TicketsNORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL (0-1) at CINCINNATI (0-1)
SERIES INFO: Cincinnati leads 2-0 overall; Cincinnati leads 2-0 in Cincinnati
LAST MEETING: Cincinnati won 59-50 on Nov. 25, 2014 at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati
STREAK: Cincinnati - Won last 2
COACHES: Mick Cronin is in his 13th season at Cincinnati (268-141); 16th season overall (327-165)
LeVelle Moton is in his 10th season at North Carolina Central (171-120); 10th season overall (171-120)
AP/USA TODAY RANKINGS (PRESEASON): Cincinnati (RV/RV); North Carolina Central (--/--)
RADIO: 700 WLW; Dan Hoard provides play-by-play with color analyst Kevin Johnson
TV: FOX Sports Ohio/ESPN3; Tom Gelehrter provides play-by-play with color analyst Terry Nelson
JOIN THE CONVERSATION (TWITTER, FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM): @GoBearcatsMBB or GoBearcatsMBB TELEVISION NOTE: The Cincinnati-North Carolina Central game will be available on the FOX Sports Ohio alternate channel on local cable systems. You can also find the game on the following satellite providers: DISH Network (442); Hopper (412-30); DirecTV (660-2 SD/HD) and AT&T Uverse (692/ HD: 1692). ESPN's WatchESPN will be blacked out in the Cincinnati viewing area. The game will be available via stream on the FOX Sports app.
By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
CINCINNATI – All the hoopla about the opening of refurbished Fifth Third Arena and the long-awaited game gainst Ohio State is behind the University of Cincinnati Bearcats.
Now it's time to get down to the business of figuring out how to win without the big three of Gary Clark, Kyle Washington and Jacob Evans, who carried most of the load last season.
"It's time to win," said junior forward Trevon Scott. "No hype. Just play basketball. I'm glad it's over. I wish we would have won the game, but it's time to get the season rolling."
While dropping a 64-56 decision last Wednesday to the Buckeyes, the Bearcats (0-1) discovered plenty of things that they need to improve on. They'll find out if they've made any significant progress at 7 p.m. Tuesday against North Carolina Central (0-1) at Fifth Third.
"There's things that we're capable of doing," said UC coach Mick Cronin. "They're a lot harder to do against a really solid team, but for this team to win we have got to be a really, really good defensive and rebounding team. Offense comes and goes. The problem with inexperienced young players, and it's natural, when your shot doesn't go in, when you're Tre Scott and you make a move and you fall down, it gets in your head. So I've got my work cut out for me this year. That's all right. It happens."
Cronin was adamant after the OSU game that his team lost primarily because of a poor defensive effort in the second half when it allowed 37 points and 55 percent shooting by the Buckeyes. But he knows there's plenty of room for improvement on offense, too, beginning with improved shot selection.
The Bearcats shot 27.4 percent from the field against OSU, 23.1 percent from three-point range. They missed a slew of layups, many coming after offensive rebounds.
"When our shot selection is better, we'll get fouled and we'll shoot a higher percentage," Cronin said. "There's no such thing as a 10-point shot. There's a time when you need a layup or a free throw. When you've got to have a basket, you don't need a hard jump shot. We took 13 ridiculous running shots at the rim, not stopping, not pump-faking, not getting fouled, things that we work on all the time."
North Carolina Central opened its season last Friday with a 71-51 loss at Clemson. The Eagles have played in the NCAA Tournament in three of the last five years. Last year, they won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament as the No. 6 seed before losing to Texas Southern in the First Four in Dayton.
Four starters return from that team, including leading scorer Raasean Davis, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound senior center who averaged 15.1 points and 8.1 rebounds last year while shooting 67.1 percent from the field, the third best mark in the country.
For the Bearcats to click on offense, they need consistent production from guards Cane Broome and Jarron Cumberland, especially against quality opposition like they faced last week, But Broome went one-for-10 and scored only five points. Cumberland scored a game-high 22 points, but missed most of the first half due to foul trouble and didn't score at all until after intermission.
That can't happen if this team is going to generate enough offense to win on a consistent basis.
"I told him in the second half when we started coming back and he was at the line, I told him, 'Jarron, this is your team. It's your show. You're that guy,' " Scott said.
Broome averaged only 7.9 points last season when he was no more than the Bearcats' fourth or fifth scoring option. But he averaged 23.1 points as a sophomore at Sacred Heart in 2015-16 and is being counted on to be more of a force on offense as a senior this year at UC.
"I think he's trying to do what I want him to do," Cronin said. "He's trying to create offense. He's trying to be aggressive."
With Cronin, though, it almost always comes down to defense. That's been his trademark since he arrived at UC in 2006 and it has served him well. He's not about to shy away from emphasizing it now.
"The message is always the same," Cronin said. "You've got to worry about defense. When you get 28 deflections in a home game when you press the majority of the game, you're not going to win. You've not playing hard enough. I thought we played hard enough defensively for about seven minutes when we changed the game. Other than that, we weren't disruptive at all. We had zero steals in the first half."
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.
SERIES INFO: Cincinnati leads 2-0 overall; Cincinnati leads 2-0 in Cincinnati
LAST MEETING: Cincinnati won 59-50 on Nov. 25, 2014 at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati
STREAK: Cincinnati - Won last 2
COACHES: Mick Cronin is in his 13th season at Cincinnati (268-141); 16th season overall (327-165)
LeVelle Moton is in his 10th season at North Carolina Central (171-120); 10th season overall (171-120)
AP/USA TODAY RANKINGS (PRESEASON): Cincinnati (RV/RV); North Carolina Central (--/--)
RADIO: 700 WLW; Dan Hoard provides play-by-play with color analyst Kevin Johnson
TV: FOX Sports Ohio/ESPN3; Tom Gelehrter provides play-by-play with color analyst Terry Nelson
JOIN THE CONVERSATION (TWITTER, FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM): @GoBearcatsMBB or GoBearcatsMBB TELEVISION NOTE: The Cincinnati-North Carolina Central game will be available on the FOX Sports Ohio alternate channel on local cable systems. You can also find the game on the following satellite providers: DISH Network (442); Hopper (412-30); DirecTV (660-2 SD/HD) and AT&T Uverse (692/ HD: 1692). ESPN's WatchESPN will be blacked out in the Cincinnati viewing area. The game will be available via stream on the FOX Sports app.
By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
CINCINNATI – All the hoopla about the opening of refurbished Fifth Third Arena and the long-awaited game gainst Ohio State is behind the University of Cincinnati Bearcats.
Now it's time to get down to the business of figuring out how to win without the big three of Gary Clark, Kyle Washington and Jacob Evans, who carried most of the load last season.
"It's time to win," said junior forward Trevon Scott. "No hype. Just play basketball. I'm glad it's over. I wish we would have won the game, but it's time to get the season rolling."
While dropping a 64-56 decision last Wednesday to the Buckeyes, the Bearcats (0-1) discovered plenty of things that they need to improve on. They'll find out if they've made any significant progress at 7 p.m. Tuesday against North Carolina Central (0-1) at Fifth Third.
"There's things that we're capable of doing," said UC coach Mick Cronin. "They're a lot harder to do against a really solid team, but for this team to win we have got to be a really, really good defensive and rebounding team. Offense comes and goes. The problem with inexperienced young players, and it's natural, when your shot doesn't go in, when you're Tre Scott and you make a move and you fall down, it gets in your head. So I've got my work cut out for me this year. That's all right. It happens."
Cronin was adamant after the OSU game that his team lost primarily because of a poor defensive effort in the second half when it allowed 37 points and 55 percent shooting by the Buckeyes. But he knows there's plenty of room for improvement on offense, too, beginning with improved shot selection.
The Bearcats shot 27.4 percent from the field against OSU, 23.1 percent from three-point range. They missed a slew of layups, many coming after offensive rebounds.
"When our shot selection is better, we'll get fouled and we'll shoot a higher percentage," Cronin said. "There's no such thing as a 10-point shot. There's a time when you need a layup or a free throw. When you've got to have a basket, you don't need a hard jump shot. We took 13 ridiculous running shots at the rim, not stopping, not pump-faking, not getting fouled, things that we work on all the time."
North Carolina Central opened its season last Friday with a 71-51 loss at Clemson. The Eagles have played in the NCAA Tournament in three of the last five years. Last year, they won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament as the No. 6 seed before losing to Texas Southern in the First Four in Dayton.
Four starters return from that team, including leading scorer Raasean Davis, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound senior center who averaged 15.1 points and 8.1 rebounds last year while shooting 67.1 percent from the field, the third best mark in the country.
For the Bearcats to click on offense, they need consistent production from guards Cane Broome and Jarron Cumberland, especially against quality opposition like they faced last week, But Broome went one-for-10 and scored only five points. Cumberland scored a game-high 22 points, but missed most of the first half due to foul trouble and didn't score at all until after intermission.
That can't happen if this team is going to generate enough offense to win on a consistent basis.
"I told him in the second half when we started coming back and he was at the line, I told him, 'Jarron, this is your team. It's your show. You're that guy,' " Scott said.
Broome averaged only 7.9 points last season when he was no more than the Bearcats' fourth or fifth scoring option. But he averaged 23.1 points as a sophomore at Sacred Heart in 2015-16 and is being counted on to be more of a force on offense as a senior this year at UC.
"I think he's trying to do what I want him to do," Cronin said. "He's trying to create offense. He's trying to be aggressive."
With Cronin, though, it almost always comes down to defense. That's been his trademark since he arrived at UC in 2006 and it has served him well. He's not about to shy away from emphasizing it now.
"The message is always the same," Cronin said. "You've got to worry about defense. When you get 28 deflections in a home game when you press the majority of the game, you're not going to win. You've not playing hard enough. I thought we played hard enough defensively for about seven minutes when we changed the game. Other than that, we weren't disruptive at all. We had zero steals in the first half."
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.