Gates leads UC to Shootout win

The Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout is a big deal to Yancy Gates. The Cincinnati junior and Withrow High School alum had never beaten Xavier in his tenure at UC. That is, until now.

Gates had a season-high 22 points and 14 rebounds, in the 66-46 victory over the Xavier Musketeers (8-5) in the 78th meeting between the two schools. “We feel that in the past couple of years we kind of put too much into this game,” Gates said. “It probably overwhelmed us and we came out a little too hyped and antsy. That's when you do some things you normally wouldn't do. This year we just stay focused on us, on what we needed to do to win the game.”

UC improved to 15-0 on the season, the best start for the Bearcats since the 1998-99 season. The Bearcats are one of eight ranked Big East teams and one of seven remaining undefeated teams.

“It’s quite obvious that Yancy Gates decided it was time to win the Crosstown Shootout,” said UC head coach Mick Cronin. Gates put on a masterful performance in front of a sell-out crowd of 13,176, hitting 10 of 16 shots from the field, including two fade-away jump shots.

“Definitely one of my best games since I’ve been in college,” Gates said. “In practice, we play around and I hit shots like that. It was like that. I just wasn’t playing around.”

The Musketeers were sloppy, committing 15 turnovers in the game, which led to 25 UC points. “We’re usually a better ball-handling team than we were,” said XU head coach Chris Mack. “It’s disappointing.”

Xavier was led by senior forward Jamel McLean, who had 18 points and six rebounds. “We caught Yancy on a hot night,” McLean said.

Xavier junior Tu Holloway came into the game averaging just over 21 points per game, but was held to only five points. Holloway committed four turnovers in the game.

“We really didn’t go out there and have as much energy and play like warriors like we did in the past to be able to win this game. So I think it’s more on our part, not playing the way we did in the past to get the win,” Holloway said.

The Musketeers also had a rough night from beyond the arc, hitting only one of their 10 three-point attempts. The Bearcats were five of 16 from long distance, including a three from guard Larry Davis with 12 minutes left in the game to put UC up by 16.

This Shootout was quite a bit calmer than previous in previous years. After 10 technical fouls called in three years, the only technical called in this game was on Holloway, with 13 minutes left in the second half.

Cincinnati hit 15 of their 16 free throws, and Xavier hit nine of their 15.

UC travels to play Big East foe Villanova on Sunday, while XU will travel to Rhode Island on Sunday.