The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Loss to Cincinnati ends Huskies’ tough season
AAC semifinal loss plagued by plethora of foul calls
HARTFORD » Let the record show that, in three games this season, UConn never held a lead against Cincinnati. Not 2-0, not 1-0 ... nada, none, zip.
And let the record book show that no American Athletic Conference tournament game has ever featured more total fouls, or more against one team, than what were called in Saturday’s semifinal game between UConn and Cincinnati at the XL Center.
No fewer than 56 total fouls were whistled by the officiating triumvirate of Karl Hess, Mike Nance and Ron Groover. And while there were head-scratching calls and serious foul trouble for both teams, it was the Huskies who were victimized the most. UConn was whistled for 32 of those fouls, sending the Bearcats to the foul line a whopping 46 times. Cincinnati knocked down 38 of those freebies and emerged with an 81-71 victory, ending UConn’s frustrating, injuryriddled season at 16-17. No, the Huskies won’t be going to the NIT, CBI, CIT or any other postseason tournament.
The Bearcats, meanwhile, face top-seed SMU in the AAC tourney championship game on Sunday at 3:15 p.m. at the XL Center. It’s the first time in the league’s four-year history
that UConn won’t be playing in the title game.
“It was a tough, hardfought game,” said coach Kevin Ollie. “Our guys never gave in. Just proud of them, proud of our seniors. They won a lot of games here and left this program better.”
Make no mistake, the No. 2-seeded Bearcats were and are clearly the better team. They’re 29-4 overall and finally solved the hex of UConn in the AAC tourney, from which they’ve been ousted by the Huskies the three previous years. But without question, the constant concert of whistles destroyed any flow and turned should have been an intriguing game between two rivals into a 2 ½-hour slogfest.
When it was over, no fewer than seven of the Huskies’ eight rotation players had at least four fouls. Seniors Rodney Purvis and Kentan Facey walked off the floor for the final time of their respective collegiate careers after — you guessed it — fouling out.
“I guess the refs did the best job that they possibly can, you know?” said Ollie, choosing his words carefully. “You see 46 free throws, 31 in one half ... I don’t know if a lot of people were watching that game. I mean, because it’s just all free throws. That’s not how basketball is supposed to be played.”
Still, Ollie wasn’t trying to take any credit away from Cincinnati.
“I mean, they put our guys in a position to foul,” he continued. “But it’s hard to win a game when a team goes to the free throw line 46 times. Credit to them, they made them.”
Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin, who has been victimized by the Huskies numerous times over the years (including by a 75foot prayer by Jalen Adams in last year’s league tourney), wasn’t in the mood for any talk of his Bearcats getting a kind whistle. When Troy Caupain was asked if he had ever played in a game with so many stops and whistles, Cronin interrupted: “Are you trying to insinuate that UConn got cheated?”
“No,” the reporter answered.
“OK,” Cronin replied, “I’m just checking.”
In fact, Cronin had no issues with the volume of calls on Saturday.
“Let me say this, (the refs) are paid a lot of money,” he said. “If there’s fouls on any team, they should be called. In the last two or three weeks, all around our league, there’s been a lot of stuff going on that needs to be called.”
Cronin even referenced the infamous 2011 brawl between his team and Xavier as a reason why games need to be officiated tightly.
“You’re talking to a guy that was part of a horrible incident a long time ago, where stuff was not called and stuff escalated,” he said. “And it was a terrible, terrible scene for two great universities. That stuff needs to be called. Sometimes, (officials) get paid a lot of money and both teams play zone and nobody touches each other, and they get to go to dinner. So today, they had to earn their money.”
As was the case in their two regular-season meetings with UConn, Cincinnati never trailed. Caupain hit a 3-pointer to kick off the game and Cincy opened up as much as a 14-point firsthalf lead. The Bearcats led 41-29 at the break.
The physicality started early, with Amida Brimah accidentally head-butting Cincy forward Gary Clark, causing him to loose part of his front tooth.
The Bearcats went through rough shooting stretches, at one point missing 10 of 11 shots, yet never relinquished their lead. Though they came close.
UConn turned a 14-point deficit into two after consecutive Purvis 3-pointers midway through the second half.
UConn was down 65-60 following a pair of Jalen Adams free throws with 4:04 remaining. Cincinnati would make just one field goal the rest of the way, but knocked down 14 of 16 free throws over the final 3 ½ minutes to clinch the victory. When Purvis, who poured in a career-high 30 points two nights earlier in the Huskies’ openinground win over USF, fouled out with 31.8 seconds left, the chant of “Rod-ney Purvis!!!” erupted form the partisan 8,117.
But that quickly changed to even more vociferous chants directed at the refs that wouldn’t be suitable for a family newspaper.