This evening the Nasty Nati squad took on Zip ‘Em Up in the round of 32 in this summer’s annual The Basketball Tournament. A rivalry that dates back nearly 77 years and is one of the most historic college rivalries in all of college basketball, but for the first time ever we will get to experience that a couple months early.
Nasty Nati advanced after an 88-76 victory last night over TMT, behind huge nights from Jarron Cumberland, who finished with a game high 28 points, nine rebounds, on 8-of-16 shooting. Jacob Evans also dished out 24 points en route to the Bearcats first ever TBT V=victory. Zip ‘Em Up, advanced after a huge come from behind victory in the elam ending. Zip Em up silenced Georgia Kingz after a 15-2 run to end the game, setting up a date with Nasty Nati.
Earlier this afternoon videos surfaced of each team showing their mutual respect to the opposing team’s placards ahead of shootaround, which sparked some tensions early ahead of this evening’s contest. The rivalry has sure started to set in ahead of this one, and the fans were sure loving every bit of it ahead of this one here at Cintas Center.
Zip ‘Em Up would be without JP Macura for this highly anticipated matchup due to a back injury. However, that wouldn’t stop Zip ‘Em Up from jumping out to an early 6-0 lead forcing an early Nasty Nati timeout just 90 second into this one here at Cintas. Nasty Nati would then settle in after Cashmere Wright called the early timeout to settle to nerves of the former Bearcats.
Nasty Nati would then rattle off an 16-0 run to take their first lead of the game following a huge five-point play after Jacob Evans buries a triple, following a Mamoudou Diarra dunk off the fast break from Jarron Cumberland. Nasty Nati would push the tempo and take a huge 22-9 lead heading into the 2nd quarter behind eight early points from Jacob Evans.
Zip ‘Em Up would just shoot 5-of-26 from the field in the first 15 minutes of play. Nasty Nati would take advantage of the stops and continue to find ways to execute early and just like that Nasty Nati would find their way to the driver’s seat. Nasty Nati would go on a huge 30-5 run since the timeout at the 7-minute mark of the first quarter.
Zip ‘Em Up head coach Rick Carter had to find a way to get some offense going, and they did that after the final timeout. Zip Em Up would cut the early deficit to single digits after a huge three from JD Weatherspoon, that sparked some huge momentum for Zip ‘Em up heading into the break. Rick Carter and staff made some early adjustments and really settled in and cut the lead to single digits at the half after shooting 6-of-6 in the final segment.
Nasty Nati would take a 35-28 lead at the break, behind 11 points each from Jarron Cumberland and Jacob Evans. However, Zip ‘Em Up really settled in and was starting to trim Nasty Nati’s early lead in the final 7 minutes. All the momentum was favoring Zip ‘Em Up at the break, but could Nasty Nati make the adjustments coming out of the break to silence the Xavier crowd on their home court.
