2005–06 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team


The 2005–06 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team represented the University of Cincinnati during the 2005–06 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team played its home games in Cincinnati, Ohio at the Fifth Third Arena, which has a capacity of 13,176. They are members of the Big East Conference and were led by first-year head coach Andy Kennedy after the resignation of longtime coach Bob Huggins. The Bearcats finished the season 23–13, 8–8 in Big East play.

2005–06 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball
ConferenceBig East Conference (1979–2013)
Record21–13 (8–8 Big East)
Head coach
Home arenaFifth Third Arena
Seasons
2005–06 Big East men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 2 Connecticut 14 2   .875 30 4   .882
No. 3 Villanova 14 2   .875 28 5   .848
No. 22 West Virginia 11 5   .688 22 11   .667
Marquette 10 6   .625 20 11   .645
No. 23 Georgetown 10 6   .625 23 10   .697
No. 16 Pittsburgh 10 6   .625 25 8   .758
Seton Hall 9 7   .563 18 12   .600
Cincinnati 8 8   .500 21 13   .618
No. 21 Syracuse 7 9   .438 23 12   .657
Rutgers 7 9   .438 19 14   .576
Louisville 6 10   .375 21 13   .618
Notre Dame 6 10   .375 16 14   .533
DePaul* 5 11   .313 12 15   .444
Providence* 5 11   .313 12 15   .444
St. John's* 5 11   .313 12 15   .444
South Florida* 1 15   .063 7 22   .241
2006 Big East tournament winner
As of April 3, 2006[1]
Rankings from AP Poll
*Did not qualify for 2006 Big East tournament.

The Bearcats played in the 2006 NIT, as the 1 seed in their own region. The Bearcats advanced to the Quarterfinals, before losing to the eventual champion 3 seed South Carolina team.

Previous season

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The Bearcats finished the 2004–05 season 25–8, 12–4 in Conference USA play, finishing tied for second place. They entered as the No. 3 seed in the Conference USA tournament and were upset in the Quarterfinals by No. 11 seed South Florida.. The Bearcats were awarded an at-large bid to the 2005 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. As the No. 7 seed in the Austin region, they defeated No. 10 seed Iowa in the first round before falling to the No. 2 seed Kentucky.

Much of the offseason was filled with continued drama between then head coach Bob Huggins and University of Cincinnati president Nancy Zimpher. By late August, Huggins was given an ultimatum by Zimpher to resign or be fired. Huggins opted to resign and accept his buyout.[2] Zimpher said that the Bearcat program under Huggins didn't fit with her plan to upgrade UC's academic reputation.[3] However, she'd been seriously considering ousting Huggins since he was arrested for driving under the influence in 2004.[4] He ultimately pleaded no contest to DUI.[5]

Andy Kennedy was named head coach on an interim basis for the 2005–06 season.

Roster

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2005–06 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
F 1 DeAndre Coleman 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Fr Stephenson High School Stone Mountain, Georgia
G 1 Chadd Moore 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Sr Lee High School Huntsville, Alabama
G 2 Devan Downey 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Fr Chester High School Chester, South Carolina
G 3 Domonic Tilford 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Fr Jeffersontown High School Louisville, Kentucky
G 10 Pat Watt (W) 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Fr Moeller High School Cincinnati, Ohio
F 11 Connor Barwin (W) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Fr University of Detroit Jesuit High School Southfield, Michigan
G 13 Jihad Muhammad 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Sr San Jacinto College Plainfield, New Jersey
F 14 Eric Hicks (C) 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Sr James B. Dudley High School Greensboro, North Carolina
G 20 Branden Miller (W) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Fr Indian Hill High School Cincinnati, Ohio
F 21 James White 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Sr Florida Washington, D.C.
F 23 Ronald Allen 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Jr Xavier University of Louisiana Los Angeles, California
F 30 Cedric McGowan 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Jr Kilgore College Miami, Florida
G 32 Angelo Craig (W) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Fr Glenville High School Cleveland, Ohio
G 33 Armein Kirkland 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Sr Robert E. Lee High School Tyler, Texas
F 51 Erick Murray (W) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Jr Westerville North High School Westerville, Ohio
F 53 Scott Benken (W)
215 lb (98 kg) Sr Vanderbilt Cincinnati, Ohio
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster
Last update: 9 Jun 2020

Schedule and results

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Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Exhibition
November 3, 2005*
7:00pm
Hillsdale W 99–71 
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
November 12, 2005*
7:00pm
Northern Kentucky W 96–60 
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
Regular Season
November 19, 2005*
7:00pm
Murray State W 79–75 OT 1–0
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
November 22, 2005*
8:00pm
Illinois State W 76–59  2–0
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
November 25, 2005*
8:00pm
Holy Cross W 63–51  3–0
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
November 29, 2005*
8:00pm
Dayton L 66–75  3–1
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
December 3, 2005*
3:00pm
No. 9 Memphis
Rivalry
L 81–91  3–2
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
December 10, 2005*
6:00pm
at Vanderbilt W 92–83  4–2
Memorial Gymnasium 
Nashville, TN
December 14, 2005*
8:00pm
Ohio W 86–58  5–2
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
December 17, 2005*
7:00pm
Tennessee Tech
Las Vegas Holiday Classic
W 105–62  6–2
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
December 19, 2005*
7:00pm
Arkansas–Monticello
Las Vegas Holiday Classic
W 84–63  7–2
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
December 22, 2005*
10:30pm
vs. Dayton
Las Vegas Holiday Classic
W 81–63  8–2
Valley High School 
Las Vegas, Nevada
December 23, 2005*
10:30pm
vs. LSU
Las Vegas Holiday Classic
W 75–72  9–2
Valley High School 
Las Vegas, Nevada
December 28, 2005*
8:00pm
Miami (OH) W 75–65  10–2
US Bank Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
December 30, 2005*
7:00pm
North Carolina A&T W 105–69  11–2
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
January 4, 2006
7:00pm
DePaul W 82–60  12–2
(1–0)
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
January 7, 2006
12:00pm
at Marquette W 70–66  13–2
(2–0)
Bradley Center 
Milwaukee, WI
January 9, 2006
7:00pm
at No. 2 Connecticut L 59–70  13–3
(2–1)
Hartford Civic Center 
Hartford, CT
January 14, 2006
8:00pm
No. 25 Syracuse L 58–77  13–4
(2–2)
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
January 19, 2006*
9:00pm
at Xavier
Crosstown Shootout
L 71–73 OT 13–5
Cintas Center 
Cincinnati, OH
January 22, 2006
2:00pm
Rutgers W 71–66  14–5
(3–2)
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
January 25, 2006
7:30pm
at No. 22 Louisville
Rivalry
L 50–67  14–6
(3–3)
Freedom Hall 
Louisville, KY
January 28, 2006
12:00pm
at No. 21 Georgetown L 57–76  14–7
(3–4)
Verizon Center 
Washington, D.C.
January 31, 2006
8:00pm
South Florida W 73–60  15–7
(4–4)
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
February 4, 2006
12:00pm
at No. 11 West Virginia L 57–66  15–8
(4–5)
WVU Coliseum 
Morgantown, WV
February 6, 2006
7:00pm
Louisville
Rivalry
W 74–68  16–8
(5–5)
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
February 12, 2006
8:00pm
at No. 14 Pittsburgh L 69–89  16–9
(5–6)
Petersen Events Center 
Pittsburgh, PA
February 15, 2006
7:30pm
at Syracuse W 85–65  17–9
(6–6)
Carrier Dome 
Syracuse, NY
February 17, 2006
8:00pm
Providence W 66–64  18–9
(7–6)
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
February 23, 2006
9:00pm
No. 2 Villanova L 72–74  18–10
(7–7)
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
February 28, 2006
8:00pm
at Seton Hall L 62–72  18–11
(7–8)
Continental Airlines Arena 
East Rutherford, NJ
March 4, 2006
12:00pm
No. 16 West Virginia W 78–75  19–11
(8–8)
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
Big East tournament
March 8, 2006
12:00pm
(8) vs. (9) Syracuse
First Round
L 73–74  19–12
Madison Square Garden 
New York, NY
National Invitational Tournament
March 17, 2006
8:00pm
(1) (9) Charlotte
First Round
W 86–80  20–12
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
March 21, 2006
9:00pm
(1) (4) Minnesota
Second Round
W 76–62  21–12
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
March 23, 2006
6:00pm
(1) (3) South Carolina
Quarterfinal
L 62–65  21–13
Fifth Third Arena 
Cincinnati, OH
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Eastern Time.

[6][7]

References

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  1. ^ "2005-06 Big East Conference Season Summary: Standings" sports-reference.com. Retrieved 11-14-2013.
  2. ^ "Huggins must resign or be fired in next 24 hours". ESPN.com. ESPN. August 23, 2005. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  3. ^ "Huggins Isn't Quite Finished at UC". WLWT. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008.
  4. ^ Rozin, Skip (March 30, 2006). "The Basketball Coach Vs. the College President". The Wall Street Journal.
  5. ^ "Huggins Pleads No Contest To DUI Charge - Sports News Story - WLWT Cincinnati". Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
  6. ^ "2019–20 Cincinnati Bearcats Men's Basketball Media Guide". issuu.com. GoBearcats. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  7. ^ "2006-07 Cincinnati Bearcats Men's Basketball Schedule". GoBearcats.com. University of Cincinnati Athletics.