After an ugly fight between Xavier and Cincinnati on Saturday that featured many punches from both sides, the punishment for the Bearcats is being meted out first: Yancy Gates will be suspended for six games for his role in the fight, according to Tom Gelehrter, a director of broadcasting at the University at Cincinnati and FOX Sports broadcaster, as will Cheikh Mbodj and Octavius Ellis. Ge'Lawn Guyn will be suspended for one game.
Gates and Mbodj both came under the most scrutiny for their actions on Saturday: Gates threw multiple punches, including one that knocked Xavier center Kenny Frease to the ground, and Mbodj kicked Frease's face while he was down, leaving him bloodied. Ellis and Guyn had less visible roles in the fight.
Cincinnati's next four games — against Wright State, Radford, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and Chicago State — are not expected to test the Bearcats. But the fifth and sixth games of the suspensions handed down to Gates, Mbodj, and Ellis are a stiff non-conference test against Oklahoma and Cincinnati's Big East opener against Pittsburgh.