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By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
CINCINNATI - Usually Mick Cronin swats away questions about the University of Cincinnati Bearcats' NCAA Tournament possibilities as if they were annoying flies, but after the Bearcats knocked off No. 24 SMU on Sunday, he had plenty to say on the subject.
"I know we have the same record as Duke and we play in a league with five teams that are tournament teams," the UC coach said. "And Memphis is really good and Houston may go to the tournament. They're probably favored to win the conference tournament the way they're playing right now. How we could be in a league with that many good teams, be 22-9, and not be in would be mind-boggling to me. But I'm not on the committee."
Cronin's assessment that the American Athletic Conference has five NCAA Tournament teams is debatable, but there's no debating that UC's 61-54 victory over SMU on Sunday before a sellout crowd of 13,176 fans at Fifth Third Arena will enhance the Bearcats' resume. SMU was ranked No. 11 in the NCAA's RPI.
UC used a strong defensive effort to overcome 29.5 shooting - including 1-for-19 from 3-point range - to turn back the Mustangs on Senior Day. The Bearcats forced SMU into 17 turnovers while committing only six of their own and made 24 of 30 free throws compared to eight of 12 for the Mustangs.
The Bearcats made only one field goal in the final 12:06 and saw an 11-point lead cut to three, but held on for the win thanks to clutch free throw shooting down the stretch.
Troy Caupain led UC with 14 points, even though he made only four of 19 field goal attempts. Coreontae DeBerry, making his second career start, scored 10 points with seven rebounds in 17 minutes. And both Octavius Ellis and Gary Clark seized 11 rebounds. Clark was 0-for-8 from the field is now 0-for-16 in his last two games. Nic Moore scored 14 to lead SMU, which shot 39.3 percent.
UC seniors DeBerry, Ellis, Shaq Thomas, and Farad Cobb were honored before the game. Cobb, who missed UC's previous two games with a sprained knee was back in the lineup. Thomas, still hampered by a groin injury, missed his third straight game, but Cronin said he's expected to return next week for the conference tournament.
UC (22-9 overall, 12-6 in the AAC) will be a No. 4 seed next week in Orlando and will play No. 5 seed Connecticut at 2 p.m. Friday. SMU finished its season with records of 25-5 and 13-5. The Mustangs are on NCAA probation and will not play in a postseason tournament.
"It's a wonderful win not only for the seniors but for our season," Caupain said. "It would have sucked to take an L and the season just goes down the drain. We've really been preaching about finishing (games) our whole season, about coming down to the last three minutes and not being able to finish games or keep our foot on the pedal. We knew that we had to or it was all going to go down the drain."
The Mustangs cut UC's seven-point halftime lead to three ealry in the second half, but the Bearcats responded with six straight points to make it 44-35, and led by 10 at 46-36 with 12:46 remaining. UC's lead was 11 when SMU's Jordan Tolbert made two straight dunks - one on a follow shot - to get the Mustangs back within seven with 7:10 to play, prompting Cronin to call timeout.
The Bearcats went from the 12:06 mark until the 3:25 mark of the second half without a field goal, missing 9 straight shots before Kevin Johnson made a shot in the lane to put UC ahead 55-48. The Mustangs scored on a follow by Ben Moore and after Jacob Evans missed a shot in the lane, Shake Milton made a layup to cut UC's lead to 55-52 with 1:45 left. Again Cronin called timeout.
Gary Clark then made two free throws with 1:36 remaining to spread the UC lead back to five. A turnover by Ben Moore gave possession back to UC with 1:24 to play. Clark rebounded his own missed shot and Caupain, who was fouled with 50.1 seconds remaining, made one of two free throws. After two missed SMU shots, Caupain grabbed the rebound and was fouled again, this time with 24.9 seconds to play. Again he made one of two free throws to make it 59-52, sealing the win.
"It's always ugly when we play Cincinnati," said SMU coach Larry Brown, "because both teams try so hard. You've got to give credit to Cincinnati. They made plays late."
Cronin said the Bearcats' toughness is the enduring symbol of UC basketball, even if it produces games that sometimes are not aesthetically pleasing.
"People say what's Cincinnati basketball?" Cronin asked. "Well, around here for a long time, before I started in '96 with coach Huggs, we play really hard, with a lot of pride and do things that are really tough to do and that's why you have continued success. You've got to be able to win when you don't make shots.
"You do that with defense. We forced 17 turnovers against a team that doesn't turn the ball over (very often). They're a team that doesn't make mistakes that we forced them into today. I'm just really proud of how hard the guys competed today."
DeBerry gave the Bearcats, who were coming off a tough loss at Houston on Thursday night, a huge lift reminiscent of his 13-point performance against Purdue in last year's NCAA Tournament.
"I just wanted to finish out my last home game strong," DeBerry said. "I was hurting from the last game we played, so I just didn't want to feel that way no more. I just found a new set of motivations to go for everything, go all out. That's what I did. We just needed this win."
After Cronin shared his opinion about the Bearcats' NCAA Tournament situation, Brown offered his two-cents worth.
"Since I've been at SMU," he said, "these are the most fun games, these games with Cincinnati, UConn, Temple, Tulsa and Memphis. Those are the teams that have some kind of history. It seems that any time kids put on a Cincinnati jersey, you know they're going to play hard and you've got to match their energy. I hope this win helps get Cincinnati in the NCAA Tournament. They played a great schedule and do it the right way."
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