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| // CRONIN POSTGAME | // PLAYERS POSTGAME |
By Bill Koch
GoBEARCATS.com
HARTFORD - The perfect symbol for the physical play in Saturday's American Athletic Conference tournament semifinal game was hidden inside Gary Clark's mouth.
The junior forward from the University of Cincinnati flashed a big smile after the game and revealed a chipped front tooth, a battle scar that he wasn't the least bit reluctant to display, the result of a battle with Connecticut center Amida Brimah for a rebound early in the game.
"It was already chipped from earlier in the year," Clark said. "But I think like his head went into my mouth on an offensive rebound. was yelling at me not to swallow it the first time, so I just tried to run over there and give it to somebody."
Having been in that situation before, Clark proceeded to go calmly about his business, which on this day consisted of scoring a game-high 24 points with nine rebounds to lead the Bearcats to an 81-71 victory over Connecticut before 8,117 fans at the XL Center, ending a three-game losing streak to the Huskies in AAC tournament games.
No. 2 seed UC (29-4) advanced to play No. 1 seed SMU (29-4) at 3:15 p.m. Sunday for the tournament championship and the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid. The teams split their two games during the regular season, with UC winning at Fifth Third Arena, 66-64, and SMU winning in Dallas, 60-51.
"I'm glad we get the opportunity to play them once again," said UC senior point guard Troy Caupain, whose 37-point effort against UConn in last year's tournament ended in a four-overtime loss.
Jacob Evans scored 21 points for UC, followed by with 18 and Jarron Cumberland with 11.
No. 6 seed UConn, which was swept by the Bearcats in three games during an injury-riddled season, finished 16-17.
Saturday's game took two and a half hours to play, largely because the officiating crew of Karl Hess, Mike and Ron Groover called 56 fouls, 32 by the Huskies. The Bearcats took advantage by making 38 of 46 free throws compared to 20 of 25 for UConn. The 38 free throws were tied for the third most for a UC team in school history.
"If there are fouls on any team, they should be called," said UC coach Mick Cronin. "In the last two or three weeks, all around our league, there's been a lot of stuff going on that needs to be called. It's a basketball game, so whether it's an elbow, it needs to be called."
Cronin then referenced the infamous brawl at the end of the UC-Xavier game in December 2011.
"You're talking to a guy that was part of a horrible incident a long time ago," he said, "where stuff was not called and stuff escalated. And it was a terrible, terrible scene for two great universities. That stuff needs to be called. If it's a foul, it's a foul. You always have a choice. Then don't foul. These aren't easy games to officiate, but you know what? Sometimes those guys get paid a lot of money and nobody touches each other and they get to go to dinner. So today they had to earn their money."
For the record, no one has ever confused a UC-UConn game with one where nobody touches each other.
The Bearcats prevailed despite an unproductive game from junior forward Kyle Washington, who got into early foul trouble and was never able to shake it. Washington, who averages 13.5 points and 7.1 rebounds, played only 15 minutes, missed all five of his field goal attempts, failed to score and secured only one rebound.
"Kyle has carried us a lot offensively this year," Cronin said, "and he was obviously a non-factor for us today with foul trouble. But we've got a lot of answers on this team."
UConn cut a 12-point UC halftime lead to five less than four minutes into the second half by making five of its first six shots while the Bearcats were missing six of their first seven. After a Rodney Purvis basket with 13:21 left, the Huskies were within two points and the crowd was getting into it.
That's when Clark took over. He scored nine points over the next six minutes, seven on free throws. For the game, Clark - a 69.8 percent free throw shooter - made 15 of 16 from the line and finished by making his last 11 in a row.
"It was just concentration," Clark said. "Coach has been on me all year to just focus and stay with my same routine."
By the 7:19 mark, UC had built its lead back to eight. With Jalen Adams, who led the Huskies with 20 points, getting to the rim seemingly at will, the Huskies got back within four only to see and Evans hit back-to-back treys to push the lead back to 10. The Bearcats closed out the win by making 11 of 12 free throws in the final 1:06.
UC shot only 38.3 percent from the field. The Bearcats were outscored, 28-14, in the paint, 13-4 in fast-break points and 18-10 in second-chance points. They had two starters - Washington and guard Kevin Johnson - fail to score. But still, they found a way to win. In fact, they never trailed.
"We just able to make that winning play, get defensive stops, rebound the basketball and then focus on free throws," Caupain said.
So now it's time for round three of UC-SMU as the Bearcats try to win their first conference tournament title since 2004.
"If they force you to just shoot all jump shots," Cronin said, "you're gonna lose. It's fool's good. So you've got to find a way to get some layups and free throws, whether it's the post-up, the drive, or the second shot. There's a reason they're as good as they are."
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 2015.