Kilpatrick Shines as No. 11 Cincinnati Beat Arkansas-Little Rock

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Unbeaten No. 11 Cincinnati Bearcats thrashed Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans 87-53 Thursday night.

Sean Kilpatrick had 18 points and six rebounds, making seven out of 17 attempts from the field.

"We're proud, but that's expected," the Associated Press quoted Kilpatrick as saying. "That's something we have to keep doing every game and continue to get better at.

"I'm not sitting here saying I'm satisfied with it. I appreciate it, but we've got to keep doing it every night."

The Bearcats, who started off the season well with eight consecutive victories and had the highest rankings since 2003-04, completely outclassed Arkansas by scoring 44 points against the opponents' 17 in the first half.

"We've still got to get better with our offensive execution at times," Mick Cronin said. "We're careless with the ball, taking ill-advised shots at times."

Seeing his team struggling in the court, Trojans coach Steve Shields called timeouts several times to try and help his side find some rhythm while trying to disrupt Cincinnati's momentum; however, it was to no avail.

"I knew coming in we had to have poise and toughness with the ball," Shields said. "I thought Cincinnati did a good job of taking us out of what we wanted to do offensively and forced us to play at a pace we didn't want to play at."

Arkansas shot badly from the field and they completed only 20 out of 50 attempts, while the Bearcats made 34 out of 71 attempts. Similarly the Trojans could grab only 27 rebounds, whereas the Bearcats had 37.

For Cincinnati, Cheikh Mbodj added 12 points and seven rebounds. He was perfect from the field, making all four of his shots. David Nyarsuk also scored 12 points and had six rebounds. He made five out of six attempts.

For Arkansas-Little Rock, Will Neighbour, Ben Dillard and James White had ten points apiece. Neighbour also grabbed six rebounds, while Dillard had three out of three attempts from the field.

"When they're rattled, it's better for us because they start turning the ball over," Kilpatrick said. "(You see) their facial expressions. They can't get it over the half-court mark.

"Then, most importantly, it's the coach. If you can look at the coach and he's really frustrated, that's the last thing you want as a player."

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