# 2011–12 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team

The 2011–12 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team represented the University of Cincinnati during the 2011–12 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 were members of the Big East Conference.

## Offseason
### Departing players

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Eddie Tyree | 2 | G | 5'10" | 180 | Senior | Columbus, Ohio | Walk-on; graduated |
| Larry Davis | 11 | G | 6'3" | 185 | Senior | Houston, Texas | Graduated |
| Darnell Wilks | 15 | F | 6'7" | 205 | Senior | Nashville, Tennessee | Graduated |
| Rashad Bishop | 22 | F | 6'6" | 220 | Senior | Paterson, New Jersey | Graduated |
| Anthony McBride | 25 | G | 6'2" | 180 | RS Freshman | Cincinnati, Ohio | Walk-on; did not return |
| Anthony McClain | 30 | F | 7'0" | 290 | Senior | Trenton, New Jersey | Graduated |
| Ibrahima Thomas | 32 | F | 6'11" | 235 | Senior | Dakar, Senegal | Graduated |

### Incoming Transfers

| Name | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Cheikh Mbodj | F | 6'10" | 227 | Junior | Dakar, Senegal | Junior college transferred from Grayson College |

### Recruiting class of 2011

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Ge'Lawn Guyn SG | Lexington, KY | South Kent Prep | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Jul 1, 2010 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 91 ||||||
| Shaq Thomas SF | Paterson, NJ | NIA Prep | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Sep 10, 2010 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 92 ||||||
| Jermaine Sanders SF | New York, NY | Rice High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 205 lb (93 kg) | Sep 27, 2010 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 91 ||||||
| Jeremiah Davis III SG | Muncie, IN | Huntington Prep | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Nov 13, 2010 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 90 ||||||
| Octavius Ellis PF | Memphis, TN | Whitehaven High School | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 89 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: 247Sports: 26 ||||||
| 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 2011 Player Commits". ESPN.com. Retrieved May 15, 2020. "2011 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved May 15, 2020. ||||||

## Roster
### Depth chart

| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 |
| C | Yancy Gates | Cheikh Mbodj | Octavius Ellis |
| PF | JaQuon Parker | Justin Jackson | Kelvin Gaines |
| SF | Sean Kilpatrick | Jermaine Sanders | |
| SG | Dion Dixon | Jeremiah Davis III | Alex Eppensteiner |
| PG | Cashmere Wright | Ge'Lawn Guyn | |
Source

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 1, 2011* 7:00pm | No. 21 | McGill | W 75–41 | – | Fifth Third Arena (3,484) Cincinnati, OH |
| November 8, 2011* 7:00pm | No. 21 | Northern Kentucky | W 66–54 | – | Fifth Third Arena (5,329) Cincinnati, OH |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 13, 2011* 7:00pm, FS Ohio | No. 21 | Alabama State | W 65–40 | 1–0 | Fifth Third Arena (4,264) Cincinnati, OH |
| November 15, 2011* 7:00pm, FS Ohio | No. 20 | Jacksonville State | W 79–63 | 2–0 | Fifth Third Arena (4,152) Cincinnati, OH |
| November 19, 2011* 4:00 pm | No. 20 | Presbyterian | L 54–56 | 2–1 | Fifth Third Arena (4,960) Cincinnati, OH |
| November 21, 2011* 7:00pm, FS Ohio | | Northwestern State | W 71–43 | 3–1 | Fifth Third Arena (4,505) Cincinnati, OH |
| November 25, 2011* 7:00pm, ESPN3 | | Marshall | L 69–73 $^{OT}$ | 3–2 | Fifth Third Arena (7,201) Cincinnati, OH |
| November 29, 2011* 7:00pm, FS Ohio | | Miami (OH) | W 56–47 | 4–2 | Fifth Third Arena (6,457) Cincinnati, OH |
| December 2, 2011* 7:00pm, ESPNU | | at Georgia SEC–Big East Challenge | W 57–51 | 5–2 | Stegeman Coliseum (6,796) Athens, GA |
| December 10, 2011* 12:30pm, ESPN2 | | at No. 8 Xavier Crosstown Shootout | L 53–76 | 5–3 | Cintas Center (10,250) Cincinnati, OH |
| December 14, 2011* 7:00pm, ESPN2 | | at Wright State | W 78–58 | 6–3 | Nutter Center (5,097) Dayton, OH |
| December 17, 2011* 2:00pm, ESPN3 | | Radford | W 101–70 | 7–3 | Fifth Third Arena (4,771) Cincinnati, OH |
| December 21, 2011* 7:00pm, FS Ohio | | Arkansas-Pine Bluff | W 101–53 | 8–3 | Fifth Third Arena (4,874) Cincinnati, OH |
| December 23, 2011* 7:00pm, FS Ohio | | Chicago State | W 95–60 | 9–3 | Fifth Third Arena (5,321) Cincinnati, OH |
| December 29, 2011* 9:00pm, ESPNU | | vs. Oklahoma | W 56–55 | 10–3 | US Bank Arena (4,439) Cincinnati, OH |
| Big East Regular Season ||||||
| January 1, 2012 7:00pm, FS Ohio/BIG EAST Network | | at No. 22 Pittsburgh | W 66–63 | 11–3 (1–0) | Petersen Events Center (12,508) Pittsburgh, PA |
| January 4, 2012 7:00pm, FS Ohio/BIG EAST Network | | Notre Dame | W 71–55 | 12–3 (2–0) | Fifth Third Arena (10,142) Cincinnati, OH |
| January 7, 2012 2:00pm, FS Ohio/BIG EAST Network | | St. John's | L 55–57 | 12–4 (2–1) | Fifth Third Arena (8,820) Cincinnati, OH |
| January 9, 2012 9:00pm, ESPNU | | at No. 11 Georgetown | W 68–64 | 13–4 (3–1) | Verizon Center (7,877) Washington, D.C. |
| January 14, 2012 12:00pm, CinCW/BIG EAST Network | | Villanova | W 82–78 | 14–4 (4–1) | Fifth Third Arena (10,205) Cincinnati, OH |
| January 18, 2012 7:00pm, ESPN2 | | at No. 11 Connecticut | W 70–67 | 15–4 (5–1) | Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (10,167) Storrs, CT |
| January 21, 2012 3:00pm, ESPNU | | at West Virginia | L 74–77 | 15–5 (5–2) | WVU Coliseum (14,070) Morgantown, WV |
| January 23, 2012 7:00pm, ESPN | | No. 3 Syracuse BIG MONDAY | L 53–60 | 15–6 (5–3) | Fifth Third Arena (13,176) Cincinnati, OH |
| January 28, 2012 6:00pm, FS Ohio/BIG EAST Network | | at Rutgers | L 54–61 | 15–7 (5–4) | The RAC (7,693) Piscataway, NJ |
| February 4, 2012 7:00pm, FS Ohio/BIG EAST Network | | DePaul | W 74–66 | 16–7 (6–4) | Fifth Third Arena (10,450) Cincinnati, OH |
| February 8, 2012 7:00pm, ESPNU | | at St. John's | W 76–54 | 17–7 (7–4) | Madison Square Garden (7,618) New York, NY |
| February 11, 2012 3:00pm, ESPNU | | at No. 18 Marquette | L 78–95 | 17–8 (7–5) | Bradley Center (18,815) Milwaukee, WI |
| February 15, 2012 9:00pm, ESPNU | | Providence | W 81–66 | 18–8 (8–5) | Fifth Third Arena (7,822) Cincinnati, OH |
| February 18, 2012 4:00pm, FS Ohio/BIG EAST Network | | Seton Hall | W 72–67 | 19–8 (9–5) | Fifth Third Arena (13,003) Cincinnati, OH |
| February 23, 2012 9:00pm, ESPN | | No. 17 Louisville Rivalry | W 60–56 | 20–8 (10–5) | Fifth Third Arena (13,176) Cincinnati, OH |
| February 26, 2012 12:00pm, CinCW/BIG EAST Network | | at South Florida | L 45–46 | 20–9 (10–6) | Tampa Bay Times Forum (6,784) Tampa, FL |
| February 29, 2012 7:00pm, ESPN2 | | No. 8 Marquette | W 72–61 | 21–9 (11–6) | Fifth Third Arena (11,316) Cincinnati, OH |
| March 3, 2012 2:00pm, ESPN | | at Villanova | W 72–68 | 22–9 (12–6) | The Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, PA |
| Big East tournament ||||||
| March 8, 2012 2:00pm, ESPN | (4) | vs. (5) No. 13 Georgetown Quarterfinals | W 72–70 $^{2OT}$ | 23–9 | Madison Square Garden (20,057) New York, NY |
| March 9, 2012 7:00pm, ESPN | (4) | vs. (1) No. 2 Syracuse Semifinals | W 71–68 | 24–9 | Madison Square Garden (20,057) New York, NY |
| March 10, 2012 9:00pm, ESPN | (4) | vs. (7) Louisville Championship/Rivalry | L 44–50 | 24–10 | Madison Square Garden (20,057) New York, NY |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 16, 2012* 12:15pm, CBS | (E 6) | vs. (E 11) Texas Second Round | W 65–59 | 25–10 | Bridgestone Arena Nashville, TN |
| March 18, 2012* 9:40pm, TBS | (E 6) | vs. (E 3) No. 10 Florida State Third Round | W 62–56 | 26–10 | Bridgestone Arena (11,033) Nashville, TN |
| March 22, 2012* 9:45 p.m., CBS | (E 6) | vs. (E 2) No. 7 Ohio State Sweet Sixteen | L 66–81 | 26–11 | TD Garden (18,796) Boston, MA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. (#) during NCAA Tournament is seed with Region.. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked т = Tied with team above or below :
| | 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 |
| AP | 21 | 20 | — | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Not released |
| Coaches | 22 | 20 т | — | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 18 |

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

* Sean Kilpatrick

#### Player of the Week

* Week 7: Sean Kilpatrick
* Week 9: Dion Dixon