Memphis Tigers fall to Cincinnati Bearcats, 77-65
1:21 PM, Mar 8, 2015


Cincinnati's guard Kevin Johnson, right, drives to the basket against Memphis guard/forward Nick King (5) and guard Kedren Johnson (15) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, March 8, 2015, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Gary Landers)

The University of Memphis couldn't spoil its opponent's Senior Day for a second time in four days Sunday.

Cincinnati jumped out to a 17-point lead within the first nine minutes of the game, then coasted to a 77-65 victory over Memphis at Fifth Third Arena to earn the No. 3 seed in next week's American Athletic Conference tournament.

Memphis (18-13, 10-8 AAC) was already locked into the No. 5 seed coming into Sunday's game. But the Bearcats' win Sunday pushed Temple down to the No. 4 seed. Memphis will face the Owls at 1 p.m. CDT on Friday in the AAC quarterfinals in Hartford, Connecticut.

Junior forward Shaq Goodwin had a game-high 22 points and eight rebounds for Memphis. Senior Calvin Godfrey, starting in place of injured sophomore forward Austin Nichols (sprained ankle), had 14 points and four rebounds.

But the Tigers weren't nearly good enough defensively Sunday, allowing Cincinnati (22-9, 13-5) to shoot 50 percent from the field.

The Bearcats made five of their six 3-pointers in the first half in building a 34-21 lead by intermission.
Memphis had a couple of opportunities to cut the deficit to single digits with less than six minutes remaining, but junior Kedren Johnson missed a 3 and junior Trahson Burrell missed a close shot underneath the basket.

Cincinnati answered with a Jermaine Sanders 3, putting the game away.

Junior forward Octavius Ellis, a former Whitehaven High standout, led the Bearcats with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/sports/t...s_01741135

UC closes season with convincing win over Memphis
Tom Groeschen, tgroeschen@enquirer.com 3:43 p.m. EDT March 8, 2015

Cincinnati head coach pumps his fist as he walks on the court for senior day. (Photo: Tony Tribble for The Enquirer)

Maybe it was the pre-game appearance of head coach Mick Cronin, not seen by most University of Cincinnati basketball fans since December.


Cincinnati's Octavius Ellis reacts. (Photo: Tony Tribble for The Enquirer)

Maybe it was something in the flaming red headband/fright wigs that several Bearcats players wore during the postgame celebration.

Whatever it was, UC roared out of the dressing room and comfortably beat Memphis 77-65 in the regular season finale Sunday afternoon before 12,358 fans at Fifth Third Arena. UC rushed to an early 21-4 lead, and it was mostly gravy from there.

Why the wild headgear? UC junior forward Octavius Ellis drew laughter in the postgame press room when he explained:

"We're on fire."

Ellis led UC with 19 points and 11 rebounds as UC (22-9, 13-5 American Athletic Conference) rolled to its fifth straight win.

With national analysts saying UC already had secured an NCAA tournament bid, the crowd was rocking as Cronin made his first appearance at Fifth Third Arena since December, when he was sidelined for medical reasons.

Cronin was on hand to honor UC's lone senior, forward Jermaine Sanders, in a pre-game ceremony. Sanders responded with 12 points, his best game in more than a month.

"It meant a lot, knowing his condition that he had, that he put that aside to come show support for me," Sanders said. "I'm blessed to have a coach like him."

Along with Sanders and Ellis, other UC production Sunday included junior guard Farad Cobb with 16 points and freshman forward Gary Clark had 11 points.

Cronin and Sanders both received pre-game standing ovations and Cronin addressed the crowd briefly, holding a wireless PA microphone.

"I want to thank you all for your support this year," Cronin said. "Especially my RallyCats."

That one got a huge cheer, as Cronin saluted the student booster group. More than 100 RallyCats made the trip to New Orleans to see UC beat Tulane last weekend, and Cronin rewarded them with free pizza this past week.

Cronin thanked all the fans in general, as UC drives toward a fifth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

"I'm lucky to be a part of it," Cronin told the cheering crowd. "Keep fighting for these guys, we've got a long way to go this season. Thank you."

Cronin has continued in an advisory role behind the scenes, after persistent headaches led to a diagnosis of a non-life threatening vascular condition known as arterial dissection.

Cronin is not expected back on the bench this season, but doctors said he probably should be able to return to the sidelines next season.

Cronin left the arena after Sunday's pre-game ceremony and planned to watch the game on TV at home per usual, UC spokesman Andre Foushee said.

BIG CROWDS: UC finished with a final home attendance average of 9,334, highest in the nine-year Cronin era.

TOURNEY WATCH: NCAA bracketologists including Jerry Palm (CBS Sports) and Joe Lunardi (ESPN) had said the Bearcats locked up a NCAA tournament bid already, after a win at then-AAC leader Tulsa in the Bearcats' previous game last Wednesday.

UC associate head coach Larry Davis continues to direct the team from the bench, with UC now 15-7 under Davis.

"If we're fortunate enough to be named to this (NCAA) field of 65 or whatever it is now, 68, then it's one-game brackets to advance," Davis said. "I've told our guys, we've had a lot of training in the last month for the pressure of that. Hopefully that will work out in our favor and be a positive."

UC has risen to No. 39 in the daily NCAA RPI. UC is projected as a No. 8 NCAA seed by CBS Sports, No. 9 by ESPN and No. 9 by USA Today.

UC now heads to the AAC tournament this week in Hartford, Conn., where the Bearcats will be the No. 3 AAC seed and have secured a bye to the quarterfinals. UC will play either No. 6 seed UConn or No. 11 USF in the quarterfinals Friday at 9 p.m.

STATUS QUO: Cronin chose not to address the team in the locker room before the game. He wanted to leave that to Davis and his staff.

"It was awesome to have him back in here," Davis said. "The fans gave him a good reception, which was awesome. I'm just driving the car temporarily. I can't wait 'til he gets his results back from his tests and they're positive, he gets cleared, that would be awesome.

"I've said this before, I don't want to let Mick down, I don't want to let the university down and I don't want to let our kids down. For him to be here on Senior Day, that was very nice for all of us."

THE VISITORS: Memphis fell to 18-13 (10-8 AAC). Junior forward Shaq Goodwin led the Tigers with 22 points.

Memphis beat UC 63-50 in the teams' first meeting this season Jan. 15 at Memphis but the Tigers on Sunday were missing their top player, sophomore forward Austin Nichols.

Nichols, Memphis' leading scorer (13.3 ppg) and shot blocker (3.4), is out with a right ankle injury.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/c.../24608823/

Shaq Goodwin has NBA talent. That kid kept Memphis semi-in the game all by himself.

We ended up shooting 36.8% from 3 in conference play. That is really strong. If this team corrects the turnover problem, they will easily be the best offensive team we have seen under Mick next year.

(03-08-2015 03:13 PM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote:  Shaq Goodwin has NBA talent. That kid kept Memphis semi-in the game all by himself.

He looks the part.

I think Goodwin was an All American out of HS....he SHOULD be good.

I've always been a fan of Goodwin's as well. Always has a motor. Would have worked out great as a Bearcat, IMO.

(03-08-2015 07:44 PM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  I've always been a fan of Goodwin's as well. Always has a motor. Would have worked out great as a Bearcat, IMO.

Yeah, he would have definitely fit in well here. Did we recruit him? I know we recruited Nichols and he would have definitely fit in well here as well.

I don't see NBA potential in Goodwin's game though. Too undersized and not enough outside game.

Bearcats pull away to beat Memphis Tigers
Jason Smith


Memphis’ forward Calvin Godfrey (40) shoots between Cincinnati’s guard Troy Caupain (10) and forward Octavius Ellis (2) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, March 8, 2015, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Gary Landers)

CINCINNATI — Just when it looked like the University of Memphis might get the deficit back to single digits against Cincinnati on Sunday, the Tigers’ shots stopped falling.

Junior forward Shaq Goodwin missed a free throw. Junior guard Kedren Johnson missed a 3-point shot. Then junior swingman Trahson Burrell missed an easy attempt underneath the basket that would’ve cut the Bearcats’ lead to eight.

Instead, Cincinnati senior forward Jermaine Sanders answered with his third 3-pointer of the game with 4:41 left. It was the swing that put Memphis away in the Bearcats’ 77-65 win before 12,358 on Senior Day at Fifth Third Arena.

“Three times with the ball to cut it to single digits and we couldn’t score the ball,” said coach Josh Pastner, whose Tigers (18-13, 10-8 American Athletic Conference) couldn’t recover from a 21-4 Cincinnati run to start the game.

“The difference in the game was the start. They punched us in the mouth first. If you take (Cincinnati’s 21-4 start) out, which you can’t, we had a 61-56 advantage the rest of the way.”

Trying to spoil its opponent’s Senior Day for a second time in four days, Memphis came out flat and played early on like a team that knew it couldn’t improve or hurt its seeding in this week’s AAC tournament in Hartford, Connecticut.

Cincinnati (22-9, 13-5) opened by tearing apart Memphis’ zone defense, making three of its first four 3-point attempts in building a 17-point lead within the first eight minutes.

By the time Memphis woke up — the Tigers started 2 of 11 from the field and didn’t make their third basket until 10:43 remained in the second half — it was far too late.

Cincinnati was well on its way to winning its fifth straight game to close the regular season and earning the No. 3 seed in this week’s AAC tourney. Memphis, which was already locked into the No. 5 seed, will play fourth-seeded Temple (22-9, 13-5) in the AAC quarterfinals at 1 p.m. CDT on Friday at the XL Center.

Had Memphis beaten the Bearcats on Sunday, it would have played Cincinnati again on Friday in the No. 4 vs. No. 5 quarterfinal. Instead, the Tigers will face an Owls team that beat them 61-60 on Feb. 7 at FedExForum on a last second-shot after sophomore forward Austin Nichols went down with an ankle injury with seven minutes left.

“It’s tough for any team to come back (from a 21-4 deficit). We (dang) near would’ve had to play a perfect game for us to come back and win that game,” said senior forward Calvin Godfrey, who had 14 points and four rebounds in place of Nichols (sprained ankle).

After being benched for eight minutes in the first half for what Pastner deemed subpar play, junior forward Shaq Goodwin exploded in the second half, scoring 18 of his game-high 22 points and grabbing six of his eight rebounds.

Goodwin finished 9 of 11 from the field, helping Memphis shoot 48.1 percent for the game and outscore the Bearcats 38-24 in the paint.

Take out the bad start, and Memphis played relatively well over the final 32 minutes. In addition to the good shooting (Memphis shot 56.7 percent in the second half), the Tigers had 20 assists on 26 baskets and turned the ball over just nine times (twice in the second half).

“Last year we came in here the same kind of way,” Goodwin said. “They came out on fire. It was Senior Night. We came out dead for whatever reason. They went on a run and we couldn’t get it to single digits throughout the whole game.

Asked if the fact that Memphis couldn’t improve or hurt its position in next week’s AAC tourney affected the Tigers’ mindset early, Goodwin said, “I don’t think so. I can only speak for myself. I don’t even know what seed we are or what seed we got locked in or whatever.

“I just know we have to win the conference tournament to get to the NCAA (tournament).”

Junior forward and Memphian Octavius Ellis, a former Whitehaven High standout, had 19 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Bearcats. Ellis, the Bearcats’ leading scorer and rebounder, had two points, three rebounds and fouled out in 21 minutes in Memphis’ 63-50 win over Cincinnati in January at FedExForum.

“I’ve just been playing well these last few games; just going out rebounding and letting the offense come to me. That’s basically it,” Ellis said.

“At Memphis, I really wasn’t rebounding the ball well. I was in early foul trouble at Memphis and today I wasn’t. So I was just staying aggressive and intense all game.”

Quote: Memphis to play Temple

The No. 5-seeded University of Memphis will play No. 4 seed Temple on Friday at 1 p.m. CDT in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut.

Temple beat Memphis 61-60 in the teams’ only meeting this season on Feb. 7 at FedExForum on a last-second shot by reserve guard Josh Brown.

Memphis played the final seven minutes without its top player, sophomore forward Austin Nichols, who sprained his ankle and missed the Tigers’ next two games.

Nichols isn’t expected to be available for Memphis this week either after re-injuring the ankle in the Tigers’ 74-72 overtime loss to Tulsa on Feb. 28.

If Memphis (18-13, 10-8 AAC) can get by Temple (22-9, 13-5), it will likely face top-seeded SMU in Saturday’s semifinals.

The Mustangs (24-6, 15-3) earned their first regular-season conference title since 1993 with a 67-62 home win over No. 2 seed Tulsa on Sunday. SMU will play the winner of the No. 8 East Carolina vs. No. 9 Central Florida first-round game in Friday’s quarterfinals.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/sports/t...s_01741135

(03-08-2015 03:18 PM)Overrated Wrote:  We ended up shooting 36.8% from 3 in conference play. That is really strong. If this team corrects the turnover problem, they will easily be the best offensive team we have seen under Mick next year.

Next year could be a real good one, however I still think we need a knock down shooter. I hope to see us run a lot more as well. We get a little deep in the shot clock and desperation shots way too often.
As for the rest of the season just keep playing hard and keep up the defense..
Go Cats!!

(03-08-2015 07:44 PM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  I've always been a fan of Goodwin's as well. Always has a motor. Would have worked out great as a Bearcat, IMO.

Offensively, yes. Defensively he free lances and leaves his teammates hanging in the wind a whole lot.

True Rath, but there is a much better chance Mick would staighten that one out (at least much better than Josh would).

Always been amazed at how apologetic the Memphis media is towards the Tigers. When was the last time the local rag went with "Well if UC wasn't awful and incompetent in every phase for the first 10 minutes, they could have won"? Kid gloves down there...

(03-08-2015 09:45 PM)GameTime_21 Wrote:  Always been amazed at how apologetic the Memphis media is towards the Tigers. When was the last time the local rag went with "Well if UC wasn't awful and incompetent in every phase for the first 10 minutes, they could have won"? Kid gloves down there...

Nope, our media is just a bunch of a--holes. Not used to seeing the bright side around here. Even the Cincinnati article, said but... Memphis was missing Austin Nichols, as if that was the only reason we won.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bubblewatch



On Dec. 17, Mick Cronin led Cincinnati to a hard-fought, ugly and entirely Cronin-esque home win over San Diego State. A few days later, Cronin, who'd been suffering from lingering headaches, learned that he had an unruptured aneurysm and a condition known as arterial dissection. It wasn't life-threatening, but Cronin needed rest and a stabilized blood pressure reading -- two scarce quantities in a college coach's life. He had little choice but to recede to an advisory role, game-planning with his staff but not directly coaching practice or games. On Saturday, in the Bearcats' final home game of the season, Cronin returned to Fifth Third Arena for the first time since his diagnosis, honoring UC senior Jermaine Sanders and delivering a pep talk to the Bearcats fans. He was greeted by a standing ovation. The good vibes are more than warranted: Cincinnati's win cemented its lock. Thanks to a solid collection of top-50 wins (including a sweep of SMU and a 6-4 top-50 record), strong schedule numbers, and five straight wins to finish the season, Cincinnati has removed itself from the bubble mix. As the American's No. 3 seed, they're unlikely to take a bad loss in the conference tournament. If they do, it's unlikely to hurt them. Considering Cronin's health -- not to mention the wealth of talent the Bearcats lost last spring, and the low expectations that followed -- Cincy's bid qualifies as one of the best stories of the season.

(03-08-2015 09:03 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  

(03-08-2015 07:44 PM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  I've always been a fan of Goodwin's as well. Always has a motor. Would have worked out great as a Bearcat, IMO.

Offensively, yes. Defensively he free lances and leaves his teammates hanging in the wind a whole lot.

I like how he left his huddle briefly to pat the wounded soldier on his back. I like Goodwin.

(03-08-2015 10:02 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bubblewatch



On Dec. 17, Mick Cronin led Cincinnati to a hard-fought, ugly and entirely Cronin-esque home win over San Diego State. A few days later, Cronin, who'd been suffering from lingering headaches, learned that he had an unruptured aneurysm and a condition known as arterial dissection. It wasn't life-threatening, but Cronin needed rest and a stabilized blood pressure reading -- two scarce quantities in a college coach's life. He had little choice but to recede to an advisory role, game-planning with his staff but not directly coaching practice or games. On Saturday, in the Bearcats' final home game of the season, Cronin returned to Fifth Third Arena for the first time since his diagnosis, honoring UC senior Jermaine Sanders and delivering a pep talk to the Bearcats fans. He was greeted by a standing ovation. The good vibes are more than warranted: Cincinnati's win cemented its lock. Thanks to a solid collection of top-50 wins (including a sweep of SMU and a 6-4 top-50 record), strong schedule numbers, and five straight wins to finish the season, Cincinnati has removed itself from the bubble mix. As the American's No. 3 seed, they're unlikely to take a bad loss in the conference tournament. If they do, it's unlikely to hurt them. Considering Cronin's health -- not to mention the wealth of talent the Bearcats lost last spring, and the low expectations that followed -- Cincy's bid qualifies as one of the best stories of the season.

Well said sir.. Sometimes we as fans forget how much this team has gone through, and how really surprising this season has been considering.. Great to see Coach today!!
Proud to be Bearcat!!

(03-08-2015 11:52 PM)loyalcat77 Wrote:  

(03-08-2015 10:02 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bubblewatch



On Dec. 17, Mick Cronin led Cincinnati to a hard-fought, ugly and entirely Cronin-esque home win over San Diego State. A few days later, Cronin, who'd been suffering from lingering headaches, learned that he had an unruptured aneurysm and a condition known as arterial dissection. It wasn't life-threatening, but Cronin needed rest and a stabilized blood pressure reading -- two scarce quantities in a college coach's life. He had little choice but to recede to an advisory role, game-planning with his staff but not directly coaching practice or games. On Saturday, in the Bearcats' final home game of the season, Cronin returned to Fifth Third Arena for the first time since his diagnosis, honoring UC senior Jermaine Sanders and delivering a pep talk to the Bearcats fans. He was greeted by a standing ovation. The good vibes are more than warranted: Cincinnati's win cemented its lock. Thanks to a solid collection of top-50 wins (including a sweep of SMU and a 6-4 top-50 record), strong schedule numbers, and five straight wins to finish the season, Cincinnati has removed itself from the bubble mix. As the American's No. 3 seed, they're unlikely to take a bad loss in the conference tournament. If they do, it's unlikely to hurt them. Considering Cronin's health -- not to mention the wealth of talent the Bearcats lost last spring, and the low expectations that followed -- Cincy's bid qualifies as one of the best stories of the season.

Well said sir.. Sometimes we as fans forget how much this team has gone through, and how really surprising this season has been considering.. Great to see Coach today!!
Proud to be Bearcat!!

There was another little nugget in that bubble watch story…evidently Victory Parkway College may not be quite the lock that they think they are for the tournament…

Given that 20 wins has kind of been the min (not a hard # but a good marker) for the NCAA tourney would they get in if they lose their first game in the BigEast tourney? They'd only have 19 wins and finish .500 in conference.

(03-08-2015 11:52 PM)loyalcat77 Wrote:  

(03-08-2015 10:02 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bubblewatch



On Dec. 17, Mick Cronin led Cincinnati to a hard-fought, ugly and entirely Cronin-esque home win over San Diego State. A few days later, Cronin, who'd been suffering from lingering headaches, learned that he had an unruptured aneurysm and a condition known as arterial dissection. It wasn't life-threatening, but Cronin needed rest and a stabilized blood pressure reading -- two scarce quantities in a college coach's life. He had little choice but to recede to an advisory role, game-planning with his staff but not directly coaching practice or games. On Saturday, in the Bearcats' final home game of the season, Cronin returned to Fifth Third Arena for the first time since his diagnosis, honoring UC senior Jermaine Sanders and delivering a pep talk to the Bearcats fans. He was greeted by a standing ovation. The good vibes are more than warranted: Cincinnati's win cemented its lock. Thanks to a solid collection of top-50 wins (including a sweep of SMU and a 6-4 top-50 record), strong schedule numbers, and five straight wins to finish the season, Cincinnati has removed itself from the bubble mix. As the American's No. 3 seed, they're unlikely to take a bad loss in the conference tournament. If they do, it's unlikely to hurt them. Considering Cronin's health -- not to mention the wealth of talent the Bearcats lost last spring, and the low expectations that followed -- Cincy's bid qualifies as one of the best stories of the season.

Well said sir.. Sometimes we as fans forget how much this team has gone through, and how really surprising this season has been considering.. Great to see Coach today!!
Proud to be Bearcat!!

I'm trying to remember who I caught a part of an interview with (Think it was Decourcey), but he mentioned how rare it is for a team to make the tourney after the head coach goes down. Mentioned Duke imploding when Coach K was dealing with back injuries and a couple others that are slipping my mind that were strong teams that crashed and burned as well. Talked about how that meant how stable and strong the Bearcat program was becoming.

Not only the adversity of losing our coach, but really really think about what we lost last year going into this season and it is pretty impressive that we are where we are and on the cusp of a tourney bid. We lost so much production and while we've all shaken our heads at some of the struggles this team has had like the first half at home vs. Tulane, it is amazing how they've stuck together and never gone off the rails. I really had written this off as a rebuild year (before Mick went out) and to be where they are now, these players and Coach Larry deserve a ton of credit and respect. Lastly, it is nice to know we get almost everyone back with another year of experience next year.