Most notable UC games

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Most notable UC games of all-time

I've had some free time lately, so I've been revamping the UC men's basketball Wikipedia page and added a lot of cool stuff to it (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Bearcats_men's_basketball). I was thinking of putting together a section of UC's most notable games (win or loss), I've got a decent list going right now, feel free to add to it in the comments section or on the wiki page itself. Please get the date if you can.

- The '61, '62, and '63 National Championship games (will fill in details later).
- 11/25/89: It was the school's first game under Bob Huggins, in their new arena, the Shoemaker Center. Walk-on Steve Sanders, who was also the school's football team's wide receiver for 4 years, hits the buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give UC a 66-64 win over #20 Minnesota.
- 12/17/94: UC trailed to Wyoming all game, but when down 2 in the final seconds, LaZelle Durden shot up a 3 point attempt as the final horn sounded. He was fouled, but hit all three free throws with no time on the clock. UC won 81-80, and Durden's 45 points were the most by a Bearcat in 34 years.
- 3/12/95: LaZelle Durden fired in the game-winning three pointer with 1.2 seconds to play in the conference championship game over Saint Louis, giving the Bearcats a 67-65 victory and clinching an NCAA Tournament birth.
- 2/11/96: The Bearcats had the ball under their own hoop in a tie game vs Arizona with just a few seconds left. Miles Simon strips the ball from Danny Fortson, and hits a three-quarters court buzzer-beater to beat UC 79-76.
- 2/19/98: All-American Ruben Patterson was awoken at 6:00 am this morning by Bob Huggins. The coach broke the news to him that his mother had a heart attack overnight and didn't make it. Ruben played the game that night anyway, after spending all day crying. He scored a career high 32 points in a 93-76 win over UAB.
- 3/15/98: Cincinnati took a 2 point lead with 7.1 seconds remaining against West Virginia in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament. Jarrod West of WV then came down and banked in a 30 foot 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds left, a shot that was tipped by Ruben Patterson. West Virginia advance to the Sweet Sixteen with a 75-74 win.
- 11/29/98: #14 Cincinnati took on #1 Duke in the Great Alaska Shootout championship. A tie game with 3 seconds left, Cincinnati ran a "hook-and-ladder" type play, that had Kenyon Martin hit an open Melvin Levett sprinting towards the hoop. Levett dunks the ball with one second left, and the Bearcats won 77-75. To this day, it is their lone win vs a #1 team.
- 3/2/00: DePaul lead the #2 Bearcats by 17, and by 10 with under 4 minutes remaining. The National POY Kenyon Martin took over, scoring 5 straight field goals for UC and had 2 key blocks down the stretch. With the game tied at 62, freshman DerMarr Johnson hit the game-winning jumper with 2.7 seconds left.
- 2/22/02: #9 Marquette lead #4 Cincinnati by 4 with 30 seconds remaining. Steve Logan hit a 3 pointer with 22 seconds left, then after a missed one-and-one free throw by Dwyane Wade, Donald Little hit a jumper with 3 seconds remaining. Cincinnati won 63-62 in their biggest win of the season.
- 3/9/12: Unranked Cincinnati took on #2 Syracuse (31-1) in the Big East Tournament semifinals. The Bearcats were hot out of the gate, hitting 8 of their first 10 three point attempts, jumping out to a 25-8 lead. Syracuse came roaring back in the game, getting it to a one point game with a few seconds left. A Justin Jackson dunk with a second remaining capped the Bearcats 71-68 win, the school's highest ranked opponent victory since 1998.

Let's see what you guys got!
 
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I would include the win over Florida State to get to the Sweet 16. That was the first win over a better seed in program history.
 
I've added a few, but does anyone remember Van Exel stealing an inbounds pass then hitting a buzzer beating jumper? I'd like more info on it; it starts around 0:18 in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cy_kkCrCzc

Yes, that was against UAB. It was not a steal from Van Exel, as the Bearcats had the last possesion. I believe they tried to get the ball down low to Blount, but it was knocked away. Nick picked it up, shot it in and ran all the way down the tunnel with the victory.

Sidenote on that game I think the final was 42-40 or thereabout. UAB knew they could not run up and down with us so they basically played a modern era 4 corners. I don't think they shot anything with more than 5 seconds left on the shot clock.
 
I would include the win over Florida State to get to the Sweet 16. That was the first win over a better seed in program history.

Was that the game with the Dion Dixon dunk? I will always remember that dunk, he slammed it and wagged his head at the camera. That showed that we meant business and we weren't going to be pushed over....
 
Lville@uc chane behanon freshmen year was best atmosphere been apart of, and pitino even quoted saying was best game
 
Thanks for posting that pieace, Robert. Brings back memories of watching that game. Yes, it was a very ugly one, but any victorious Bearcat buzzer beater is memorable in my book.

UAB led 15-11 at halftime!
 
Click the wikipedia link at the top; I've added a lot of good (and not so good) random ones that people forget about, like the 7 OT winner at Bradley in the '80s. Still the longest game in division I history. It was painful to add the Syracuse winner when McNamara hit that running 3 pointer in the BE tourney back in '06, but I felt it was necessary.
 
Steve Logan's senior day against Memphis (Dejuan Wagner) is the best UC game that I've seen live. Logan hit a ridiculous game-tying shot that bounced around the rim and went in as time expired. Cats won in OT. I'm not sure on the date of it.
 
Steve Logan's senior day against Memphis (Dejuan Wagner) is the best UC game that I've seen live. Logan hit a ridiculous game-tying shot that bounced around the rim and went in as time expired. Cats won in OT. I'm not sure on the date of it.

I was at that game too, sitting in the opposite student section so had a good view of that shot Logan hit. It did not look like it was going in at first, but the ball landed softly enough on one side of the rim and bounced in eventually as you said.

I recall Wagner having a great game. We could not stop him driving and banking in many shots. I believe that was Calipari's first Memphis team and they won the NIT that year.
 
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