UC Bearcats visit UConn: 'It's huge'
Tom Groeschen, tgroeschen@enquirer.com 11:12 a.m. EST January 27, 2016

HARTFORD, Conn. – Troy Caupain and the Cincinnati Bearcats know they will not have many better chances to enhance their NCAA basketball tournament resume than Thursday night, when UC visits Connecticut.

UC (15-6, 5-3 American Athletic Conference) would open some eyes with a road win against Connecticut (14-5, 4-2 AAC). The Bearcats might be sitting on the NCAA Tournament bubble, with ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi projecting UC as a potential No. 11 seed and CBS Sports analyst Jerry Palm listing the Bearcats among the “first four out.”

“Especially how things are going right now, it would be real important to win,” UC junior point guard Caupain said. “Not just for the league but for our season in general, try to help build our RPI points to get to the tournament in March.”

UC is No. 69 and UConn is No. 58 in the latest NCAA RPI (Ratings Percentage Index), which ranks teams based on wins and losses and strength of schedule.

UC will have only a few more chances to play teams with a higher RPI, including Tulsa (at Tulsa, Feb. 18), UConn again (Feb. 20 at Fifth Third Arena) and SMU (March 6, the regular season finale at Fifth Third). SMU is No. 8 in the NCAA RPI and Tulsa is No. 56, with UC having lost at SMU and beaten Tulsa earlier this month.

“If you’re able to beat UConn on the road, it’s a huge win,” UC coach Mick Cronin said. “Georgetown didn’t do it the other day. A lot of people try. You’re talking about a team that probably wins 85 percent of their home games over the last 20 years.”

UConn is 10-1 at home this season, including 5-0 at on-campus Gampel Pavilion (Storrs) and 5-1 at the XL Center (Hartford). UC, in turn, is 3-3 in true road games.

UC has not won in Connecticut since Jan. 18, 2012, a 70-67 decision at Gampel Pavilion. While UC beat the Huskies in Cincinnati last season, it was a different story on the road. UC lost twice to UConn last season at the XL Center, including the AAC tournament. Thursday's game will be at the 15,564-seat XL Center.

“It’s a tough place,” Caupain said. “Their crowd comes strong, especially when things aren’t going their way and they finally pick it up. I find it hard to play there, and it’s real loud.”

UC senior guard Farad Cobb, the team’s top scorer with 11.7 points per game, said the Bearcats must figure how to win what could be another close game. UC did that last week in a 76-72 home win against Memphis, followed by a 97-75 rout of Tulane on Sunday.

“We don’t have any room for error in this stretch,” Cobb said, noting UC has 10 regular-season games left. “It’s just a sense of urgency. We’re always telling each other that in close games like (Memphis), you know we’ve got to finish.”

SCOUTING UCONN: A low-scoring game appears likely. UConn ranks No. 6 nationally in field goal percentage defense (37.3), and UC is No. 27 (39.3).

The Huskies are led by senior forward Shonn Miller (Euclid, Ohio/13.6 ppg), junior guard Rodney Purvis (13.5 ppg), senior guard Sterling Gibbs (13.1) and sophomore swingman Daniel Hamilton (12.1).

UConn is missing its best defender, 7-foot junior center Amida Brimah, who is out with a broken finger. Brimah was averaging 7.8 points and 3.0 blocks despite playing only 21 minutes per game.

“They’ve adjusted,” Cronin said. “It makes them harder to defend because they play another perimeter shooter. For a team like us that is bigger, I’m concerned about their shooting and their perimeter offense beating us off the dribble with their bigger guys.”

-

Quote:Cincinnati at Connecticut

When: Thursday, 7 p.m.

Where: XL Center (15,564), Hartford

TV/Radio: ESPNU/700 WLW-AM

Records: UC 15-6 (5-3 AAC), UConn 14-5 (4-2 AAC)

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/c.../79394344/

Temple and Tulsa lose tonight.

This game is for sole possession of 2nd place. Keeping the in mind #1 is on probation

(01-27-2016 10:02 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  Temple and Tulsa lose tonight.

This game is for sole possession of 2nd place. Keeping the in mind #1 is on probation

This game tomorrow night is to become the leader for the #1 seed in the conf. tourney!!!!!!!!!

Temple SMH

Temple is the mystery team of the conference this season. They beat UC and UCONN and get blown out by Houston. Go figure. I respect their coach but I can't make much sense of their season. I really felt UC would beat them in Philly and it was a painful loss.

So you can all tell me how wrong I was tomorrow morning but I feel as if UC rises to the occasion tonight; a few extra shots drop through, a few rebounds bounce the Bearcats' way and the officials can't figure out which team is more eager to leave the AAC so the calls are even (in honor of conspiracy theorists everywhere). A quality win on the road we fans are longing for.

Temple's results kind of make sense. They've been a bad shooting team all season long and their bad shooters absolutely buried shots in their big wins. They do everything else decently. They play solid defense and they never turn the ball over.

(01-27-2016 09:10 PM)ctipton Wrote:  “They’ve adjusted,” Cronin said. “It makes them harder to defend because they play another perimeter shooter. For a team like us that is bigger, I’m concerned about their shooting and their perimeter offense beating us off the dribble with their bigger guys.”

Tulane was 11-24 from 3. If UConn comes close to that tonight we probably get rolled. We all know this team's struggles with defending the 3 point line.... I'm certainly not getting my hopes up tonight.

(01-28-2016 09:18 AM)DownOnRohs Wrote:  

(01-27-2016 09:10 PM)ctipton Wrote:  “They’ve adjusted,” Cronin said. “It makes them harder to defend because they play another perimeter shooter. For a team like us that is bigger, I’m concerned about their shooting and their perimeter offense beating us off the dribble with their bigger guys.”

Tulane was 11-24 from 3. If UConn comes close to that tonight we probably get rolled. We all know this team's struggles with defending the 3 point line.... I'm certainly not getting my hopes up tonight.

Do you know the 3 point stat by half? Seems a lot of the made 3's were in garbage time?

(01-28-2016 09:32 AM)doss2 Wrote:  

(01-28-2016 09:18 AM)DownOnRohs Wrote:  

(01-27-2016 09:10 PM)ctipton Wrote:  “They’ve adjusted,” Cronin said. “It makes them harder to defend because they play another perimeter shooter. For a team like us that is bigger, I’m concerned about their shooting and their perimeter offense beating us off the dribble with their bigger guys.”

Tulane was 11-24 from 3. If UConn comes close to that tonight we probably get rolled. We all know this team's struggles with defending the 3 point line.... I'm certainly not getting my hopes up tonight.

Do you know the 3 point stat by half? Seems a lot of the made 3's were in garbage time?

4-8 1st half----- 7-16 2nd half.

(01-28-2016 09:32 AM)doss2 Wrote:  

(01-28-2016 09:18 AM)DownOnRohs Wrote:  

(01-27-2016 09:10 PM)ctipton Wrote:  “They’ve adjusted,” Cronin said. “It makes them harder to defend because they play another perimeter shooter. For a team like us that is bigger, I’m concerned about their shooting and their perimeter offense beating us off the dribble with their bigger guys.”

Tulane was 11-24 from 3. If UConn comes close to that tonight we probably get rolled. We all know this team's struggles with defending the 3 point line.... I'm certainly not getting my hopes up tonight.

Do you know the 3 point stat by half? Seems a lot of the made 3's were in garbage time?

Great point--teams down 35-40 points relax and make 3 pointers from all over the court. Defenses lose their edge a bit too. I don't expect either to happen tonight. We should reasonably expect a good old grinder. Both teams were built for that.

Hoping for the best, preparing for the worst. The first time I see Caupain walking the ball up the court I may lose my mind.

"RE: UC Bearcats visit UConn: 'It's huge'"

That's what she said.

(01-28-2016 01:47 PM)stxrunner Wrote:  "RE: UC Bearcats visit UConn: 'It's huge'"

That's what she said.

LOL! When this thread first went up the thought that went into my head was Madeline Khan's "It's Twue!" from Blazing Saddles.

Damn straight! We won the contest tonight.