Cumberland Scores 34 in Cincinnati's 82-74 Win Over USF

By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com

CINCINNATI – Needing only seven points to reach 1,000 for his career, University of Cincinnati guard Jarron Cumberland was pretty sure when the game started Tuesday night that he would have no trouble reaching that coveted milestone against South Florida.

He took care of that early on, becoming the 53rd 1,000-point scorer in UC history with a four-point play at the 9:54 mark of the Bearcats' 82-74 victory over the Bulls before 10,347 fans at Fifth Third Arena.

Then he really went to work.

Before he was finished, Cumberland had matched his jersey number with a career-high 34 points in a performance whose equal hadn't been seen at UC since Troy Caupain scored 37 points on a March 11, 2016 in a four-overtime loss to Connecticut in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament.

Cumberland basically did whatever he wanted to do against the USF defense. He was nine-for-20 from the field, two-for-seven from three-point range, and made 14 of 16 free throws, giving him 25 of 28 on his last two games. He also had three assists and four steals in 38:26. He had 19 points at halftime.

"I was just in a rhythm and I was feeling it," Cumberland said. "I was just getting calls, drawing fouls and finding the open guy."

UC (15-3 overall, 4-1 in the American Athletic Conference) has won 10 in a row against USF and is 19-1 all-time at home against the Bulls (12-5, 2-3).
 
Unfortunately for UC head coach Mick Cronin, he was forced to watch most of Cumberland's exquisite performance on TV in the UC locker room after he was ejected for the first time in his coaching career when he was called for two technical fouls with 18:00 left in the second half.
 
Cronin was called for the first technical by official Lee Cassell when he jumped up and down to protest a foul call against Nysier Brooks, who was going for a defensive rebound. He was slapped with the second by official Mark Schnur. Associate head coach Darren Savino ran the team in Cronin's absence.

After the technicals, USF's David Collins made three of the four resulting free throws to trim UC's lead from 46-35 to 46-38. Six minutes and eight seconds later USF had tied the score at 55-55 on two free throws by Laquincy Rideau, who led USF with 26 points before he fouled out with 1:37 remaining. UC then reeled off eight straight points to take a 63-55 lead on Scott's layup with 9:44 remaining, prompting USF coach Brian Gregory to call timeout. 
    
USF came back to tie the score at 65-65. Cumberland then scored five of UC's next seven points to give the Bearcats a 72-67 lead with 4:29 to play. A three-pointer pulled the Bulls to within two. Justin Jenifer made two free throws for UC and Brooks converted a three-point play to give the Bearcats a 77-70 lead with 2:32 remaining.

The Bulls missed six of their last eight field goal attempts and were outscored 10-4 after pulling within two with 4:12 remaining.
 
"We fought, scrapped, clawed," Gregory said. "We just weren't quite good enough. We played not great in the first half, but played good enough defensively to hang in there. Once our offense started going, we were able to compete. So we're taking the right steps."

After Cronin was tossed, the UC players told each other they had to pull together. 

"Everyone turned to each other and said we've got to have each other's back," said junior forward Trevon Scott. "Let's use that as motivation and let's do what we've got to do finish the game. And that's what we did."

Scott, who scored 12 points, said he wasn't overly worried because he had such great faith in Savino and the rest of the coaching staff. But he and Cumberland both said it seemed strange not seeing – and hearing - Cronin on the sideline.
 
"It was the first time I've ever seen that," Cumberland said. "We were just trying to calm him down. It was weird going to the huddle and not hearing him yell."

The Bearcats were out-rebounded for the third straight game, this time 27-23, but came on strong in the second half after being out-rebounded by 10 in the first. They forced 21 USF turnovers, which resulted in 30 points, and made 29 of 32 free throws compared to the Bulls' 22-for26.

"It was a great win for our team," Cronin said. "Obviously Jarron was huge, but really, all the guys making free throws, 29 for 32 is tremendous. No matter what happened with my situation it was going to be a grind. We knew that coming in. They lost at the buzzer at Tulsa and they lost in overtime by two at Temple. 

"It's probably the most underrated team I've seen all year after watching them on film. Our big guys have got to grow up and I thought they did that late in the game. The guys are trying. They're fighting. Their attitude's great."

But ultimately the night belonged to Cumberland, the junior from Wilmington High School, who finished the game with 1,027 career points, leaving him at No. 50 on UC's career scoring list with a season and a half to go.

"It means a lot," Cumberland said. "I'm proud of myself. There was a lot of work and still more to come. I want more than that."

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.