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By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
ORLANDO - Performances like the one the University of Cincinnati turned in Sunday at CTE Arena usually result in blowout losses.
The Bearcats shot a season-low 29.6 percent against a Central Florida defense that leads the nation in field goal percentage defense, had three starters score a total of 13 points while combining to make five of 28 shots, and suffered numerous lapses on defense.
And yet, with less than 10 seconds remaining there was UC point guard Troy Caupain barreling down the floor looking to make a play that would tie the game and possibly send it into overtime. He penetrated into the lane and lofted a pass to Tre Scott, who had a clear path to the basket. Scott, who played only two minutes and had entered the game with 23 seconds remaining, leaped high into the air, grabbed the ball with both hands and attempted to slam it home with four seconds left. But the ball glanced harmlessly and shockingly off the rim.
Tacko Fall rebounded for UCF and was fouled by Caupain. Fall then made two free throws with two seconds left to seal a 53-49 victory for UCF, its first-ever win over UC in nine tries.
"The basketball gods didn't want it to go down for us," said sophomore swingman Jacob Evans, who led UC with 17 points. "Maybe they felt like we didn't deserve to have a chance to win this game."
But as Clint Eastwood once said, "Deserves got nothin' to do with it." The fact is that the Bearcats, who trailed by 11 with 11:55 to go and by five with 33 seconds remaining, still had a chance to salvage the victory only to let it slip away.
A 3-pointer by Evans with 13 seconds left got the Bearcats within two, and after B.J. Taylor missed the first end of a one-and-one, they were granted one last chance. They couldn't have asked for a better shot.
"It was a great play by Troy because we didn't have a timeout," Cronin said. "It was a great play by the guys to attack the rim in that setting. The only thing I will say that's positive is that Tre Scott's a great kid. I feel bad for him. My message to our fans is we didn't win today. We're gonna keep trying and please don't get on Tre Scott. I feel for him."
The loss was a damaging one for the 15th-ranked Bearcats, who fell to 25-4 overall, 14-2 in the American Athletic Conference). Not only did it knock them out of a first-place tie with SMU with two games to go, it hurt their chances to receive a high NCAA Tournament seed. UC entered the game projected to be a No. 5 seed by ESPN's Joe Lunardi. UCF improved to 19-10, 10-7. It was UC's first loss this season against a team not ranked in the RPI Top 50.
"In my opinion the (selection) committee doesn't think that our league is very good," said senior guard Kevin Johnson, "so taking a loss like this today, even though UCF is a pretty solid team, probably will affect some seeding things. But we can't think about that."
The game started poorly for the Bearcats when junior forward Gary Clark picked up his second foul three minutes in, sending him to the bench for the remainder of the half. Clark came back to play most of the second half, but took only four shots and managed just three points and three rebounds.
He was far from alone in his lack of productivity. Caupain was 1-for-9 for three points and committed four turnovers. And Washington was 3-for-15 for seven points, although he did have nine rebounds.
UCF's 7-foot-6 Fall scored seven points with eight rebounds and four blocked shots. His formidable presence in the lane repeatedly forced the UC big men to change their shots or pull the ball out and give up on them altogether. That left the Bearcats to lean on their perimeter shooting and on this day, it wasn't there for them. They made only seven of 24 from long range.
"Our shot selection was awful," Cronin said. "Our open shooting was awful for the most part. Our shot selection by our big guys was beyond terrible. Our lack of passing is what bothers me the most, our hero ball and a lack of passing. We don't play that way. That's why we've had the year we've had. We've had great ball sharing, great ball movement and we didn't have it today."
Jacobs, who was 5-for-10 from the field, and freshman Jarron Cumberland, who kept the Bearcats in the game in the first half with 10 points, were the only remotely effective UC players on offense.
Meanwhile, UCF was getting a season-high 27 points from Taylor, who made 10 of 19 shots from the field and scored 17 of his points in the first half, roughly his average for an entire game. He also made a key 3-point shot with 33 seconds left after UC had pulled within two.
"We let Taylor get it going," Evans said. "He's a good player. When good players get it going in college, they can get hot."
The Bearcats' point total was their lowest since they scored 49 in a loss to Tulane on Feb. 14, 2015. Their shooting percentage was their lowest since they shot 29.5 percent in a win over SMU on March 6 of last year.
Cronin was careful to credit UCF's defense and to compliment first-year coach Johnny Dawkins for giving the Knights a defensive identity. But there was no getting around the obvious.
"We were awful offensively and we were bad defensively," Cronin said. "Some of the stuff that went on out there, even on the play when Taylor hit a three, we were taking him into a double team and we let him go away form the double team. It went on all day. I don't know how the game was close."
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.