Cincinnati 60, Notre Dame 58

With very poor rebounding and atrocious free throw shooting, the Irish threw away a great opportunity to win one on the road. Cincinnati didn't deserve to take this one either, but they just managed to struggle a little less.

9-19 for Notre Dame from the charity stripe, a very surprising stat since ND typically puts together a pretty decent foul shooting team. Though we were able to overcome an offensive rebounding disparity against West Virginia, giving up 16 additional chances to the Bearcats ultimately led to our demise this afternoon. Fitting that the final points came on a Yancy Gates putback.

Harangody really hurt the cause, managing only 5-20 from the field with some really poor shot selection. His uncharacteristically poor foul shooting (2-6) was par for the course for ND. Good to see Joey Brooks get a little playing time, but overall this game was quite forgettable.

Tory Jackson bounced back after a few subpar nights on offense. 12 points on 6-8 shooting was good to see. He chipped in on defense with a couple steals, including one with 2:30 left in the game and the Irish holding onto a one point lead. That should have given us a chance to put the game away. Instead, the next possession led to two missed free throws, a huge wasted opportunity.

Ben Hansbrough was the culprit from the line with two minutes to go. He made a pair forty seconds earlier, but succumbed to the same issue as the rest of the team with a chance to go up three. He struggled shooting from outside, as well, but dished out five assists with no turnovers. Strange to see how he and Tory swapped roles a bit.

Tim Abromaitis also had some problems with his three-point shooting and was surprisingly rough from the line. Having missed only three attempts all year, he left three more points on the charity stripe. He did see some success hitting the glass, with 8 rebounds. Can't complain about his work in the paint, but he and Harangody didn't get nearly enough help boxing out.

Ty Nash fouled out in 13 minutes. No rebounds, one assist. A very poor showing when we needed a strong effort from our power forward.

Harangody was just awful on offense. 5-20, 14 points. His two point attempts were mostly related to midrange shots that would not fall. Normally very reliable from the foul line, he went 2-6.

Off the bench Peoples made a three pointer, but didn't do a whole lot other than that. Carleton Scott found a little success in 15 minutes, with 3 boards. Joey Brooks got on the floor for a couple minutes.

Once again, the team dropped this one for two reasons: lots of second chances for Cincy (especially Yancy Gates, including the game winner) and a really rough night on the foul line. Very frustrating to see a great chance slip through our fingers.