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By Bill Koch
GoBEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI - The sellout crowd at Fifth Third Arena was roaring after Troy Caupain dropped in a 3-pointer to give the University of Cincinnati a four-point lead with 2:09 to play.
The Bearcats had battled back from a 13-point second-half deficit and seemed to be in control of No. 11 Iowa State. All that remained was to put the finishing touches on what would be a signature victory.
Instead, it was ISU's turn to come back. The Cyclones outscored UC, 7-1, the rest of the way and secured a hard-fought 81-79 victory before 13,176 fans Tuesday night. The 22nd-ranked Bearcats (10-3) have now lost three games to teams that are currently ranked in the Top 11 by the Associated Press. They lost by 10 to No. 6 Xavier, by two to No. 9 Butler and now by two to No. 11 Iowa (10-1).
"We haven't closed out well," said Caupain, who led UC with 18 points, five rebounds, and four assists with only one turnover in 34 minutes. "It's just something we've got to get better at as a team. We can do all the talking about it, but it starts at practice. You just can't lose the rebounding war. Late in the game, we lost about two or three rebounds that would have closed the game, no box-outs. It's just little stuff like that that we've got to do better."
Caupain made one of two free throws with 33.4 seconds left to give UC a 79-78 lead, but ISU forward Georges Niang found Abdel Nader in the corner and Nader drilled a 3-pointer with 11 seconds remaining to give the Hawkeyes the lead and ultimately the victory. It was the only assist of the game for Niang, a pre-season All-American who scored 24 points with 10 rebounds, and the only 3-pointer of the game for Nader, who had missed his previous four attempts.
"It didn't work out like we thought it would," Nader said. "There was a ball screen, and Matt Thomas was going to get a three or Georges on the roll. We got it to Georges and he made a play (pass) and I knocked it down. You never know. You've always got to be prepared."
UC coach Mick Cronin called time out and set up a play for Caupain, but Caupain got pushed too close to the sideline and his shot was long. Gary Clark rebounded for UC, but his follow shot was short. Clark rebounded again and got the ball to Farad Cobb. With time about to expire, Cobb launched a 3-pointer that was no good.
"We got three shots at it," Cronin said. "(Caupain) was trying to get to the rim. He couldn't. I thought the way he inbounded the ball and came up, he pinned himself too much on the sideline. I wanted him in the middle of the floor so he could draw a foul. That's what I really wanted. But the put-back, we've got to make sure we put the ball in instead of rushing it. The put-back was the shot. He shot it one-handed. We don't shoot one-handed shots unless it's a two-foot hook."
Caupain blamed himself for rushing the shot.
"I did a terrible job of knowing how much time was on the clock," he said. "By the time I got down there, I felt like (the clock) was low so I just wanted to get it on the rim. After the game, Coach came to me and said there was still a lot of time, you could have kept your dribble and got it to the rim."
nThe Bearcats fell behind, 14-2, in the first four minutes, but outscored ISU, 11-4, to get back in the game. They trailed, 45-38, at halftime. At that point, UC had been outscored, 9-2, off turnovers and 10-0 in transition.
The second half was a different story. The Bearcats took better care of the ball, limited the Cyclones to only two more fast-break points, and shot 48.4 percent from the floor. After falling behind by 13 with 17:28 left, UC went on an 11-1 run and seized the momentum.
"We really just focused on our defense," said freshman forward Jacob Evans, who scored 14 points with five rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. "We knew eventually our shots were going to fall. We just wanted to get stops so we could get back in the game."
Once they got that 4-point lead, the Bearcats seemingly had the ISU players reeling, but Octavius Ellis travelled with 1:34 to go and Caupain turned the ball over trying to feed Ellis in the low post. Niang then made a 3-pointer to tie the score at 78-78 with 1:20 to play.
Caupain was fouled by Monte Morris after he grabbed a defensive rebound. He missed his first free throw, but made the second, setting the stage for Nader's game-winning shot.
"We did a great job to dig our way back against one of the best teams in the country," Cronin said, "that we unfortunately had to catch coming off a close loss. We made too many mistakes in the end. It's a game of mistakes right now and, in my opinion, we make too many mistakes that we shouldn't make."
Even with the mistakes, the Bearcats had a chance to win when Caupain released his final shot of the game.
"It felt real good," Caupain said. "It was just a little long."
The Bearcats don't play again until Dec. 29 in their American Athletic Conference opener against Temple. By then, Cronin hopes his team has learned from losses to three of the best teams in the country.
"That's the key," Cronin said. "The beauty of our game is you can learn from it. You can get better. Who's good now doesn't matter. It's who's good in February and March. We'll do what we've always done. I'm getting old now, I've been around here, but we'll just keep getting better. That's the key. We've got to learn from it, though. We've got to eliminate mistakes.
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. He has written a new book, a memoir titled, "I Can't Believe I Got Paid For This." The book is available online only at CreateSpace and Amazon.com