UC routs Tulane, keeps NCAA hopes cooking
Tom Groeschen, tgroeschen@enquirer.com 8:45 p.m. EST February 28, 2015


Cincinnati Bearcats forward Octavius Ellis (2) looks to grab the loose ball against the Tulane Green Wave during the first half at Fifth Third Arena.(Photo: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports)

NEW ORLEANS – The way University of Cincinnati associate head coach Larry Davis saw it, a monster was trying to get his University of Cincinnati basketball team and Davis simply would not allow it. More on that shortly.

UC raced to an early 18-4 lead, rode the support of a vociferous 100-plus UC RallyCats rooting section and put itself in much better shape for an NCAA tournament bid here Saturday, with an easy 63-47 win over Tulane. UC led by 23 points at one juncture.

Sophomore guard Kevin Johnson led UC with a career high 15 points. Junior forward Octavius Ellis had 14 points and 10 rebounds and junior forward Shaq Thomas scored 11 points. Freshman forward Gary Clark had eight points, nine rebounds and five assists.

UC (20-9, 11-5 American Athletic Conference) has been projected to make the NCAA basketball field by many major forecasters. But UC also badly needed to beat Tulane, with Jerry Palm of CBSSports.com saying UC could not afford another loss to a sub-100 RPI team.

That is exactly what Tulane (14-14, 5-11 AAC) did to UC two weeks ago at Fifth Third Arena, with a 50-49 Green Wave upset win on a last-second 3-point shot.

"We've watched that last shot at the end of about every film session," Clark said. "It makes you be ready for this game, so you can redeem yourself."

UC entered Saturday with an NCAA RPI of No. 52, with Tulane at No. 184. The Bearcats got their revenge but, more importantly, avoided a loss which would certainly have put them more on the NCAA bubble.

"We had to have this one," Davis said. "The (NCAA tournament selection) committee can't look at us and say, 'You got beat by Tulane twice.' I don't even want to talk about that. The most important thing right now is the one-game winning streak."

Said streak gets an assist from a Monster motivational speech by Davis, which he made at a team meeting the night before the game at UC's hotel.

On a board, Davis drew a man running toward a cliff, with a great divide he had to jump. A Pac-Man like monster was chasing the man. Davis takes it from there:

"We wanted them to understand the importance of this game. Man running, cliff, and there's a divide. The divide is 10 feet, 1 inches. This huge monster is chasing us, and the guy is us. The best we've ever jumped is 10 feet. There's no turning back, there's no place to go.

"You're running and you know you've got to get to the cliff. I've got to have my best jump ever. You can't take anything for chance. Payback's fine and all that, but it means nothing when the ball goes up. You've got to be ready to jump 10-1."

Clark said the players got the message.

"Coach has different ways to teach," Clark said, smiling. "Sometimes we have history class. He has artwork right now and we have a monster chasing us. Tulane was the monster this weekend. Next week it's Tulsa."

Playing before a crowd of 2,430 at tiny (4,100-seats) Devlin Fieldhouse, Bearcats players clearly were pleased to see the UC RallyCats student booster group that bused down to New Orleans for the game.

Standing above a corner in one end zone, the RallyCats made their presence felt and often drowned out the sparse Tulane crowd with their noise. Big UC plays, including dunks by Ellis and Thomas, brought extra thunder from the Bearcats boosters.

"I just want to thank the RallyCats for driving, what, 11 or 12 hours here to watch a two-hour game," Johnon said. "It just shows the support and the program that Cincinnati has as a basketball team. We enjoyed it a lot, and I want to thank them personally."

Davis: "It was awesome. We had louder fans than they did."

UC head coach Mick Cronin, watching via TV at his home in Cincinnati, tweeted during the game:

"RallyCats making a huge difference. Best thing I have seen as the Cincinnati coach. Pizza on me when you get home!!!"

FOR THE RECORD: UC is now 13-7 since Davis replaced Cronin for medical reasons Dec. 20.

BIG HALF: UC raced to leads of 18-4 and 28-9 in the first half. The Bearcats led 30-16 at the break. The 16 points were the fewest scored in one half by a UC opponent this season.

UC got out and ran at every opportunity, again trying to push the ball more than it usually has. Defensively, the Bearcats played both matchup zone and man-to-man and was tenacious all around, especially with ball pressure out front. UC trapped more than usual, Davis said.

Louis Dabney led Tulane with 18 points.

UC out-shot the Green Wave 47 percent to 35 percent and won the rebounding 40-26.

BIG 2-0: The win gave UC its fifth consecutive 20-victory season. UC has made the last four NCAA tournaments.

NEXT UP: UC finishes the regular season at Tulsa (next Wednesday) then home against Memphis (March 8).

The AAC tournament is March 12-15 in Hartford, Conn.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/c...autologin=

Poor first half dooms Tulane in home loss to Cincinnati


The Cincinnati fans cheer their team on to a 63-47 victory over Tulane at Devlin Fieldhouse in New Orleans on Saturday, February 28, 2015. (Photo by Peter G. Forest)

NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on February 28, 2015 at 3:59 PM, updated February 28, 2015 at 4:11 PM

Tulane junior Louis Dabney led all scorers with 18 points and senior Jay Hook added 12 points, but the Green Wave could not overcome a cold shooting afternoon and fell to Cincinnati 63-47 in American Athletic Conference play.

Playing in front of 2,430 at Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse, Tulane (14-14, 5-11 American) misfired on five of its first seven field goal attempts to open the game and Cincinnati (20-9, 11-5 American) took advantage and built a quick 13-4 lead. The Green Wave connected on just 7-of-21 attempts in the first half and the Bearcats hit 12-of-27 of their field goal attempts and ran out to a 30-16 halftime lead.

Tulane managed to slice the lead to 12 points on several occasions in the second half but could not get any closer. The Green Wave shot 36 percent for the game, including 27.3 percent from behind the three-point line, while the Bearcats shot 47.2 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from beyond the arc.

"Cincinnati came out with the right energy and executed very well," Tulane head coach Ed Conroy said. "I thought they played very hard and smart and knocked down some early three pointers. The threes by Kevin Johnson really gave them some energy and their ability to rebound against us all game was much better than when we played them at Cincinnati, and I thought that kept them going throughout the game. We didn't do a good job of making them shoot over us, we gave them lanes to the basket and our free throw shooting was unacceptable."

Sophomore Jonathan Stark dished out a game-high seven assists and Hook led the Wave with eight rebounds.

​Johnson came off the bench to lead three Bearcats into double figures with 15 points, while Octavius Ellis poured in 14 points and Shaq Thomas finished with 11 points. Ellis also grabbed a game-best 10 rebounds.

The Green Wave will return to action against Houston in the final regular season home game on Wednesday, March 4 at 7 p.m. The game will be aired live on ESPNews and Tulane will honor its senior duo of Hook and Tre Drye prior to tip-off.

http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf/201...cart_river

Quote:
The Cincinnati fans cheer their team on to a 63-47 victory over Tulane at Devlin Fieldhouse in New Orleans on Saturday, February 28, 2015. (Photo by Peter G. Forest)

That's a beautiful thing to see.

(03-01-2015 11:07 AM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  

Quote:
The Cincinnati fans cheer their team on to a 63-47 victory over Tulane at Devlin Fieldhouse in New Orleans on Saturday, February 28, 2015. (Photo by Peter G. Forest)

That's a beautiful thing to see.

A quote from the New Orleans Advocate:

" ...
The Bearcats even won the battle in the stands. A student group that bills itself “Rally Cats” made the long bus trip to New Orleans and filled one corner of Devlin Fieldhouse, chanting when Cincinnati took the court and keeping the noise level high throughout the rout.
"

Yep, kudos to the RallyCats (and the bball team of course)!

(03-01-2015 11:07 AM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  

Quote:
The Cincinnati fans cheer their team on to a 63-47 victory over Tulane at Devlin Fieldhouse in New Orleans on Saturday, February 28, 2015. (Photo by Peter G. Forest)

That's a beautiful thing to see.

Yes, it is. Also, Jacob Evans is in that picture--middle, second row in the gray shirt.

My daughter's boyfriend is in that picture, though I think he went more for Bourbon Street and the beignets. The game was a bonus.

That boyfriend is a keeper. Executive level thinking....bus ride, UC basketball, Bourbon Street. Winner of a weekend.