Outside the Shoemaker Center is a prominently placed statue of three-time All-American Oscar Robertston, the University of Cincinnati’s greatest basketball player.
Inside the arena Saturday night it sometimes seemed as if the Bearcats had five Oscar Robertsons on the court at the same time. Playing their usual octopus defense, the Bearcats threw platoons of players at DePaul, forcing 24 turnovers and running away with a 90-65 Conference USA victory before 13,176 boisterous fans.
No. 11 Cincinnati (11-0, 2-0) displayed its normal relentless style, pressuring the ball with seemingly interchangeable, quick, long-armed players with an array of traps employed all over the court. This was Cincinnati’s 24th victory in its last 26 meetings with the Blue Demons and 13th in a row at Shoemaker.
“By far, this is the best team we’ve played this year,” DePaul coach Dave Leitao said. “I was thoroughly impressed.”
What began optimistically for DePaul–it was 5-5 after three minutes–degenerated into a nightmare soon after when Cincinnati ran off 12 straight points. It was 43-22 Bearcats at the half and it never was any more enjoyable for the Blue Demons. DePaul (7-6, 0-2) shot poorly from long range (1-of-13 from three-point territory) and fouled out frontcourt players Quemont Greer (13 points, nine rebounds) and Lorenzo Thompson.
The main bright spot for DePaul was 6-foot-7-inch senior forward Delonte Holland, the league’s leading scorer. Holland, who was nursing a sprained right ankle, scored a career-high 29 points, including a remarkable 17-of-18 free throws.
“Guy gets 22 points in the second half,” said Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins blaming his own team for some of Holland’s success. “How does that happen? I mean the guy’s a good player.”
There was one brief stretch early in the second half when DePaul cut the lead to 16 points, but Cincinnati’s 6-7 Jason Maxiell (18 points) electrified the crowd with repeated, colorful, forceful dunks. Then the Bearcats got their perimeter game going behind guards Tony Bobbitt (19 points, four three-pointers) and Field Williams (14 points.)
“We just laid back for a minute and let them get started,” Bobbitt said.
Cincinnati outshot DePaul, 48.3 percent to 43.5, and outrebounded the Blue Demons 31-30 while committing 12 fewer turnovers. The Bearcats played without starting forward Armein Kirkland, who has a sprained left knee, and DePaul was without power forward-center Andre Brown, out with a bruised right knee, for the fifth consecutive game.
The biggest factor, however, was Cincinnati’s trademark defense, egged on by a vociferous crowd.
“If we press nine times down the floor, we’ll get five steals,” Bobbitt said. “We will not lose in this building. When you get guys in here, they’re scared.”
Leitao would not buy into the use of the word, but said, “The style of basketball they play, they’re going to attack you. They put you back on your heels.”
