TicketsBy Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
HARTFORD - All of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats' most appealing attributes were on display Friday night - their improved perimeter shooting, Kyle Washington's ability to dominate in the post, their rock-solid defense and domination on the boards.
Putting them all together allowed the Bearcats to make a resounding statement about their postseason potential with an 80-61 shellacking of Tulsa in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinals at the XL Center.
They were so impressive they left Tulsa coach Frank Haith eager to see how they'll do in the coming weeks.
"I'm excited to watch their run in the NCAA Tournament," Haith said. "I think they've got a lot of good talent and they play the game the right way."
Led by Kyle Washington, who scored 21 points - 15 in the second half - and Jacob Evans, who scored 20, No. 2 seed UC coasted to a largely stress-free victory over No. 7 seed Tulsa. The win improved the Bearcats' record to 28-4, giving them the most wins for a UC team since the 2001-02 team won a school-record 31 games. The Golden Hurricane finished its season at 15-17.
UC moves on to face No. 6 seed UConn in the American Championship semifinals at 5 p.m. Saturday. The Huskies (16-16) upset No. 3 seed Houston, 74-65, in Friday's second game. This will be the fourth straight year that the Bearcats and Huskies have met in the AAC Tournament. UC has lost the previous three, including last year's classic four-overtime 104-97 loss in Orlando. The Bearcats, who are seeking their first conference tournament championship since they won the Conference USA tourney in 2004, knocked off UConn, 67-47, Sunday in their final regular-season game.
"We just want to keep on proving how good we are as a team collectively," Washington said. "We just want to keep winning. We want to do well and make a deep run. We deserve to be in these moments and we want to be in these moments."
The Bearcats wasted little time distancing themselves from Tulsa. With the score tied at 7-7, they outscored the Golden Hurricane, 16-5, to take 23-12 lead. Evans scored nine of those points. They led, 40-25, at halftime, and by 24 with 14:31 remaining.
"Our defense was excellent in the first half," said UC coach Mick Cronin. "In the second half, our offense carried us, especially Kyle Washington in the low post. Defensively, we were not at our best in the second half."
Washington made all six of his field goal attempts in the second half.
"Honestly, it was me not worrying about offense," Washington said. "Coach will co-sign on this. He'll tell me all the time, don't worry about offense. That's when I flourish."
Senior point guard Troy Caupain also had a big night, scoring 15 points with seven rebounds and six assists to join Deonta Vaughn as the only two players in school history with more than 1,200 career points and 500 assists.
After the game, Cronin and his players were peppered with questions about their improved offense over past seasons when they relied on one or two players to do most of the scoring and put enormous pressure on their defense to do the rest.
That's not the case anymore.
"We worked real hard during the offseason on our offense as a team but also individually," Evans said. "But we still have the same mindset defensively to try to lock down every team we play."
UC out-rebounded Tulsa, 35-27, and pulled down 13 offensive rebounds to Tulsa's six, converting them into a 19-5 advantage in second-chance points.
"On this team we have multiple options," Cronin said. "First it starts with not turning the ball over because then you get a shot and we have five guys that can score. The more shots you get the more opportunities you have to rebound. We're trying to make sure in the last month or so that we still have the same mentality of getting three people to the glass at least."
It was a great start to the post-season for the Bearcats but the competition will get tougher against UConn in the best rivalry in the four-year old American. UConn leads the overall series, 13-10, but UC has won five of the last seven games, including both meetings against the Huskies this season.
Now they're tasked with beating UConn for the first time in the AAC Tournament, and they'll have to do it on the Huskies' home court.
"They play the game the right way," Haith said of the Bearcats. "Defensively they're terrific. They stay between you and the basket. They play great help defense. They block out. They rebound. I've been in this league three years playing against Mick's team and watching them from afar. I think now they've got really talented offensive players. They can really shoot the ball. They can play inside out with Washington. They've got no weaknesses."
Certainly there were none to be found Friday night.
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.