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By Bill Koch
Go.BEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI - Rarely has a 21-point victory left a coach so frustrated.
The University of Cincinnati Bearcats rolled past on outmanned Morgan State team, 87-66, Sunday afternoon before 6,126 fans at Fifth Third Arena, but it was not the kind of bounce-back performance UC coach Mick Cronin had hoped for after the Bearcats' two-point loss to Butler last Wednesday.
"We played about eight or nine minutes, maybe 10," Cronin said. "The rest of the time our guys weren't interested. I'm extremely frustrated right now with our identity as a team."
No. 17 UC (8-1) reeled off 14 straight points to take a 16-2 lead early in the game and was never seriously threatened by the 2-6 Bears. But the Bearcats did not play with much intensity for most of the afternoon. On the plus side, they placed six players in double figures, led by Thomas, who scored 15 points to go with nine rebounds and four assists. And Gary Clark produced his fourth career double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds. He also recorded five assists and blocked two shots.
But the Bearcats forced only 12 turnovers and allowed Morgan State to make 8 of 17 from 3-point range while shooting 47.1 percent overall in the second half, outscoring UC, 39-36. That's not the kind of defensive effort that Cronin has been accustomed to during his 10 years at UC.
"Our fans probably don't want to hear this, but I can harken back to coaching guys like Adam Hrycaniuk and John Williamson," Cronin said, "knowing how proud I was of how hard those guys played to go 8-10 in the greatest league, in '07-'08, ever to be assembled. There were nine Top 25 teams. We went 8-10 in that league.
"We actually played at Xavier as a 19-point underdog and lost in an absolute dogfight, World War III. How proud I was to be the coach of that team. Our identity right now is to play offense. We don't embody what I believe in right now. We worked really hard to build a culture of toughness and togetherness."
Thomas, who's in his fifth year in the program, said he remembers one other time when the Bearcats played like this. It was during his sophomore year when they absorbed a 64-47 loss to Xavier a week after they were manhandled by New Mexico. After the Xavier game, Cronin kept his team in the locker room for an exorbitant amount of time. The Bearcats proceeded to win 15 straight and make it to the NCAA Tournament. The Bearcats' next game is at Xavier on Saturday in the annual Crosstown Shootout.
"It kind of woke us up because we got embarrassed," Thomas said. "We definitely don't want to go over there and get embarrassed like that. We've got to play with more toughness. Xavier's a great team. We've got to be prepared."
What really frustrates Cronin is the fact that the Bearcats lost to Butler primarily due to the same lack of mental toughness, but even though he emphasized toughness during the three days after that, his players still didn't get the message.
"Coach has been telling us that we've just kind of been going with it," Clark said. "We've got to play more assertive and more aggressive and more as a team defensively. The little things are what's coming into factor. Against the teams that we played early on, we could get by with it, but now we've got to get those little things - rebounding every possession, help with every possession. Those things come from being mentally tough."
Not all of UC's problems against Morgan State were on the defensive end. Despite scoring 86 points, the Bearcats made only 6 of 29 shots from 3-point range. Troy Caupain went 0-for-8 from long range and Farad Cobb was 2-for-9. In Cobb's last five games he has made 5 of 22 from 3-point range after going 16 for 26 in his first four games.
Cronin speculated that with the possible exception of Kevin Johnson, he probably couldn't find one of his players who would name toughness and defense as their primary roles even though they play in a program that has been known for both qualities since Cronin arrived in 2006.
"Right now we don't have a nose tackle" Cronin said. "We've got a bunch of wide receivers and quarterbacks. I need a nose tackle. We need somebody to bust the wedge, like back in the day. We don't have a wedge buster."
Cronin then talked nostalgically about the UC trio of Justin Jackson, Sean Kilpatrick and Titus Rubles, players who personified toughness for Cronin and won the American Athletic Conference championship in 2013-14.
"We don't have that soldier," Cronin said. "We don't have that guy that everybody will follow. I told you all year how good I had it because you don't get it that good as a coach. I thought I had the three toughest guys in the country on my team."
gThat was the same team that needed the wakeup call after the Xavier game, which is to say that just because toughness isn't readily evident now doesn't mean this team won't develop it eventually. But with No. 12 Xavier coming up in six days, they can't afford to wait too long.
"Maybe I need to play Zack Tobler," Cronin said. "I know he won't be worried about anything but playing hard."
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.