TicketsMEMPHIS (18-11, 10-6) AT 23/22 CINCINNATI (24-4, 13-2)
Saturday, March 2 • 8 p.m. (ET) • Fifth Third Arena • Cincinnati, Ohio
SERIES INFO: 79th meeting; Cincinnati leads 45-33 overall;
Cincinnati leads 24-10 in Cincinnati and 6-1 at neutral sites;
Memphis leads 22-15 in Memphis;
STREAK: Cincinnati - 5
LAST MEETING: Cincinnati won 69-64 on Feb. 7, 2019
at the FedEXForum in Memphis, Tenn.
COACHES: Mick Cronin is in his 13th season at Cincinnati (292-144); 16th season overall (361-168)
Penny Hardaway is in his first season at Memphis (18-11); first season overall (18-11)
AP/USA TODAY RANKINGS (FEB. 25): Cincinnati (23/22); Memphis (--/--)
RADIO: 700 WLW; Dan Hoard provides play-by-play with color analyst Terry Nelson
TV: ESPNU; Jay Alter provides play-by-play with color analyst John Thompson
JOIN THE CONVERSATION (TWITTER, FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM): @GoBearcatsMBB or GoBearcatsMBB
By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
CINCINNATI – After he scored 27 points against Wichita State on Feb. 17, University of Cincinnati guard Jarron Cumberland was leading the American Athletic Conference in scoring with an average of 19.3 points per game. Memphis senior guard Jeremiah Martin was sixth at 17.4.
Since then, Martin has continued a remarkable scoring run that has seen him assume the AAC scoring leadership with a 19.4-point average while Cumberland has slipped to third at 18.3.
Cumberland and Martin both will be on display when the Bearcats take on Memphis at 8 p.m. Saturday at Fifth Third Arena, with Martin looking to stay hot and Cumberland trying to break out of a scoring slump.
UC enters with a 24-4 overall record, 13-2 in the AAC, closing in on its ninth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The Bearcats have won four straight. Memphis (18-11, 10-6) is hoping to make a late-season push to get in position to make the tournament, having won five of its last six games since losing to UC 69-64 at Memphis on Feb. 7.
The Bearcats lead the all-time series with Memphis 45-33 and have won their last five games against the Tigers.
"This is a team with five seniors starting that want to play in the NCAA Tournament," said UC coach Mick Cronin. "And I think they have a chance. They need to have a win here Saturday."
During the last three games, Cumberland has been frequently double-teamed and banged around physically as opponents have geared their defense toward slowing him down, content to take their chances with the rest of UC's lineup.
His scoring has diminished accordingly. He scored 12 points on four of 13 shooting vs. SMU last Wednesday. That came after an eight-point performance against Connecticut on three-of- nine shooting, and 11 points against South Florida on three-of-13 shooting. He has missed his last eight three-point attempts.
"You can see sometimes the frustration on his face," said UC senior guard Cane Broome.
Broome knows what Cumberland is going through. After averaging 23.1 points at Sacred Heart as a sophomore before he transferred to UC, Broome was the focus of the defense every night, much the same way that Cumberland is now.
"I used to get it the same way," Broome said. "I tell him to try to get in transition so that you can be the first option instead of trying to come off the screen and get open, shoot more floaters, just try to find other ways to score. Still try to be the same person, but not force it. It's hard to come off a screen and get doubled every time. He's playing hard, but he's just not getting open shots, the shots that he normally gets."
Cronin said it wasn't realistic to expect Cumberland to score 20 points every night given the attention he attracts. At this point, the UC coach said he would settle for 15 points from Cumberland and increased production from others, especially Nysier Brooks and Trevon Scott, who have struggled to finish around the basket in recent games.
Cronin's objective as the Bearcats head into the home stretch of the regular season is to get Cumberland "freshened up mentally and physically."
"Jarron beats himself up," Cronin said. "He puts too much pressure on himself. He's such a competitor that he's at a point in his career where if he doesn't dominate a game, he's not happy.
"He's got to realize it's just not going to happen every night. Teams are going to do what they have to do to make it hard on him. It's the evolution of adjustments. Earlier he was surprising people when they guarded him and he just shot it right in their face. Obviously they're not letting that happen anymore. Teams are way more in tune to stopping him any way they can."
Broome went through a slump of his own earlier this season, but has scored in double figures in a reserve role in three of his last five games. He made two three-pointers in the final 1:29 against UConn to save the day for the Bearcats two games ago, including a 30-footer with 12 seconds left, narrowly beating the shot clock.
Cumberland encouraged him to keep his head up when he was struggling and now Broome is trying to do the same for Cumberland.
"We need him a lot," Broome said. "He's been a big part of our team the whole year. He's our go-to guy. Right now he's just focused on making the right passes and being a good teammate. If we make the shots that he's passing us, they'll have to guard us."
Meanwhile, Memphis' Martin rolls on, seemingly able to overcome whatever defenses concoct to try to stop him. He scored 26 against the Bearcats in their first meeting, making eight of 14 from three-point range.
Martin was named the CBS Sports National Player of the Week this week and is averaging 30.6 points over his last eight games. With 43 points against Tulane and 41 against USF, he's the only player in Memphis history to score 40 points twice in the same season.
"The way Jeremiah Martin's playing right now reminds me of Nick Van Exel," Cronin said. "He's left-handed, he can get his own shot, and he has great one-on-one ability. He's just a dominant player right now."
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.
Saturday, March 2 • 8 p.m. (ET) • Fifth Third Arena • Cincinnati, Ohio
SERIES INFO: 79th meeting; Cincinnati leads 45-33 overall;
Cincinnati leads 24-10 in Cincinnati and 6-1 at neutral sites;
Memphis leads 22-15 in Memphis;
STREAK: Cincinnati - 5
LAST MEETING: Cincinnati won 69-64 on Feb. 7, 2019
at the FedEXForum in Memphis, Tenn.
COACHES: Mick Cronin is in his 13th season at Cincinnati (292-144); 16th season overall (361-168)
Penny Hardaway is in his first season at Memphis (18-11); first season overall (18-11)
AP/USA TODAY RANKINGS (FEB. 25): Cincinnati (23/22); Memphis (--/--)
RADIO: 700 WLW; Dan Hoard provides play-by-play with color analyst Terry Nelson
TV: ESPNU; Jay Alter provides play-by-play with color analyst John Thompson
JOIN THE CONVERSATION (TWITTER, FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM): @GoBearcatsMBB or GoBearcatsMBB
By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
CINCINNATI – After he scored 27 points against Wichita State on Feb. 17, University of Cincinnati guard Jarron Cumberland was leading the American Athletic Conference in scoring with an average of 19.3 points per game. Memphis senior guard Jeremiah Martin was sixth at 17.4.
Since then, Martin has continued a remarkable scoring run that has seen him assume the AAC scoring leadership with a 19.4-point average while Cumberland has slipped to third at 18.3.
Cumberland and Martin both will be on display when the Bearcats take on Memphis at 8 p.m. Saturday at Fifth Third Arena, with Martin looking to stay hot and Cumberland trying to break out of a scoring slump.
UC enters with a 24-4 overall record, 13-2 in the AAC, closing in on its ninth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The Bearcats have won four straight. Memphis (18-11, 10-6) is hoping to make a late-season push to get in position to make the tournament, having won five of its last six games since losing to UC 69-64 at Memphis on Feb. 7.
The Bearcats lead the all-time series with Memphis 45-33 and have won their last five games against the Tigers.
"This is a team with five seniors starting that want to play in the NCAA Tournament," said UC coach Mick Cronin. "And I think they have a chance. They need to have a win here Saturday."
During the last three games, Cumberland has been frequently double-teamed and banged around physically as opponents have geared their defense toward slowing him down, content to take their chances with the rest of UC's lineup.
His scoring has diminished accordingly. He scored 12 points on four of 13 shooting vs. SMU last Wednesday. That came after an eight-point performance against Connecticut on three-of- nine shooting, and 11 points against South Florida on three-of-13 shooting. He has missed his last eight three-point attempts.
"You can see sometimes the frustration on his face," said UC senior guard Cane Broome.
Broome knows what Cumberland is going through. After averaging 23.1 points at Sacred Heart as a sophomore before he transferred to UC, Broome was the focus of the defense every night, much the same way that Cumberland is now.
"I used to get it the same way," Broome said. "I tell him to try to get in transition so that you can be the first option instead of trying to come off the screen and get open, shoot more floaters, just try to find other ways to score. Still try to be the same person, but not force it. It's hard to come off a screen and get doubled every time. He's playing hard, but he's just not getting open shots, the shots that he normally gets."
Cronin said it wasn't realistic to expect Cumberland to score 20 points every night given the attention he attracts. At this point, the UC coach said he would settle for 15 points from Cumberland and increased production from others, especially Nysier Brooks and Trevon Scott, who have struggled to finish around the basket in recent games.
Cronin's objective as the Bearcats head into the home stretch of the regular season is to get Cumberland "freshened up mentally and physically."
"Jarron beats himself up," Cronin said. "He puts too much pressure on himself. He's such a competitor that he's at a point in his career where if he doesn't dominate a game, he's not happy.
"He's got to realize it's just not going to happen every night. Teams are going to do what they have to do to make it hard on him. It's the evolution of adjustments. Earlier he was surprising people when they guarded him and he just shot it right in their face. Obviously they're not letting that happen anymore. Teams are way more in tune to stopping him any way they can."
Broome went through a slump of his own earlier this season, but has scored in double figures in a reserve role in three of his last five games. He made two three-pointers in the final 1:29 against UConn to save the day for the Bearcats two games ago, including a 30-footer with 12 seconds left, narrowly beating the shot clock.
Cumberland encouraged him to keep his head up when he was struggling and now Broome is trying to do the same for Cumberland.
"We need him a lot," Broome said. "He's been a big part of our team the whole year. He's our go-to guy. Right now he's just focused on making the right passes and being a good teammate. If we make the shots that he's passing us, they'll have to guard us."
Meanwhile, Memphis' Martin rolls on, seemingly able to overcome whatever defenses concoct to try to stop him. He scored 26 against the Bearcats in their first meeting, making eight of 14 from three-point range.
Martin was named the CBS Sports National Player of the Week this week and is averaging 30.6 points over his last eight games. With 43 points against Tulane and 41 against USF, he's the only player in Memphis history to score 40 points twice in the same season.
"The way Jeremiah Martin's playing right now reminds me of Nick Van Exel," Cronin said. "He's left-handed, he can get his own shot, and he has great one-on-one ability. He's just a dominant player right now."
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.