TicketsBy Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
CINCINNATI – The numbers were so striking that it seemed obvious why the University of Cincinnati Bearcats lost their season opener to Ohio State on Wednesday night in the first regular-season game played in the freshly renovated Fifth Third Arena.
The Bearcats shot 27.4 percent from the field, just 13.8 percent in the first half when they scored only 18 points.
But anyone who knows UC coach Mick Cronin could have predicted that he would attribute the Bearcats' 64-56 loss to the Buckeyes to defensive breakdowns. He didn't disappoint.
"I know people don't want to hear this because you're going to ask me about our offense," Cronin said after the game, "but what I'm going to tell you is a math quiz. If Ohio State scored 27 in the first half and we'd have held them to 27 in the second half, we'd have won by two. And we're capable of that."
Despite their horrid first-half shooting, the Bearcats stormed back late in the second half to make a game of it. They cut a 16-point deficit with 5:23 remaining to four, at 60-56, with a minute to go when Jarron Cumberland connected on a 3-pointer from the wing as the sellout crowd of 12,012 roared its approval.
It took a driving layup by Ohio State guard C.J. Jackson with 29 seconds to go to seal the victory for OSU.
UC (0-1) saw a 10-game winning streak in season openers come to an end and lost its first game at Fifth Third since Jan. 2, 2016. The Bearcats had won their last 26 games there.
It was the first game between the two schools to be played on UC's campus since 1920. They've played each other only 11 times overall since the series began in 1905, with the Buckeyes now holding a 7-4 advantage. But UC defeated Ohio State for the national championship in both 1961 and 1962.
Cumberland finished with 22 points, all in the second half, and spurred UC's late comeback after foul trouble limited him to four minutes and no points in the first half.
"That was brutal," Cronin said, "at this time of year in a game like that."
If that wasn't bad enough, senior guard Cane Broome went one-for-10 from the field and scored only five points. At times during the first half, the Bearcats appeared almost helpless to put the ball in the basket.
"It was hard," Cumberland said. "I had to keep cheering my guys on (from the bench), keep them in the game and let them know I'm there for them even though I was in foul trouble."
In the second half, Cumberland said, "I felt like I owed them a lot. They could have used my help in the first half. It was just the flow of the game. I just picked up two dumb fouls."
The first field goal in the new arena was a 3-pointer by UC's Justin Jenifer 1:01 into the game. But it was not a good omen for the Bearcats.
After Jenifer's trey, UC didn't score again until Broome made a three with 13:51 left. The Bearcats missed nine of their first 10 shots. OSU also got off to a slow start offensively, missing seven of its first eight shots. But while the Buckeyes recovered somewhat to shoot 33.3 percent for the half, the Bearcats never did find the range before intermission.
UC trailed, 27-18 at the half after making four of 29 shots from the field. They were two of 12 from beyond the arc and when they did get the ball inside, they were unable to convert, with shot after shot rolling off the rim.
Things didn't get much better for UC when the second half started. The Bearcats made two quick baskets, but the Buckeyes (1-0) made their first four shots of the half. OSU led, 41-25 with1 14:15 left before UC started to show signs of life, reeling off six straight points to get within 11 with 12:35 remaining. That prompted Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann to call timeout.
OSU led, 47-36 after Jackson made a 3-pointer for OSU as the shot clock ticked down near zero to make it 55-39. The Bearcats then scored six straight points to get within 10 on a twisting layup by Jenifer with 4:21 to play.
Two free throws by Cumberland made it 58-51 with 2:13 remaining and a Cumberland field goal made it 59-53. After Kaleb Wesson, who led OSU with 15 points, made one of two free throws, Cumberland drilled the three that pulled the Bearcats to within four.
"We knew we were playing an extremely hard-playing, well-coached team," Holtmann said, "but this environment tonight maybe was more than what even I anticipated. I thought their fans gave them great life and energy when they made a run on us and we didn't always handle it as well as we needed to. Probably they missed some shots that they will normally make."
Cronin predicted that UC will become more efficient offensively as first-year starters such as Trevon Scott, who scored eight points; and Nysier Brooks, who scored six, get more experience. At this point, though, they're a long way from being the offensive threats the Bearcats enjoyed last year with Gary Clark and Kyle Washington up front.
But that was to be expected.
"Tre Scott is way better than he played tonight," Cronin said. "But it's his first start of his college career in a game against a really good team. He's overhyped up. He's just a better player than that. I think he'll get better as he gets minutes. The same with Nysier Brooks. Cane Broome has got to shoot the ball with more arc and I haven't done a good enough job of getting him to do that."
Sensing skepticism among reporters, Cronin emphasized again that even though his team struggled on offense, it was defense that cost them the game.
"You look at my track record," he said. "I promise you that I know what I'm doing. You can't give up layups and free throws and win. You just can't do it, especially when you're struggling on the offensive end. That's who we are this year. We've got a lot of guys with inexperience. They've got talent though. I've got to stay with them and I've got to keep getting them better. That's my job."
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.