Looking Back @ UC's Home Opener

So what was the big news that came out of the Bearcats hoop victory on Sunday. We look back at what made it special.

The Bearcats first game of the 2008-2009 regular season was a convincing win showing fans the strengths of this years team.

Deonta Vaughn becomes 45th player to break one thousand career points as a Bearcat.

While it was an off day for the 6-foot-1 , 190 pound Vaughn. A day when his shots would just not fall for him, The junior still found a way to score just enough to break the one thousand point mark. “It is everyone’s personal goal.” Said Vaughn “Being one of the top players to come out of the school in history means a lot.”

By breaking into the thousand point club in just the first game of his junior year Vaughn has set himself up to be just the second player from UC to break the two thousand point mark. The only player to be ahead of him and who holds the record now is the legend himself Oscar Robertson.

Coach Mick Cronin made the statement that he would be very surprised if Vaughn does not get there. He said barring injury and adding in the post season it should not be a problem. Also taking into consideration that he has very few post season appearances to count towards his point total, makes the feat even more plausible.

Freshman Yancy Gates came to the Bearcats with a lot of hype and lived up to his billing by having a huge game posting a double-double just eight minutes into the game. He ended the game with 16 points and 14 boards. When asked about starting his first game of Division-1 college hoops in such dominating fashion he casually said “I didn’t think too much of it, I just focused on the rebounds. The points come from offensive rebounds.”

Coach Cronin was more impressed with the number of deflections that Gates came up with. “That is something that he and I have really worked on. Me yelling and him hustling. I will never be happy with his performance until he is an All-American.”

What might be even better news for the ‘Cats is that they no longer need to rely on Vaughn to carry the team. “I don’t have to do too much, or try any more shots. We have more people who can score this year.” Vaughn said “Its better when we have more people who can score.”