BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Cincinnati @ Louisville

January 25, 2006


In what promised to be a new Big East spotlight game has definitely taken a new look as Cincinnati and Louisville have embarked on their initial Big East campaigns. Cincinnati has been besieged by player losses due to transfers and injury, let alone the ousting of Bob Huggins. Louisville has been battling their own injury issues since the summer and continue to be a battered and bruised team as the calendar heads towards February. A loss here, and making the Big East tournament becomes the main goal of the rest of the season.

Here is a list of articles found on the net today previewing the Cincinnati/Louisville game:

Its Getting Late Early for Cards (Louisville Courier-Journal)
Seven Steps to Save Cardinals Season (Louisville Courier-Journal)
Cardinals Scrambling as Cincinnati Comes to Town (Lexington Herald-Leader)
UC, UL Share Fears (Cincy Enquirer)
Must Win Game for UL, UC (Cincy Post)
Cards Face Must-Win Situation (Kentucky.com)

Click below for our brief preview and prediction on this game and don't forget to leave your prediction in the comments section.

READ REST OF PREVIEW...CLICK "Read More" BELOW


Louisille finds themselves in unfamiliar territory at just 1-4 in conference play and staring right down the barrel of a gun with their conference schedule. They have already lost home conference games to Villanova, Pittsburgh and Connecticut and still must face Cincinnati, Syracuse, West Virginia, Villanova and Connecticut on the road (let alone a trip to the RAC)! So, if any team has their back against the wall in need of a home win, it is the Cardinals.

Louisville might get some good news tonight as Taquan Dean is expected to be able to play. Louisville has struggled in scoring points all season and with Dean missing virtually all of their past three conference games, things have not gotten any easier as the Cards have scored just 56,57 and 58 pts in each of the three games. With 3-pt shooting being a staple in the Louisville offense, missing Dean has hurt them even more, especially as they shot 2-20 from beyond the arc against Connecticut on Saturday night.

The Bearcats also know frustration, after exceeding expectations with a 10-game winning streak, Cincinnati lost senior Armien Kirkland for the season with a knee injury against UConn which began a 3-game losing streak, which they snapped with a 71-66 home win over Rutgers on Sunday. Down to 8 scholarship players (with just 6 playing meaningful minutes) the Bearcats have turned to the football team to help in numbers. They still have talent and experience with seniors James White, Eric Hicks, Jihad Muhammad and Chadd Moore and the exciting freshmen Devan Downey, but that is all they have to put on the floor.

Cincinnati will still go after you very hard and hit the board with aggression, led by Hicks and Cedric McGowan. Any foul trouble to those two can cripple thier efforts. James White is still a big scoring threat that seems to be coming into his own this season under Andy Kennedy.

Louisville still looks to play a finesse style and having Dean's ability to score from the perimeter is a key in being able to do this. With his presence, Juan Palacios and David Padgett find more space to isolote themselves and take their man facing up. It also allows Andre McGee, Brandon Jenkins and Terrence Williams to play roles that are more comfortable.

Louisville comes into the game as a 1-pt favorite. I think the key match-up is whichever team gets the infusion of scoring from Dean or Jihad Muhammad, because each would be a welcome surprise over their last game. I liked the way UC competed at Xavier in that atmosphere and I think they will have just a little bit too much, barring foul trouble, tonight for Louisville if Dean is not close to 100%.

NBE Blogger Prediction:

Cincinnati 68 Louisville 66