Bearcats Drop 69-56 Decision at Houston

March 3, 2016

Box Score

By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com

HOUSTON - The University of Cincinnati Bearcats were looking to make another statement about their NCAA Tournament worthiness Thursday night, but instead left Hofheinz Pavilion wondering what happened to the defense that has defined the program for so many years.

With Houston Rockets star James Harden and 10-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis in the house, the Bearcats were bowled over, 69-56, by a Houston team trying to make its own late push for the postseason. The ease with which the Cougars were able record their ninth win in their last 11 games left UC coach Mick Cronin stunned and disappointed.

"We got manhandled," Cronin said. "I've watched a lot of basketball. I've been around it my whole life. You can break stuff down with Xs and Os, but we got manhandled, physically manhandled on both ends of the floor, and that's the story."

That's an unfamiliar place to be for a team that prides itself on both mental and physical toughness, both of where were in short supply against the Cougars. The Bearcats started the game with a flurry, making three quick treys to take 9-2 lead, but it was all downhill from there in what ended up being UC's most lopsided loss of the season.

"When we came out, we had a little bit of energy but like coach always says, when you take a punch you've got to punch back," said freshman forward Jacob Evans. "But tonight when we threw our punch, they punched back and we never started throwing them back."

UC (21-9 overall, 11-6 in the American Athletic Conference) will finish its regular season on Sunday afternoon at Fifth Third Arena against No. 24 SMU. The Bearcats entered Thursday's game with a 27-1 all-time record against Houston, but the Cougars (22-8, 12-6) ended a 15-game losing streak to UC that dated to Feb. 3, 1973.

Troy Caupain led UC with 19 points, followed by Evans, who scored 14. Octavius Ellis chipped in with 11 points and nine rebounds. Gary Clark secured 13 rebounds, but scored only six points. He was 0-for-6 from the field. Damyean Dotson and Rob Gray Jr. each scored 13 to lead Houston

The Bearcats played for the second straight game without starting forward Shaq Thomas and starting guard Farad Cobb, who remain sidelined with injuries, leaving UC with only eight scholarship players. The three players on the bench - Coreontae DeBerry, Justin Jenifer and Quadri Moore - managed only three points among them compared to the 29 points produced by Houston's reserves.

"I'm not buying any excuses," Cronin said. "Obviously it's an issue. You try to do the right thing with those guys and make sure they're ready before you put them back out there. They're gonna be back out there. Still, you shouldn't get manhandled. We've got guys on scholarship. I've got no problem with losing but to get manhandled, I've got a problem with that."

UC was leading, 15-10, when Houston went on a 14-0 run to take control of the game. The Bearcats went 6:42 without scoring before Octavius Ellis made one of two free throws to stop the drought, but it didn't certainly stop the Cougars, who outscored UC, 16-6, in the paint and 7-0 off turnovers in the first half, making the Bearcats look flummoxed in the process.

The same UC team that began the game so hot from the field suddenly couldn't buy a basket and trailed 33-20 at halftime. The Bearcats missed 15 of their final 17 shots in the first half, shooting 28 percent from the field. Their only field goal in the final 11:38 was a 3-pointer by Caupain.

UC's offense improved in the second half, but not enough to overcome its defensive deficiencies.

"When it's time to get stops, it's time to get stops," Caupain said. "And that's not what we did tonight."

The Cougars' biggest lead was 16 points with 15:29 left in the second half. The Bearcats finally began to make inroads late in the game, cutting the deficit to seven with 4:03 to play and again with 2:22 remaining but were unable to get any closer.

By the end of the game, UC had been outscored, 28-12, in the paint and 15-6 in points off turnovers. The Bearcats forced the Cougars into only five turnovers and were outscored, 25-14 at the free throw line. The bottom line, Cronin said, is that they got what they deserved.

"The deflections always tell the truth," Cronin said. "We only had 20. We had dead hands all night. We were late on rotations. We were flat-footed. We were worried about offense. We let our offensive struggles really affect our defense. We didn't show enough fortitude to win a game like this. We let one mistake become two.

"Their speed off the dribble really bothered us.t We couldn't guard the ball. We couldn't keep the ball on our chest. It's one thing, if you can't score on one end, but you've got to give us defense. When we started putting the ball in the basket, we came out and fouled them three consecutive times. A smart team, a winning team, you get fouled and then you make them beat you with jump shots. We went out and fouled them three times."

To make matters worse, the Bearcats were unable to fly back to Cincinnati as they usually do because of a problem with their charter flight and had to check back into the hotel they had checked out of hours earlier.

Despite their travails, the players said they'll be ready for SMU on Sunday.

"We'll go practice tomorrow," Caupain said. "We're gonna handle what coach is gonna say and get ready to go Sunday. We've got our own Senior Night coming up. We've got to prepare to win for the seniors."


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