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HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – For most of the first half Wednesday night it appeared as if the University of Cincinnati Bearcats were not only going to see their nation's-longest 37-game home winning streak come to an end, but that the end would come courtesy of a Houston blowout.
UC trailed Houston by 18 points with 7:24 left and by 17 with 4:29 to go in the first half. The Cougars were seemingly making every shot they took, time after time swishing 3-pointers from distant launching points.
But the Bearcats never flinched. They looked at the huge deficit, realized they had enough time to force a reversal, and fell back on a sense of togetherness combined with the mental toughness that comes with a veteran team. They chopped the deficit to three by halftime and took control in the second half to post a remarkable 80-70 victory before a crowd of 8,885 at BB&T Arena.
"It's an arduous task," said senior forward Kyle Washington of the comeback, "but this team is the closest team I've been on in terms of cohesiveness, staying together, getting through adversity. It makes it so much easier when you have a situation like that when we're together and we're connected because we said, 'We're in a tough spot, we've got to fight through it.' It was a great test for us."
Washington led UC with 19 points, 14 in the second half. Jacob Evans III scored 18, Jarron Cumberland added 15 and Gary Clark had his ninth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds despite getting in foul trouble that limited him to 30 minutes. The Bearcats blocked eight shots – three by Clark - and held Houston to 35.3 percent shooting in the second half. Houston guard Rob Gray, the leading scorer in the American Athletic Conference at 18.7 points per game, scored only nine points on 4-of-15 shooting.
No. 8 UC (20-2 overall, 9-0 in the AAC) has won 13 in a row overall and is one of six teams in the country with two or fewer losses. Houston (16-5, 6-3) has lost its last four games against UC and is 2-30 all-time vs. the Bearcats. The Cougars are 0-15 all-time in Cincinnati.
The comeback for a victory was the largest for a UC team during the Mick Cronin coaching era, which began in 2006-07, surpassing the 17-point comeback that resulted in a 96-83 overtime win against West Virginia on Jan. 20, 2007 at Fifth Third Arena.
"They came out hitting on all cylinders and shocked us early," Cronin said of the Cougars. "Our home crowd was tremendous tonight, best of the year. They were huge, a big six man. Whenever you can weather a storm like we did tonight with the shot-making exhibition they were putting on for awhile, you've got to feel fortunate."
It wasn't only Houston's hot shooting that put UC in such a deep hole. The Bearcats contributed with eight turnovers in the first half. By the 8:33 mark, they already had eight of them, four by Cumberland. From that point, they committed only one more the rest of the game.
"Once we stopped turning the ball over, the game changed," Cronin said. "Their defensive physicality and their attacking of the ball shocked us early. We were not prepared for it. Our guys were in definite shock of their aggressiveness and their physicality. (The Cougars) were not going to get pushed around. They were going to be extremely physical. Give our guys credit. They stepped up and they adjusted to what was going on."
The Bearcats also tightened up their defense after allowing 40 first-half points, the second-most by an opponent this season.
"They were making shots, but there was a reason for them making shots," Evans said. "We weren't getting to their shooters fast enough or closing hard enough on them. With five minutes left in the first half, we picked it up a little bit."
Evans made one of the biggest shots of the game when he came up with a steal with just three seconds remaining in the first half, then banked in a 3-point shot just before the horn sounded. The Bearcats outscored Houston, 17-3, in the final 4:29 to pull them well within striking distance for the second half.
"We already had a little run going at the time," Evans said. "I got the steal and Iooked at the clock. There were three seconds. I knew I had to get a good one off. I just shot it and banked it in."
Clark went to the bench with his third foul with 14:38 left in the second half, returned with 10:47 remaining, and left again with his fourth with 8:05 to go. When he left the second time, the Bearcats were up by four. By the time he returned with 3:36 to play, they led by 12.
By the end of the game, UC had outscored Houston by 28 points after falling behind by 18, with Clark and Washington combining to make six of 10 from long range.
"Let's not lose sight of this," said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson. "That's a good team. They're very good. All they needed was a break. Washington and Clark, the shots that got them back in it was their threes. We were prepared to guard them on the block, but we're not prepared to guard them beyond the 3-point line. When the Washingtons and Clarks are sitting there making threes, good for Cincinnati. Those are tough shots."
It was that kind of resourcefulness that Cronin was hoping to see from his team when they endured tough times as they did Wednesday.
"The question I've had for this team all year is when the moment of truth comes are we going to be able to take it to another level,"Cronin said, "and I thought we did that tonight or we would have gotten beat."
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.