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By Bill Koch
GoBEARCATS.com
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - There were tears and disappointment in the University of Cincinnati locker room late Saturday afternoon when head coach Mick Cronin addressed his team and the emotion of what has been an unusual, and at times emotional, season finally hit home.
"Everybody was in tears," said junior forward Shaq Thomas, "even Coach Cronin."
But once the tears were gone and the reality of the Bearcats' 64-51 loss to top-ranked Kentucky set in, the UC players began to focus on what they had accomplished, playing for most of the season without their head coach, coming together as a young team under associate head coach Larry Davis, making a late-season push to play in their fifth straight NCAA Tournament, and not giving an inch to the undefeated Wildcats, who were playing in front of a crowd of 21,670 fans at the KFC Yum! Center, most of whom were wearing blue and screaming passionately for UK.
"We came to win the game today," said Cronin, who watched the game in Louisville coach Rick Pitino's office not far from the court. "We don't care who we're playing. We're trying to win a championship. I coach at a school that's been to Final Fours and has won national championships. That's what we're trying to get to. One good thing about playing this team is I think it sends a message to our guys where we've got to get to next year. We've got to use this as motivation every day because now we know what we're capable of."
No. 8 seed UC (23-11) led No. 1 seed Kentucky (36-0) by five midway through the first half, trailed by seven at halftime, came back to get within three in the second half, but was unable to hold off the deeper, bigger Wildcats, who advanced to the Sweet 16 and will play in the Midwest Regional next week in Cleveland.
But while there was a sense of pride over the way they competed, that's not the feeling the Bearcats were looking for when they got off the bus to start the afternoon.
"We can't be satisfied with this," said junior guard Farad Cobb.
The Bearcats believed that if they could hold their own on the glass and play their usual stellar defense, they would have a chance to upset top-ranked Kentucky. They more than held their own on the boards, out-rebounding the bigger Wildcats, 45-38, and limited them to 37 percent shooting, but simply didn't have enough offense to get the job done.
UC, which shot 31.7 percent for the game, made only 9 of 37 shots in the second half for 24.3 percent. The Bearcats were led by Troy Caupain, who scored 13 points. Octavius Ellis scored nine points with 10 rebounds, but Gary Clark was held to two points with no field goals and Cobb scored only two points on 1-of-7 shooting.
Aaron Harrison scored 13 for Kentucky and Trey Lyles had a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds. The Wildcats outscored UC, 20-9, from the free throw line.
"I thought Cincinnati played well," said Kentucky coach John Calipari. "They didn't back away. They came right at us."
It was a particularly frustrating game for Clark, who played only eight minutes in the first half after getting into foul trouble, and missed all four of his field goal attempts. Several of those occurred when the game was still close in the second half.
"If Gary Clark makes those two jump hooks and we make some free throws, it's a different game," Davis said. "In the heart of the game, it's a five or six-point game, and we got two point blank shots at the rim and those are shots that he has made. All of a sudden, it goes from four to six to eight and they get away from you."
The Bearcats had trouble all day scoring around the rim, but Clark said UK's huge front line was not the reason he missed those shots.
"I just didn't finish," Clark said.
UC led, 24-21, after Thomas' dunk with 3:42 left in the first half, but did not score again before intermission. Turnovers by Caupain and Cobb and three missed UC shots enabled Kentucky to close with a 10-0 run to take a 31-24 halftime lead. It didn't help that Ellis left the game for the final 2:44 of the half after he was hit in the back by a knee, although he did return to start the second half.
Despite that late UK run, Davis said, "Every guy that walked in that locker room said we can beat these guys."
In the end, Kentucky's defense was just too much, the Wildcats' bench too deep. The Bearcats continued to attack, but had more and more trouble getting the ball in the basket as the game wore on. At one point, midway through the second half, they missed six straight shots and eight of nine.
UC didn't shoot a free throw in the first half while Kentucky made 9 of 11. The Bearcats had better success getting to the line in the second half, but made only 9 of 14 free throws. Kentucky was 20 of 28 for the game. UC committed 14 turnovers to seven for the Wildcats.
During interviews with reporters after the game, almost every UC player picked up on Cronin's message to use this loss as motivation for the off-season and for next year.
"We worked hard all season," said Coreontae DeBerry. "It doesn't I feel good for the season to be over with, but we're going to be ready to play and make something happen next year."
Moments later, Cronin stood outside the locker room and praised his team for their determination in a difficult situation.
"I'm proud of Coach Davis," Cronin said. "I'm proud of the players. They did a tremendous job of developing this year and carrying on our tradition when I went down. Today wasn't our day. We missed a few chippies around the bucket, missed a few free throws that put us down seven or eight, which was tough for us to overcome because of the way Kentucky plays defense. That being said, I think today showed how close we are. I've got nothing but love for my players and Coach Davis and my whole coaching staff."
Bill Koch covered UC Athletics for 27 years - 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer - before joining the staff of GoBEARCATS.com in January, 2015 as featured columnist. Follow him on Twitter @bkoch.