The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Huskies get blown out by Bearcats
CINCINNATI >> They’ve battled season-crippling injuries, we all know.
But here’s the thing about UConn since two of its best players were lost for the season two months ago: the Huskies have yet to surprise us.
By and large, they’ve beat the teams they were supposed to beat, lost to the teams they were supposed to lose to ... and been blown out by the teams they were supposed to be blown out by.
Saturday afternoon was a case of the latter. Facing 14th-ranked Cincinnati before a sellout crowd at Fifth Third Arena, UConn never led, trailed by as many as 26 points midway through the second half and wound up with an 82-68 loss. And not unlike a Jan. 19 loss at SMU, where the Huskies closed out the game with a meaningless 9-0 run that made the final score (69-49) a tad more respectable, this final was misleading, as well. UConn (10-12, 5-5 AAC) ended the game with an 11-2 run that meant absolutely nothing.
“We’ve got to play a little bit harder,” said coach Kevin Ollie,
before quickly correcting himself. “Actually, we’ve got to play a lot harder, and a lot tougher. It’s a work game. SMU, work game. The top of our league is tough, and we’ve got to play that way each and every time. We can’t get down by 25. The toughness just wasn’t there today.”
Yes, Cincinnati is now 21-2 and a perfect 10-0 in league play. Yes, the Bearcats have now won 14 in a row and 22 straight at home and were buoyed by the presence of the 1992 Final Four team, which was honored at halftime.
But the Huskies really didn’t compete very well on Saturday and essentially played to expectations — like they’ve done for most of the season since Alterique Gilbert and Terry Larrier went down with season-ending injuries. Think about it: Since AAC play began just before New Year’s, UConn has won the games (UCF, Temple, East Carolina, Tulane at home, South Florida on the road) it was supposed to win and lost the games (Houston, Memphis, Georgetown on the road) it figured to lose. Tulsa, who beat the Huskies in overtime, could be considered an outlier, though the game was at Tulsa and the Golden Hurricane have been a little better than expected this season.
And the games where UConn seemed to have no chance, where a valiant effort could have made the game at least a bit respectable? Nope, the Huskies pretty much had zero chance at both SMU and Cincinnati.
“We’ve got to be able to compete against the Cincinnatis and the SMUs,” said Rodney Purvis, who led UConn with 20 points. “Not to downcredit anyone, but these teams here are on a different level. So, we’ve got to come out and make them match our energy. Because at this moment, we’re kind of the underdogs. We’ve just got to come out from the jump and play a 40-minute game.”
UConn was back to an eight-man rotation, though forwards Steve Enoch and Juwan Durham (who had missed the prior four and three games, respectively) were clearly not at fullspeed and only used due to foul trouble.
The Huskies kept things respectable in the first half and trailed by just six (3226) after a Christian Vital 3-pointer inside the final minute.
Think about that: trailing by six to a good team late in the first half can now be considered a good sign for the Huskies. Only that margin was short-lived: Gary Clark rose high for an offensive rebound, took a step to the hole and threw down a powerful slam with just 1.7 seconds left on the clock to end the half with an exclamation point.
“That just can’t happen,” said Ollie. “The first three minutes, they have three offensive rebounds. Just can’t happen.”
It was still reasonably close early in the latter half until the Bearcats unleashed an 11-0 run, the last nine scored by Clark, to open up a 19-point lead. Cincinnati, which missed nine of its first 10 3-pointers, wound up making 11 of 16 the rest of the way — including 8 of 10 in the second half. Five of the 3-pointers came from Kyle Washington, a 6-foot-9 forward, and Clark, who checks in a 6-8. The two had combined for just 15 3-pointers over the first 22 games.
Washington wound up with a career-high 27 points to go with eight rebounds, while Clark had a double-double (20 points, 11 boards).
“You can’t allow the bigs to dominate the way they did,” said Ollie. “They dominated the whole game, from inside and outside.”
Jarron Cumberland added 15 points off the bench for the Bearcats.
UConn will get SMU and Cincinnati again, both times at home. The Huskies could face either or both teams a third time in the AAC tournament in March, which UConn is going to have to win for an NCAA tourney berth. That, of course, will be played at the XL Center in Hartford.
Can the Huskies ultimately win one of those games — games they’re not supposed to win?
“Absolutely,” Purvis promised. “Even though I’m not trying to look too far ahead, we’ve just got to be the toughest team. No matter if we have five players, six players ... if we’re the toughest team in the gym on that day, we can beat any team in the country.”