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By Bill Koch
GoBEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI -
The University of Cincinnati Bearcats are supposed to win handily when they score 76 points as they did Wednesday night.
In fact, they had won 49 straight games when they scoring 60 or more points. But that streak is now history after Butler's Roosevelt Jones picked up a loose ball and found a way to maneuver through three UC defenders to make a layup just before time expired to give Butler a 78-76 upset victory over the 17th-ranked Bearcats before a season-high crowd of 11,125 at Fifth Third Arena.
UC shot 50 percent from the field, made 8 of 21 from long range and 18 of 24 from the free throw line, but the stat that really mattered was a 16-5 edge that Butler had in points off turnovers. That's usually a statistic that belongs to the Bearcats but the Bulldogs turned it around on them and ultimately it was the difference in the game.
i"We've got some guys that can put the ball in the basket," said UC coach Mick Cronin, "but for 10 years I heard the same thing: they've got to score more. All I know is if you defend, you rebound and you take care of the ball, you're going to win 75 percent of the games. Tonight we didn't defend, we got out-rebounded on the offensive glass and we didn't take care of the ball.
"I would be saying this if we would have won the game. I thought Butler was the tougher team all night. You guys that have been covering Cincinnati for a long time know how much that drives me crazy. That's really, really hard for me to digest."
Octavius Ellis and Jacob Evans each scored 16 points to lead UC (7-1). Ellis added 12 rebounds for his fifth career double-double and blocked three shots. Kellen Dunham scored 24 points to lead Butler (5-1).
UC led by nine with 12:31 left in the second half and overcame a technical foul called on Cronin when he protested a foul call against Gary Clark to lead by eight with 9:35 remaining. But the Bulldogs, who committed only six turnovers to UC's 14, kept chipping away and took a 67-66 lead on Dunham's 3-pointer with 4:45 to play. The lead changed hands six times from that point until Dunham made two free throws with 17.2 seconds left to give Butler a 76-73 lead.
UC's Evans then missed a 3-point shot that Ellis rebounded. He was fouled as he made the follow shot and made the resulting free throw to complete the 3-point play, tying the score at 76-76 with 4.7 seconds left.
But that was all Butler needed to win the game. The Bulldogs threw the ball to Jones, who scored all 10 of his points in the second half. Ellis knocked the ball loose, but Jones picked it up and made the winning layup over Ellis.
"I tipped it," Ellis said. "I guess he out-toughed me and got it."
It was a difficult loss to accept for a UC team that had jumped into the Top 25 two weeks ago and was playing its first game of the season against a name opponent at home.
"It just hurts to lose like that," said Caupain. "You battle back so hard. The game was packed. You want to win your first game with a crowd like that."
Caupain scored 12 points and recorded six assists but he also committed three of UC's turnovers. Ellis had four. Meanwhile the Bulldogs were taking care of the ball and making the most of their possessions against a UC defense that entered the game ranked among the nation's leaders in steals per game (10.9) and turnover margin (plus 6). The Bearcats managed only two steals against the sure-handed Bulldogs.
"Our guys played with some real grit right there," said Butler coach Chris Holtmann. "I think that's what we need to be about."
For the nine-plus years that Cronin has been the head coach at UC, that's what the Bearcats have been about. The UC coach made a point early in the season to emphasize that even though he expected this team to be better offensively than his recent teams, it could not afford to abandon the strengths that have sent the Bearcats to the NCAA Tournament five years in a row.
In other words, they couldn't let up on their defensive intensity and rebounding.
"The last play was a microcosm of the game," Cronin said. "We have three guys back on defense. They have one on offense. We tip the ball, there's a loose ball, (Jones) gets it and scores on three guys. The guy just manned up. We shot the ball well tonight. We shot 50 percent and we lost. I want to know where all the geniuses are with all the answers about offense that I always have to listen to.
"Toughness is not about pushing guys. It's about not turning the ball over 14 times. Butler displayed great toughness. They came on the road and took care of the ball. They only had six turnovers and they gave themselves a chance to win. That's toughness."
UC will play again on Sunday at home vs. Morgan State and then will begin preparations for the Dec. 12 Crosstown Shootout against No. 12 Xavier. By then, they'd better hope they have regained their own brand of toughness.
"It's just going to humble us," Caupain said of the loss to Butler. "We've got to be more prepared as individuals. We can't lose games like this. These are the games you're going to see in March."
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.