Bearcats have seen Wildcats, ready to shock the world

By: LARRY VAUGHT


LOUISVILLE — While some of his teammates didn’t want to admit they had watched No. 1 Kentucky play often this season, Cincinnati guard Jeremaine Sanders had a different explanation.

“Everybody watches them because they are on TV all the time,” said Sanders. “They are big and play great defense. They are a team that is together. They have a lot of great players, but they play so well together. We would love to shock the world (by beating UK) and now we have the chance.”

That’s because Cincinnati survived in overtime to oust Purdue 66-65 Thursday night before Kentucky (35-0) routed Hampton 79-56. Now they will meet Saturday in Louisville for a berth in the Sweet Sixteen in Cleveland.

Gary Clark, who had nine points and 11 rebounds against Purdue, said his team is “mentally tough” and was looking forward to playing UK.

“Kentucky has been the elephant in the room,” he laughed and said. “We will be ready for that game. We had to handle business tonight and now we can prepare for Kentucky, which has a great team. I’ve watched them a little bit and they have a team that is big and physical, but we are also a physical team.”

“It's just a basketball game. We're not going to go in there nervous,” Troy Caupain, who had 10 points, four rebounds and three assists, said. “We're not going to go in there playing scared. Not everybody gets a chance to do this, and we're just going to go out and leave it on the floor.

“Cincinnati basketball is never known to back down from anybody, and I don't think we should back down from them. We should give them a basketball game because that's what they play basketball for. Playing Kentucky is a blessing. It's fun. That's what we want to do is go out there and have fun and win a basketball game.”

“It's a big opportunity for us. We've been wanting something like this all year,” Farad Cobb, who had 14 points against Purdue, said.

Being so close to Lexington, Cincinnati players said they often bump into UK fans at restaurants, movies or malls.

“We know plenty about Kentucky,” Clark said. “People who have seen us play will know we can play with them. Those who have not watched us won’t think we can.”

So can Cincinnati beat UK?

“Oh yeah. If we play Cincinnati basketball like we did tonight. We don’t give up and we play physical,” Clark said. “We have to contain them on the boards.

“We know it will be like a road game. It is for anybody against Kentucky (because of the UK fans). We had a practice (Wednesday) and their fans were there then. But stuff like that won’t bother us.”

Kevin Johnson, who had eight points and two rebounds against Purdue, is from Cincinnati and is glad to have his first chance to play UK.

“It will be the first time I get to play a great team like that,” Johnson said. “It’s a great opportunity for us. They are always on prime time TV and they have not lost all year. But I think we can match up with them because we are physical, too.”

Shaq Thomas said being on the “big stage with Kentucky is a big deal” for Cincinnati.

“We look forward to it. We hear a lot about Kentucky being undefeated, but we will be fine,” Thomas said. “We just have to go out and play Bearcat basketball. We play tough. We play physical. We can match them.”

Caupain has an idea what it will take to beat Kentucky.

“I'm going to say in transition, get their big men out of the paint, high ball screens, ball reversals. Making their big man play, get him away from the basket so we have the opportunity to attack the basket and get easy layups, also in transition,” Caupain said. “They do run a lot, but their big men are 7 feet. They don't run all day.

“That's the biggest thing is transition and getting the big men away from the basket. If they're in the basket, they clog the paint and block shots. If you get them out of the paint, get them away from the rim, and you have the opportunity to win.

“If we take care of the ball and try to force turnovers on defense and protect the glass, I think we'll be able to make something happen,” Cobb said.

Cincinnati associate coach Larry Davis didn’t mince words about UK’s talent.

“To get the opportunity to play a team like Kentucky who's undefeated, got a lot of people around them saying they're one of the greatest teams to play college basketball. A lot of people are saying, they could play in the NBA. I've watched them play a few times casually, and they're very, very good,” Davis said. “It's a great opportunity for our kids.

“Watching them play, they've got tremendous size, tremendous athleticism, it will be a battle of can our guys keep them off the glass? And can we figure out a way to score on them? You can't turn the ball over against them and let them get out in transition. It's going to be hard enough to stop them in the half-court. You can't give them easy baskets. If we can do that, if we can keep them out of transition and we can keep them off the backboard, then we'll have a chance.

“They're a team this year that's had some close games. Nobody's beaten them, but some teams have played them close. The one thing about our guys I know is they'll go into the game not afraid. I do know that. And Kentucky's obviously a tremendous opponent, and I'm not going to sit up here and say whatever. I know this, our guys will be ready to play on Saturday, and they'll go out there and give it everything they've got. If Kentucky's not ready to play or if we can accomplish our goals we want to do defensively and those things and don't turn it over and get shots, who knows what can happen?”

Last year No. 8 seed Kentucky beat unbeaten Wichita State, the No. 1 seed, in the same round.

“Two No. 14 seeds beat 3s today. It's not like an 8 or 9 (seed) has never upset a 1,” Davis said. “I'm not focused on the hype. I know the effort will be there for them, and that's all we can do and hopefully put ourselves in position to have a chance to win.”