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By Bill Koch
Go.BEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI - The trademark of the University of Cincinnati basketball team in the early stages of the 2015-16 season has been its free-flowing offense and ability to score in transition. Even against overmatched opponents the Bearcats have been fun to watch.
But the entertainment value was harder to locate Sunday against Arkansas-Pine Bluff unless you're a connoisseur of free throw shooting.
The Golden Lions, from the Southwest Athletic Conference, committed 37 fouls which led to a school-record 59 foul shots for UC. The Bearcats made 41 of them on the way to a 99-50 win before 6,083 fans at Fifth Third Arena in the first of four games UC will play in the Barclays Center Classic.
The 37 fouls were the second-most ever committed by a UC opponent, falling three short of the 40 committed by Louisville on Feb. 22, 2003 at Louisville. That was the game in which the Bearcats attempted 58 free throws, which was the previous record. UC made 42 of them, one more than Sunday's output.
For the overmatched Golden Lions (1-3), this was the fourth of 17 straight road games to start the season. They lost at No. 13 Michigan State, 92-46, on Friday.
UC (4-0) shot 69.5 percent from the line, which was more than enough to overcome UAPB, but not enough to suit UC coach Mick Cronin.
"Obviously they had to foul us around the rim because of the size differential," Cronin said. "It was a chance for us to work on our big guys making free throws, which we've got to do. We did early and we did late and in the middle we struggled at the foul line a little bit."
Farad Cobb scored 20 points to lead the Bearcats for the third straight game. Octavius Ellis scored 12 points with five rebounds, Coreontae DeBerry scored 11 with five rebounds, Gary Clark and Quadri Moore each scored 10; and walk-on forward Zack Tobler scored a career-high five points, all on free throws.
Cobb has converted 10 of 17 3-point shots in his last two games and has made 16 of 26 from long-range for the season for a sizzling 61.5 percent. He has averaged a team-high 16.5 points in UC's first four games after averaging 8.5 in 2014-15.
"Last year I was trying to get in the flow of the game on offense so I had to be over- aggressive sometimes," Cobb said. "They were telling me to look to score, so I wasn't very patient all the time. I think that's what I'm doing now is being more patient."
UAPB scored first on a transition dunk by Thaddeus Handley Jr. The Golden Lions didn't score again until Jaquan Lynch buried a trey with 10:49 to go in the half. In the meantime, the Bearcats reeled off 21 straight points. Another UAPB basket made it 21-7. UC then scored nine more unanswered points to take 30-7 lead with 6:21 left in the half.
The Bearcats forced 30 turnovers and scored 44 points off them. They had a 45-30 advantage in bench scoring and a 21-10 advantage in second-chance points.
Clark, who's adjusting nicely to UC's new offensive approach, reached double figures in scoring even though he attempted only four shots. He also corralled six rebounds.
"Against that zone, it's kind of hard for (UC's guards) to see past their man," Clark said, "so we're still working on them getting it to us a lot more. But I'm also an unselfish player so if I'm not wide open a lot of times I'm not forcing it. I usually try to be patient with it so I don't try to force anything too much. I just try to let it flow and let it come to me.
"We've been working on quick shots. We get it and make a move fast. Last year I would take like six dribbles to make a move. Now we've been working on catching it and make a quick move real fast."
Late in the game, Clark made the first 3-point shot of his career in seven attempts.
"He's been dying to show everybody that he can make that shot," Cronin said.
The UC coach was pleased by the way the Bearcats attacked the UAPB zone defense, something he didn't think they did very well at Bowling Green last Wednesday.
"They played 2-3 zone the whole way and we only took 22 3-point shots," Cronin said. "I'm happy with that because we talked about it after the Bowling Green game when we shot 31 threes. We can score the ball inside and our guards can drive and get fouled. You're not going to get fouled and you're not going to get a lot of offensive rebounds if you shoot the first three you can get off."
In addition to the season-high number of turnovers that UC forced, the Bearcats held UABP to 31.1 percent shooting. The Golden Lions scored only 15 points in the first half.
"Our defense is getting better as time goes," Cronin said, "and it's going to have to because the water's getting deeper."
UC will play Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday at Fifth Third and then head to New York to play Nebraska on Friday in its first game against an opponent from a major conference.
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.