Cincinnati Bearcats Avenge Loss From A Year Ago Looking Ahead to Xavier

The Cincinnati Bearcats avenged an overtime loss on home court from last year defeating the Marshall Thundering Herd to remain undefeated at 10-0.

After losing 73-69 to Marshall at home, the Bearcats returned the favor this season defeating the Thundering Herd on their home court 72-56.

Cincinnati only a held a four point at half as Sean Kilpatrick and Cashmere Wright struggled early on. The duo combined for only seven points on 3 of 14 shooting including 1 for 9 from three-point range. Marshall hung around early in the second half thanks to the play of Elijah Pittman who finished with 20 points but once Kilpatrick and Wright got going the Bearcats quickly pulled away.

The duo combined for 20 points in the second half with Kilpatrick finishing with 13 points, nine rebounds and two assists while Wright tallied 14 points, three rebounds and three assists.

The three assists in the game puts Wright only 14 assists shy of fourth all-time in Cincinnati’s history, a place currently being held by the legendary Oscar Robertson. It’s quite possible the senior guard could surpass Robertson before the New Year. Although it should be pointed out that Robertson set his record with one year less of playing than Wright as Robertson left Cincinnati as a junior. Regardless, being mentioned in the same breath as such an iconic player still displays the impressive play-making ability the six-foot guard has shown during his college career.

The dynamic duo of Kilpatrick and Wright will now set their focus on avenging another loss from a year ago when they face the Xavier Musketeers on Dec. 19. After the ugly bench clearing brawl from a year ago that saw a 76-53 blowout loss for Cincinnati, the only revenge on the Bearcats’ mind will be controlling the scoreboard.

The two combined for only 15 points in the game as Kilpatrick shot 3 of 12 while Wright didn’t fare much better going 1 for 8 from the field. Considering Wright came into the Marshall game averaging the second most points for the Bearcats with 15 per game and Kilpatrick is the team leader at 20 points per contest, things should look a lot different this time around for Cincinnati.