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By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
CINCINNATI -- For one half Thursday night, it was like 1992 all over again.
The University of Cincinnati Bearcats were wearing throwback uniforms from that year; Nick Van Exel, the point guard on that team, was introduced to the crowd; and the Bearcats were beating up on Memphis, just like they did four times during that Final Four year, including an 88-57 shellacking in the Midwest Regional final.
It was just like old times, all right, with these Bearcats looking every bit like a Final Four team in their own right, rolling to a 24-point lead with 3:44 left in the first half.
But the second half wasn't nearly as nostalgic. Instead of coasting to what looked like an easy win, UC had to withstand a second-half charge by the rejuvenated Tigers to get away with an 87-74 victory before 12,787 fans at Fifth Third Arena.
"My halftime speech gets an 'F,'" UC coach Mick Cronin said after the game.
Despite the anxious moments that saw Memphis trim UC's once-formidable lead to six with 5:18 left, the 15th-ranked Bearcats summoned the resolve to close out their 25th straight home victory - the second-longest streak in the country behind Oregon's 42-game streak - and improve to 25-3 overall, their best start in 11 years under Cronin. They're 14-1 in the American Athletic Conference and have won at least 25 games for the fourth time in the last seven years.
"The energy just wasn't there (in the second half) and communication when we got back on defense," said UC forward Gary Clark. "When we were able to come back and match up, we were able to later slow them down a little bit. When you don't get matched up, a lot of bad things can happen."
Kyle Washington led UC with 16 points, followed by Jacob Evans with 15, Gary Clark with 13 points and nine rebounds, and Troy Caupain with 12 points and seven assists. The Bearcats also got nine points off the bench from Jarron Cumberland, who sat out UC's last game because he missed curfew.
Memphis (18-10, 8-7) countered with 23 points from point guard Jeremiah Martin and 21 from sophomore forward Dedric Lawson, who also grabbed 10 rebounds. In addition to his 23 points, Martin had 11 assists and only one turnover in 39 minutes.
"That's as good of a game as a point guard has played against us all year," Cronin said. "He was excellent. You've got to give him credit. It wasn't like we weren't trying to guard him either."
Evans scored 12 of his 15 points in the first half, but the one basket he made in the second half was crucial to UC pulling out the win. With the Bearcats' lead having been whittled to six, he pulled up and drained a three to relieve some of the pressure on UC. Then after a Lawson turnover, Washington made two free throws to get the lead back to 11. A Caupain 3-pointer with 2:10 left made it 83-69 and the Bearcats were out of the woods.
But there was a bit of consternation among Cronin and the players about letting the Tigers back in the game and allowing them to shoot 54.4 percent for the game, 58.1 percent in the second half, prompting the increasingly familiar refrain from the Bearcats about not being able to get by with that kind of defense in the post-season.
"If you want to make a deep run in March, you can't take any half off," Evans said. "We just can't coast like that in the second half. We have to keep our foot on the pedal and keep pushing. I give them credit, but we've got to keep our energy up on defense in the second half. We know how our defense should be and we know it wasn't up to par in the second half."
Still, it's hard to quibble with a 13-point win over Memphis. And really, as Cronin pointed out, the Bearcats did plenty of good things. They had 19 assists on 28 field goals and committed only six turnovers. They out-rebounded Memphis, 34-27, and had 19 second-chance points to three for the Tigers. They also made 23 of 28 free throws, outscoring Memphis by 15 points at the line, which isn't usually a UC strength.
"We've been shooting a lot of free throws every day and we run for the misses," Clark said, "so everyone is taking their free throws really seriously, even though I missed four tonight.
I won't hear the end of that. We've really been trying to buckle down on it."
There was also plenty of entertainment value in the Bearcats' performance, with Clark providing the highlight. Early in the second half he streaked down the court on a fast break, accepted a perfect alley-oop pass from Caupain, and slammed a one-handed dunk through the basket as he was fouled by Martin. The normally expressionless Clark was so excited he pounded the basket standard as an exclamation point.
"Coach was yelling at me, 'run, run, run,' " Clark said, "and I put up another speed and was able to get past the guy. I didn't even know it went in until the crowd went crazy. Then I knew and it was like, OK, I can act like Kyle now."
Cronin, who sometimes is critical of his team even after a win, chose to accentuate the positive. "We did what we had to do," he said. "We win by 13. Trust me, I'm not happy, but you can only get upset so many times. I don't want to end up on the floor during a game."
Besides, the players already know they have to play better for the full 40 minutes when the bell rings for the NCAA Tournament.
"It was one of those where you got the 'W,' " Clark said, "but we're playing for something bigger than now. We're playing for March, like Jake said, and in March you can't play like that in the second half or else you'll lose."
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.