TicketsLast night against the Hoosiers, the Bearcats showed a lot of heart in coming back from a 16-point deficit late in the second half to tie the ballgame at 57, but team discipline was sorely lacking. Looking at the box score, one thing jumps out: ball control. Neither team showed good discipline when in possession of the ball.
Cincinnati committed 17 turnovers, and Indiana scored 17 points off those turnovers. Indiana, on the other hand, coughed the ball up 20 times, and Cincinnati capitalized with 18 points off of Hoosier turnovers.
If all other things had stayed the same, let's say the Bearcats limited themselves to nine turnovers, and the Hoosiers only managed nine points off those turnovers. This would have given UC a 57-56 victory. Throwing aside the guessing game, it would have at least kept Cincinnati in the game until the final buzzer.
The Bearcats showed good discipline in the opener against Furman, but Indiana is a much better team than Furman, and they forced UC into a lot of errors. If UC wants to win these close games, the team will have to find a way to take better care of the basketball.
Especially when Big East conference play starts up, 17 turnovers will equate to a lot of league losses.