'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Markel Starks had 14 points and D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera added 13 off the bench, including a tiebreaking 3-pointer that sparked a game-turning run for the top-seeded Hoyas (25-5).
Sean Kilpatrick scored 17 points to lead Cincinnati past Providence 61-44 on Wednesday in a Big East tournament game between teams desperate to improve their postseason credentials.
The Cincinnati Bearcats are making it an Ohio party in the NCAA tournament, giving the Buckeye State four teams in the final 16.
This year's Big East championship will have a slight midwestern accent and a touch of a southern twang.
Cincinnati forward Yancy Gates got a six-game suspension on Sunday for throwing punches during a brawl with No. 8 Xavier in the closing minute of their annual crosstown rivalry game.
Spend five minutes in the Cincinnati Bearcats’ locker room and you can easily forget their 48-point loss in the Big East tournament and easily remember that this team won its first 15 games this season. That was the team that showed up at Verizon Center on Thursday night, as sixth-seeded Cincinnati rolled over 11th-seeded Missouri 78-63 to set up a date with conference rival UConn on Saturday.
"We know they're a great team, but like we talked about earlier, we're a great team as well," Kilpatrick said. "Especially the way we're playing defense the way we are. We're a team that's hungry. We're a team that's not going to back down from anyone, and we're going to come out and give our best fight every night."
Big East tournament: Cincinnati beats Providence, will face Georgetown →
Sean Kilpatrick said that Holloway wouldn't start if he played for the Bearcats.
