in there Bearcats. And, should you need local tourist advice in Maui I can get my flowery shirts packed in ten minutes if you've got a spot on that team plane.

(I was fortunate to be there last year for my anniversary and truthfully didn't think one millisecond about basketball.)

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