Five Notable Crosstown Shootouts in Series History

Cincinnati holds the 51-37 series lead but Xavier has won 10 of the past 14 contests.

Author:
Russ Heltman
Updated:
Dec 7, 2021 5:24 PM EST

CINCINNATI — The best rivalry in college basketball (sorry, UNC-Duke) returns on Saturday night when the Cincinnati Bearcats battle the Xavier Musketeers in the 89th edition of the Crosstown Shootout.

"It's just a different energy," UC guard Mike Saunders said about Xavier after a 73-58 win over Bryant on Sunday. "They hate us, and we hate them. No love lost. We're just coming in there to win. That's the only thing we're really worried about."

The Bearcats lead the series 51-37 but are trying to shake a dominant stretch by the Musketeers. Xavier is 10-4 in the series since 2007, and ESPN projects the Musketeers to win the 89th matchup 79.7% of the time.

Let's take a look at five of the more notable battles between these two bitter rivals.

Feb. 27, 1946: 53-39 Cincinnati

Where it all began (sort of).

The Bearcats and head coach Ray Farnham battled the Musketeers for the third time ever on February 27, 1946. The matchup essentially kicked off the annual rivalry that's been played every season since. The two squads faced each other in 1928—when the Musketeers were known as St. Xavier college—and again in 1943. Xavier won both of those games.

Yet, the Bearcats got revenge in 1946 but struggled to an 8-13 record. John Wiethe replaced Farnham as coach the following season when UC entered the first of a seven-year run in the Mid-American Conference.

March 4, 1964: 94-92 Cincinnati

The Bearcats were in a dominant run over Xavier when the two teams played the second-highest scoring game in series history (99-90 UC in Jan. 96'). Xavier's Steve Thomas and Cincinnati's Ron Bonham lit up the Cincinnati Gardens. Thomas finished with a Musketeers series-record 45 points while Barnham tried matching him with 35 points of his own before being ejected from the game for fighting.

The contest was the ninth of 12 straight wins in the series by Cincinnati. Coaches George Smith and Ed Jucker led UC to 5 Final Fours and two National Championships (1961, 1962) from 1957-63. The 64' season was UC's first stumble in the run, finishing 17-9 and unranked in the AP Poll.

Jan. 29, 1992: 93-75 Cincinnati

UC transfer Terry Nelson called his shot, and the Bearcats answered the bell in an 18-point blowout behind Anthony Buford's 29 points. Nelson—a former Long Beach City College player turned Bearcat—oozed confidence about his team's chances in the Crosstown Shootout.

"Xavier doesn't have a chance. We should blow them out," Nelson said at the time. Huggins later said: "That's a big statement for a guy averaging three [points] a game."

Cincinnati rolled Xavier and ended up falling to Michigan in the Final Four 76-72. They are still searching for their next Final Four berth almost 30 years later.

Nov. 26, 1996: Xavier 71-69

Arguably the Musketeer's greatest win in this rivalry, Xavier guard Lenny Brown (19 points) made one of the biggest shots of his career to beat the buzzer for Xavier's two-point win over top-ranked Cincinnati. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, it was the program's first win over the No. 1 team in the AP Poll.

Brown skirted across the lane through the Bearcat defense to can a one-handed runner for the win. The shot began a stretch in the rivalry where Xavier won 4-of-5 meetings.

Dec. 19, 2012: Cincinnati 60-45

The 11th-ranked Bearcats easily beat Xavier by double-digits in a game most notable for off-court reasons. Due to the brawl a year prior, the 2012 and 2013 games were moved to U.S Bank Arena.

Officials called the game a year earlier with 9.4 seconds to play after a fight broke out between the bitter rivals. Suspensions were handed down to four players on each team, and the game moved to the off-campus site for the next two years.

Sean Kilpatrick led all scorers with 25 points in UC's win to move Cincinnati to 11-0. They fell in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to Doug McDermott (27 points) and Creighton 67-63.

UC would love a repeat of 2012 when they face off against their most-hated rival on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

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