TicketsUCF (19-5, 9-3) AT CINCINNATI (21-4, 10-2)
Thursday, Feb. 21 // 7 p.m. (ET)
Fifth Third Arena // Cincinnati, Ohio
SERIES INFO: 12th meeting; Cincinnati leads 10-1 overall;
Cincinnati leads 4-0 at home;
Cincinnati leads 4-1 in Orlando; Cincinnati leads 2-0 at neutral sites
2017-18 MEETINGS: Cincinnati won 49-38 on Jan. 16, 2018 at CFE Arena;
Cincinnati won 77-52 at BB&T Arena in Highland Heights, Ky.
STREAK: Cincinnati - 2
COACHES: Mick Cronin is in his 13th season at Cincinnati (289-144); 16th season overall (358-168)
Johnny Dawkins is in his third season at UCF (62-30); 12th season overall (218-145)
AP/USA TODAY RANKINGS (FEB. 18): Cincinnati (RV/25); UCF (--/--)
RADIO: 700 WLW; Dan Hoard provides play-by-play with color analyst Terry Nelson
TV: ESPN2; Kevin Brown provides play-by-play with color analyst Tim McCormick
JOIN THE CONVERSATION (TWITTER, FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM): @GoBearcatsMBB or GoBearcatsMBB
By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
CINCINNATI – University of Cincinnati basketball fans probably don't realize it, but these are historic times for the Bearcats.
With 82 wins since the start of the 2016-17 season, the Bearcats need four more to post the highest three-year win total in school history. The record for a three-year period of UC basketball belongs to Bob Huggins' teams from 1999-2000 to 2001-02, which won 85 games.
The 2018-19 Bearcats still have six games to play in the regular season, beginning with Thursday's 7 o'clock game against Central Florida at Fifth Third Arena, plus the postseason to surpass that mark.
UC (21-4 overall, 10-2 in the American Athletic Conference) has won 14 consecutive home games and 23 straight conference games at Fifth Third. A win over the Knights would be the 400th UC win at Fifth Third since it opened in 1989-90 as Shoemaker Center.
UCF (19-5, 9-3) was the preseason pick to win the American. The Knights have won three straight: at SMU and at home against both South Florida and Memphis.
Cronin is 289-144 in 13 years as UC's head coach, placing him second on the school's career victories list behind Huggins, who won 399 games in 16 years.
"There's been a lot of winning here," said Cronin, a UC graduate who grew up a Bearcat fan. "You're talking about over a hundred years of basketball, so I take great pride in everything the program's accomplished. The thing I take the most pride in is that over that (three-year period) every senior has graduated.
"I would hope people will realize that when I took the job (in 2006), at my first press conference I had a vision for what we wanted to get to, for what I thought the university wanted the program to look like. We've worked hard every day to get it to that point on and off the floor. As a coach, you want winning, you want winning with integrity, you want graduation, and you want personal development with your players."
The Bearcats, 10-1 all-time against UCF, need a win to keep from falling into a second-place tie with the Knights in the American.
To accomplish that, they'll have to contend with the towering presence of 7-foot-6, 310-pound senior center Tacko Fall, who averages 10.6 points and 2.6 blocked shots per game. He leads the league in both blocks and field goal percentage (75.9 percent) and is fifth in rebounds with 7.0 per game.
But as Cronin said Tuesday, Fall's impact on a game can't be measured by numbers alone.
"When the game slows down and he's standing by the rim, it's the shock and awe effect sometimes for your players," Cronin said. "What it does doesn't show in his numbers, but it allows them to be really aggressive defending the three-point line knowing that when they run at you if you drive by them, Tacko's standing in the lane. The Tacko effect is shown in their field goal percentage defense, not his statistics."
UCF ranks second in the league behind Houston in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to make only 38.6 percent of their shots.
Trevon Scott, UC's 6-foot-9 junior forward, understands how challenging it will be to score inside against Fall.
"I feel like our advantage will be to try to get him from around the paint in our zone defense, try to bring him up a little bit to where he's not just standing directly in front of the basket," Scott said.
While Fall might be the main topic of conversation for opponents preparing to face UCF, the list of concerns presented by the Knights doesn't stop with him, not by a long shot.
From a defensive standpoint, UC will have to try to control senior guard B.J. Taylor the preseason Player of the Year in the American. Taylor averages 16.9 points and 3.5 assists.
As a team, UCF has attempted 323 free throws in conference games, more than any other team except South Florida. But their 64.1 percent accuracy from the line ranks last in the league. Taylor is especially adept at drawing fouls. His 72 made free throws in league games rank third behind South Florida's David Collins (79) and UC's Jarron Cumberland (74).
"In league play they've shot 123 more than their opponents," Cronin said. "BJ is shooting eight a game in conference play. He does a great job, like Jarron, in knowing how to use his body. He's very good with the ball getting to the line. Their free throw discrepancy is enormous. That's a problem. You can't let them just pound you inside and let Tacko get a bunch of dunks and then let them get a lot of free throws."
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.
Thursday, Feb. 21 // 7 p.m. (ET)
Fifth Third Arena // Cincinnati, Ohio
SERIES INFO: 12th meeting; Cincinnati leads 10-1 overall;
Cincinnati leads 4-0 at home;
Cincinnati leads 4-1 in Orlando; Cincinnati leads 2-0 at neutral sites
2017-18 MEETINGS: Cincinnati won 49-38 on Jan. 16, 2018 at CFE Arena;
Cincinnati won 77-52 at BB&T Arena in Highland Heights, Ky.
STREAK: Cincinnati - 2
COACHES: Mick Cronin is in his 13th season at Cincinnati (289-144); 16th season overall (358-168)
Johnny Dawkins is in his third season at UCF (62-30); 12th season overall (218-145)
AP/USA TODAY RANKINGS (FEB. 18): Cincinnati (RV/25); UCF (--/--)
RADIO: 700 WLW; Dan Hoard provides play-by-play with color analyst Terry Nelson
TV: ESPN2; Kevin Brown provides play-by-play with color analyst Tim McCormick
JOIN THE CONVERSATION (TWITTER, FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM): @GoBearcatsMBB or GoBearcatsMBB
By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
CINCINNATI – University of Cincinnati basketball fans probably don't realize it, but these are historic times for the Bearcats.
With 82 wins since the start of the 2016-17 season, the Bearcats need four more to post the highest three-year win total in school history. The record for a three-year period of UC basketball belongs to Bob Huggins' teams from 1999-2000 to 2001-02, which won 85 games.
The 2018-19 Bearcats still have six games to play in the regular season, beginning with Thursday's 7 o'clock game against Central Florida at Fifth Third Arena, plus the postseason to surpass that mark.
UC (21-4 overall, 10-2 in the American Athletic Conference) has won 14 consecutive home games and 23 straight conference games at Fifth Third. A win over the Knights would be the 400th UC win at Fifth Third since it opened in 1989-90 as Shoemaker Center.
UCF (19-5, 9-3) was the preseason pick to win the American. The Knights have won three straight: at SMU and at home against both South Florida and Memphis.
Cronin is 289-144 in 13 years as UC's head coach, placing him second on the school's career victories list behind Huggins, who won 399 games in 16 years.
"There's been a lot of winning here," said Cronin, a UC graduate who grew up a Bearcat fan. "You're talking about over a hundred years of basketball, so I take great pride in everything the program's accomplished. The thing I take the most pride in is that over that (three-year period) every senior has graduated.
"I would hope people will realize that when I took the job (in 2006), at my first press conference I had a vision for what we wanted to get to, for what I thought the university wanted the program to look like. We've worked hard every day to get it to that point on and off the floor. As a coach, you want winning, you want winning with integrity, you want graduation, and you want personal development with your players."
The Bearcats, 10-1 all-time against UCF, need a win to keep from falling into a second-place tie with the Knights in the American.
To accomplish that, they'll have to contend with the towering presence of 7-foot-6, 310-pound senior center Tacko Fall, who averages 10.6 points and 2.6 blocked shots per game. He leads the league in both blocks and field goal percentage (75.9 percent) and is fifth in rebounds with 7.0 per game.
But as Cronin said Tuesday, Fall's impact on a game can't be measured by numbers alone.
"When the game slows down and he's standing by the rim, it's the shock and awe effect sometimes for your players," Cronin said. "What it does doesn't show in his numbers, but it allows them to be really aggressive defending the three-point line knowing that when they run at you if you drive by them, Tacko's standing in the lane. The Tacko effect is shown in their field goal percentage defense, not his statistics."
UCF ranks second in the league behind Houston in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to make only 38.6 percent of their shots.
Trevon Scott, UC's 6-foot-9 junior forward, understands how challenging it will be to score inside against Fall.
"I feel like our advantage will be to try to get him from around the paint in our zone defense, try to bring him up a little bit to where he's not just standing directly in front of the basket," Scott said.
While Fall might be the main topic of conversation for opponents preparing to face UCF, the list of concerns presented by the Knights doesn't stop with him, not by a long shot.
From a defensive standpoint, UC will have to try to control senior guard B.J. Taylor the preseason Player of the Year in the American. Taylor averages 16.9 points and 3.5 assists.
As a team, UCF has attempted 323 free throws in conference games, more than any other team except South Florida. But their 64.1 percent accuracy from the line ranks last in the league. Taylor is especially adept at drawing fouls. His 72 made free throws in league games rank third behind South Florida's David Collins (79) and UC's Jarron Cumberland (74).
"In league play they've shot 123 more than their opponents," Cronin said. "BJ is shooting eight a game in conference play. He does a great job, like Jarron, in knowing how to use his body. He's very good with the ball getting to the line. Their free throw discrepancy is enormous. That's a problem. You can't let them just pound you inside and let Tacko get a bunch of dunks and then let them get a lot of free throws."
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.