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By Bill Koch
GoBEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati Bearcats were determined not to allow a repeat of what happened against Tulane last year at Fifth Third Arena when Jonathan Stark made a 30-foot shot at the buzzer to upset the Bearcats, 50-49.
"Our game plan was to try to come out and put the pressure on them right away and not get caught in a game in the 50s where anything can happen," said UC coach Mick Cronin. "It was a great effort by our guys."
But no one could have predicted that the Bearcats would make their first 11 field goal attempts and run out to a 27-5 lead in the first six-plus minutes or that they would eventually build a 40-point lead with 9:48 to play on the way to a 97-75 victory Sunday before 9,224 fans at Fifth Third.
"We've been focusing more on when we play an opponent and we get up, kind of like putting the nail in and not letting them come back into the game," said UC senior guard Farad Cobb, "because we don't want to be in a dogfight down late with any team. I think early in the game we were getting a lot of deflections so that led to easy baskets."
UC (15-6 overall, 5-3 in the American Athletic Conference) won for the fourth time in the last five games. Its only loss during that time was by two points in double overtime at Temple. Tulane (8-13, 1-7) has lost seven of its last eight.
The victory was the 200th of Cronin's 10-year tenure at UC. He was honored immediately after the game during a brief ceremony at mid-court where he was presented with the game ball by UC Hall of Famer Kenyon Martin and athletic director Mike Bohn.
"I didn't even know," Cronin said. "It's survival, I guess. I'm a son of a coach. I've been around this a long time. You realize it's not about you. There are so many other things in coaching. I've got a great staff and I've had a lot of guys play here. I've had a tremendous amount of help. It's really not something I think about other than survival."
Cronin, who's 200-124 at UC and 268-148 overall as a head coach, said he thought he needed two more wins to reach the 200 milestone until he was asked if it would be OK to do the ceremony after the game.
The Cincinnati native, who graduated from UC and began his college coaching career as an assistant coach under Bob Huggins, took over in 2006, inheriting a program with only two scholarship players. It took him several years to rebuild it but now has it to the point where the Bearcats have played in the last five NCAA Tournaments. Cronin ranks second in UC coaching victories behind Huggins, who won 399 games in 16 years.
Cronin doesn't like to talk about those first few years when his teams were overmatched from a talent standpoint, but he said one reason he put walk-on Zack Tobler into the game with 6:09 to play was because he sympathized with what Tulane coach Ed Conroy was going through. Cronin remembers absorbing a 96-51 loss at UConn during his second season at UC.
"Ed's got a young team," Cronin said. "They've played some really tough games. That didn't happen for me when I was at UConn 10 years ago."
The UC players said they were happy to be part of Cronin's 200th win and confirmed that he doesn't say much about those early days unless he uses them as a motivational tool.
"He spoke on that a few times when we were in a drought or something," Cobb said. "He told us there's people around here that worked too hard to build this program. It's all motivation for us to play hard and represent the name on the jersey."
With 16 points, Cobb was one of four UC players to score in double figures. Shaq Thomas and Gary Clark each scored 17 to lead the Bearcats. Coreontae DeBerry scored 11. Troy Caupain scored eight and matched his career high with nine assists. The Bearcats forced 19 turnovers and shot 56.5 percent from the field while making 11 of 21 from 3-point range.
Thomas, one of four seniors on the team, scored his 17 points in only 19 minutes, making six of his eight shots. His performance comes on the heels of an 18-point game against Memphis last Thursday.
"I'm just a big believer that you've got to have some seniors that realize it's now or never," Cronin said. "That's why I give Shaq a lot of credit. I'm really happy for him. I give him a lot of credit because he stepped up the last few games and really played well."
Martin, the national player of the year and the first overall pick in the NBA draft in 2000, attended his second straight UC game after spending four days in Cincinnati and helping out in practice, where he took the time to talk to the players individually and to do some one-on-one coaching.
"For him to do that sends a message to the kids that I'm a part of something bigger than myself," Cronin said. "That gets lost in the shuffle a lot in college basketball. He talked about the college experience, which he told them is the best experience of your life, and to enjoy it and give everything you have while you have this chance."
The Bearcats, who appear to be building a head of steam as they reach the final 10 games in the regular season, will try to keep the momentum going Thursday night at Connecticut.
"It's just a sense of urgency in the locker room," Clark said. "Our seniors are providing that extra intensity and impact in practice and when we step out on the court. We're bringing it, getting it together when we have to because we let some slip away early. We don't have any room for error in this stretch we have."
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years -- 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer -- before joining the staff of Go.Bearcats.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 on-line only at CreateSpace and Amazon.com.