# 2009–10 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team

The 2009–10 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team represented the University of Cincinnati during the 2009–10 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. The Bearcats finished the season 19–16, 7–11 in Big East play and advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2010 Big East men's basketball tournament before losing to eventual champion West Virginia. They were invited to the 2010 National Invitation Tournament where they advanced to the second round before falling to Dayton.

## Offseason
### Departing players

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Brandon Miller | 20 | G | 6'4" | 195 | Senior | Cincinnati, Ohio | Walk-on; graduated |
| Mike Williams | 21 | F | 6'7" | 240 | Senior | Camden, Alabama | Graduated |
| Alvin Mitchell | 23 | F | 6'5" | 210 | Freshman | Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | Transferred to Mountain State University |
| Kenny Belton | 32 | F | 6'8" | 225 | Sophomore | Salem, Virginia | Left team due to injury |

### Incoming Transfers

| Name | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Eddie Tyree | G | 5'10" | 180 | Junior | Columbus, OH | Walk-on; transferred from Thomas More. |
| Ibrahima Thomas | F | 6'11" | 235 | Junior | Dakar, Senegal | Transferred from Oklahoma State during the 2008–09 season. Thomas will have two years of eligibility remaining after sitting out the first seven games of the 2009–10 season. |

### Recruiting class of 2009

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Sean Kilpatrick SG | White Plains, New York | Notre Dame Prep | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 210 lb (95 kg) | |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 87 ||||||
| JaQuon Parker PG | Suffolk, Virginia | King's Fork High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Jun 2, 2009 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 89 ||||||
| Lance Stephenson G | Brooklyn, New York | Abraham Lincoln High School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 195 lb (88 kg) | Jun 30, 2009 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 97 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: 247Sports: 45 ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Cincinnati 2009 Player Commits". ESPN.com. Retrieved May 15, 2020. "2009 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved May 15, 2020. ||||||

### Recruiting class of 2010

US college sports recruiting information for 2010 recruits :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Justin Jackson F | Cocoa Beach, Florida | Arlington Country Day School | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 220 lb (100 kg) | Aug 27, 2009 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 94 |||||||
| Kelvin Gaines F | Ocala, Florida | Arlington Country Day School | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | 225 lb (102 kg) | Nov 17, 2009 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 90 |||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: 247Sports: 86 |||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Cincinnati 2010 Player Commits". ESPN.com. Retrieved May 15, 2020. "2010 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved May 15, 2020. |||||||

## Roster
### Depth chart

| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 |
| C | Ibrahima Thomas | Steve Toyloy | Anthony McClain |
| PF | Yancy Gates | Darnell Wilks | |
| SF | Rashad Bishop | JaQuon Parker | Alex Eppensteiner |
| SG | Lance Stephenson | Dion Dixon | Larry Davis |
| PG | Deonta Vaughn | Cashmere Wright | Eddie Tyree |
Source

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 5, 2009* 7:30pm | | Saginaw Valley State | W 86–58 | | Fifth Third Arena (6,558) Cincinnati, OH |
| November 12, 2009* 7:30pm | | Bellarmine | W 76–69 | | Fifth Third Arena (6,653) Cincinnati, OH |
| Regular Season ||||||
| November 16, 2009* 7:30pm | | Prairie View A&M | W 69–62 | 1–0 | Fifth Third Arena (6,777) Cincinnati, OH |
| November 18, 2009* 7:30pm, FS Ohio | | Toledo | W 92–68 | 2–0 | Fifth Third Arena (7,010) Cincinnati, OH |
| November 23, 2009* 5:30pm, ESPN2 | | vs. No. 24 Vanderbilt Maui Invitational | W 67–58 | 3–0 | Lahaina Civic Center (2,400) Maui, HI |
| November 24, 2009* 7:00pm, ESPN | | vs. No. 21 Maryland Maui Invitational | W 69–57 | 4–0 | Lahaina Civic Center (2,400) Maui, HI |
| November 25, 2009* 10:00pm, ESPN | | vs. Gonzaga Maui Invitational | L 61–59 $^{OT}$ | 4–1 | Lahaina Civic Center (2,400) Maui, HI |
| December 1, 2009* 7:30pm, FS Ohio | No. 22 | Texas Southern | W 94–57 | 5–1 | Fifth Third Arena (6,825) Cincinnati, OH |
| December 10, 2009* 8:30pm, ESPN2 | No. 19 | Miami (OH) | W 63–59 | 6–1 | U.S. Bank Arena (6,280) Cincinnati, OH |
| December 13, 2009* 7:00pm, ESPNU | No. 19 | at Xavier Crosstown Shootout | L 83–79 $^{2OT}$ | 6–2 | Cintas Center (10,250) Cincinnati, OH |
| December 16, 2009* 7:00pm, CBSCS | No. 25 | at UAB | L 64–47 | 6–3 | Bartow Arena (6,939) Birmingham, AL |
| December 19, 2009* 2:00pm, FS Ohio | No. 25 | Lipscomb | W 80–52 | 7–3 | Fifth Third Arena (6,647) Cincinnati, OH |
| December 22, 2009* 7:30pm, FS Ohio | | Winthrop | W 74–57 | 8–3 | Fifth Third Arena (7,292) Cincinnati, OH |
| December 30, 2009 7:00pm, ESPNU | | No. 10 Connecticut | W 71–69 | 9–3 (1–0) | Fifth Third Arena (10,409) Cincinnati, OH |
| January 2, 2010 8:00pm, FS Ohio | | at Rutgers | W 65–58 | 10–3 (2–0) | the RAC (5,651) Piscataway, NJ |
| January 4, 2010 7:00pm, ESPN | | No. 23 Pittsburgh | L 71–69 | 10–4 (2–1) | Fifth Third Arena (8,699) Cincinnati, OH |
| January 6, 2010* 7:30pm, FS Ohio | | Cal State Bakersfield | W 87–58 | 11–4 | Fifth Third Arena (7,168) Cincinnati, OH |
| January 9, 2010 6:00pm, FS Ohio | | at Seton Hall | L 83–76 | 11–5 (2–2) | Prudential Center (7,551) Newark, NJ |
| January 13, 2010 6:00pm, ESPNU | | at St. John's | L 52–50 | 11–6 (2–3) | Madison Square Garden (7,040) New York, NY |
| January 16, 2010 4:00pm, ESPNU | | Notre Dame | W 60–58 | 12–6 (3–3) | Fifth Third Arena (11,589) Cincinnati, OH |
| January 20, 2010 7:00pm, ESPN2 | | South Florida | W 78–70 | 13–6 (4–3) | Fifth Third Arena (7,306) Cincinnati, OH |
| January 24, 2010 12:00pm, FS Ohio | | at Louisville Rivalry | L 68–60 | 13–7 (4–4) | Freedom Hall (18,617) Louisville, KY |
| January 30, 2010 8:00pm, ESPNU | | Providence | W 92–88 | 14–7 (5–4) | Fifth Third Arena (10,045) Cincinnati, OH |
| February 4, 2010 9:00pm, ESPN2 | | at Notre Dame | L 83–65 | 14–8 (5–5) | Edmund P. Joyce Center (8,530) Notre Dame, IN |
| February 7, 2010 2:00pm, FS Ohio | | No. 3 Syracuse | L 71–54 | 14–9 (5–6) | Fifth Third Arena (11,045) Cincinnati, OH |
| February 13, 2010 12:00pm, WKRC | | at Connecticut | W 60–48 | 15–9 (6–6) | XL Center (14,605) Hartford, CT |
| February 16, 2010 7:00pm, ESPNU | | at South Florida | L 65–57 | 15–10 (6–7) | USF Sun Dome (6,607) Tampa, FL |
| February 21, 2010 2:00pm, FS Ohio | | Marquette | L 79–76 $^{OT}$ | 15–11 (6–8) | Fifth Third Arena (10,192) Cincinnati, OH |
| February 24, 2010 7:00pm, FS Ohio | | DePaul | W 74–69 | 16–11 (7–8) | Fifth Third Arena (8,111) Cincinnati, OH |
| February 27, 2010 2:00pm, WKRC | | at No. 8 West Virginia | L 74–68 | 16–12 (7–9) | WVU Coliseum (12,598) Morgantown, WV |
| March 2, 2010 7:00pm, ESPN2 | | No. 9 Villanova | L 77–73 | 16–13 (7–10) | Fifth Third Arena (11,076) Cincinnati, OH |
| March 6, 2010 12:00pm, ESPN | | at No. 19 Georgetown | L 74–47 | 16–14 (7–11) | Verizon Center (17,054) Washington, D.C. |
| Big East tournament ||||||
| March 9, 2010 9:30pm, ESPNU | (11) | vs. (14) Rutgers First Round | W 69–68 | 17–14 | Madison Square Garden (19,375) New York, NY |
| March 10, 2010 9:30pm, ESPN | (11) | vs. (6) Louisville Second Round/Rivalry | W 69–66 | 18–14 | Madison Square Garden (19,375) New York, NY |
| March 11, 2010 9:30pm, ESPN | (11) | vs. (3) No. 7 West Virginia Quarterfinals | L 54–51 | 18–15 | Madison Square Garden (19,375) New York, NY |
| National Invitation Tournament ||||||
| March 17, 2010* 7:00pm, ESPN2 | (2) | (7) Weber State First Round | W 76–62 | 19–15 | Fifth Third Arena (2,410) Cincinnati, OH |
| March 22, 2010* 9:00pm, ESPN | (2) | (3) Dayton Second Round | L 81–66 | 19–16 | Fifth Third Arena (6,479) Cincinnati, OH |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ||||||
Source

## Awards and milestones
### Big East Conference honors
#### All-Big East Awards

* Rookie of the Year: Lance Stephenson

#### All-Big East Rookie Team

* Lance Stephenson

#### Rookie of the Week

* Week 1: Lance Stephenson
* Week 4: Lance Stephenson
* Week 11: Cashmere Wright
* Week 15: Lance Stephenson
* Week 16: Lance Stephenson
Source

## Rankings

| Ranking Movement | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Final |
| USA Today/ESPN Coaches | | | 24 | 19 | RV | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Associated Press | | | 22 | 19 | 25 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
$^{1-Notethatrankingsabove25arenotofficialrankings.Theyarerepresentationsofrankingbasedonthenumberofpointsreceivedintheweeklypoll.}$