Cincy sends ECU to fifth straight loss


By Tony Castleberry
The Daily Reflector

Sunday, January 15, 2017

East Carolina defended Cincinnati about as well as it could, and better than most of the Bearcats’ opponents have this season, but it was not enough to stop the Pirates’ losing streak.

In coach Jeff Lebo’s final game before Monday’s hip surgery will sideline him indefinitely, ECU dropped its fifth consecutive decision, 55-46, to 22nd-ranked Cincy in Minges Coliseum. The offensive problems that have plagued the Pirates (9-10, 1-5 American Athletic Conference) during the losing skid did not go away despite ECU holding Cincinnati to 32.8 percent field goal shooting and 16.7 percent from 3-point range.

“I thought we battled awfully hard, executed, defensively, our game plan,” Lebo said. “(We) executed offensively against a good team, but just couldn’t put the ball in the basket again.”

Freshmen Elijah Hughes, who got his first collegiate start, and Jeremy Sheppard scored 18 and 13 points, respectively, for the Pirates, but another dreadful shooting day doomed ECU and wiped away any chance of the team sending Lebo into surgery and recovery with a victory. A 15-of-59 field goal shooting effort and making 4-of-23 from 3-point range left the Pirates at the start of a weeklong break with a setback that has become all too familiar for Minges fans.

ECU, which was missing leading scorer B.J. Tyson due to a knee injury, has made 25 of its 121 attempts from beyond the arc in AAC play, a deficiency highlighted by senior Caleb White’s struggles. White, who ranks sixth in all-time scoring at East Carolina, shot 0-of-7 from the field against Cincinnati and 0-of-4 from 3, leaving him 3-of-26 from distance in league games.

“My heart goes out to him,” Lebo said of White. “I wish I could give him something to make one (shot) go down for him. He’s such a good kid. ... He deserves better than that.”

Hughes and Sheppard combined to score all of ECU's points in the first half, which ended with Cincy leading 31-23. It was 21-21 after a Hughes free throw, but Troy Caupain, who had not attempted a shot all half, produced an 8-0 run by himself and Kyle Washington sank a pair of free throws with 21 seconds left to provide the 'Cats' halftime margin.

A Jacob Evans free throw with 7:55 left gave Cincinnati its biggest lead, 45-33, but Kentrell Barkley made a 3 with 2:05 left to pull the Pirates within eight, 52-44.

Sheppard missed a 3-point try with 1:32 on the clock that could have made it a five-point game, and two Evans free throws pushed the Bearcats’ lead back to 10. Hughes hit two at the stripe for his only points of the second half with 25 ticks remaining and a Jarron Cumberland free throw ended the scoring.

“We’re still in this little slump,” said Sheppard, who produced three spectacular one-on-one plays that drew oohs and aahs from the 4,597 in attendance. “We’re still trying to get into the flow. One of these games, our shot is going to come back and it’s going to be a beautiful feeling.”

Washington led the ‘Cats (15-2, 5-0) with 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds and Evans added 10 for Cincinnati, which also scored 55 points in an overtime win at Iowa State last month and did not get many kind words from its coach after Sunday’s result.

“It was just poor execution,” Mick Cronin said of his team’s offense. “We didn’t do much to make it hard on (ECU). I was really struggling to get any type of execution. Our rhythm the first half was throw one pass and shoot. Our rhythm in the second half was to never throw the ball inside, and that’s what we were supposed to do.”

Barkley just missed a double-double for the Pirates, adding a team-high 10 rebounds to his nine points on 2-of-10 field goal shooting, but finishing 4-of-4 at the free throw line. Andre Washington blocked five shots for the Pirates, tying Cincy’s Nysier Brooks to lead all players.

Contact Tony Castleberry at tcastleberry@reflector.com, 252-329-9591 and follow @tcastleberrygdr on Twitter.

http://www.reflector.com/ECU/2017/01/15/...-loss.html

Washington, defense lead No. 22 Cincinnati past ECU 55-46

Associated Press

GREENVILLE, N.C. -- At least No. 22 Cincinnati didn't lose. That was the only thing that pleased coach Mick Cronin.

The Bearcats beat East Carolina 55-46 on Sunday for their eighth straight win, behind 16 points and 11 rebounds from Kyle Washington.

"The only place we won today was on the scoreboard," Cronin said. "We didn't get better today. We got worse."

Jacob Evans III added 10 points for the Bearcats (15-2, 5-0 American Athletic Conference), who overcame their own shooting struggles by making things even tougher on a Pirates team missing its top scorer.

Cincinnati extended its longest winning streak since the 2013-14 team reeled off 15 straight.

"We have to put everything in perspective," Washington said. "A lot of these AAC teams, no disrespect, but we have to just keep on playing hard because we're trying to play very good teams, top-10 teams, in March and April, moving forward and doing something big."

Freshman Elijah Hughes scored 18 points in his first start and fellow freshman Jeremy Sheppard added 13 for East Carolina (9-10, 1-5), which has lost five in a row and hasn't beaten a nationally ranked opponent since knocking off Dwyane Wade and No. 13 Marquette in 2002.

Cincinnati entered with the nation's No. 3 defense according to Ken Pomeroy's advanced statistics, and the Bearcats held East Carolina to 25 percent from the field and to 4-of-23 shooting from 3-point range. The 46 points allowed was a season best.

That tough D helped make up for an offense that couldn't get on track. Cincinnati matched season worsts with both 32.8 percent shooting and 55 points, and had a season-worst eight shots blocked by East Carolina.

"(The Pirates) didn't make it easy for us," Cronin said. "To come out, not making shots, we didn't do what we needed to do to get the ball to get fouled, to get more ball movement, to get people open. We thought today was going to be easy. That's just the truth of it."

BIG PICTURE

Cincinnati: The Bearcats' trademark toughness led the way in this one, building a 47-36 rebounding advantage and blocking nine shots while holding yet another opponent well under 70 points. Now the challenge is getting the offense clicking again.

East Carolina: The Pirates' first game without top scorer B.J. Tyson, who injured his leg in a loss to Houston last time out, also marked the last one before coach Jeff Lebo starts a leave of absence Monday to have hip surgery. Their defense played well enough to steal this one, but the offense outside of Hughes and Sheppard was virtually nonexistent -- the rest of the team was a combined 5 of 30.

"I thought we did so many good things out there tonight, and I was proud of that effort," Lebo said. "If we could have just got a few (shots) to go. Every time we had a chance to get one or two of them to go, we just could not put the ball in the basket."

KEY STAT

The only player to earn Cronin's praise was center Nysier Brooks, who had a career-best five blocked shots. "I thought he probably won us the game."

HE SAID IT

Cincinnati's Troy Caupain, who entered averaging 10.4 points, scored all eight of his points in a span of 1 minute, 21 seconds late in the first half. Cronin said Caupain had no points, no assists and no turnovers 14 minutes into the game and that realization prompted him to confront his guard. "If he would have told me, I would have left him at home and brought one of the managers," Cronin said. "I'm sure they would have appreciated the opportunity to come down here today and put on a uniform."

TONS OF WASHINGTONS

Each team had an Atlantic Coast Conference transfer named Washington in its starting lineup. Cincinnati's Washington began his college career at North Carolina State while the Pirates have ex-Wake Forest big man Andre Washington.

UP NEXT

Cincinnati: The Bearcats face a Wednesday home game against a Temple team that already owns victories over two teams that have since climbed into the top 10.

East Carolina: The Pirates have a week off before visiting Connecticut on Jan. 22 in their first game without Lebo.

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Follow Joedy McCreary at http://twitter.com/joedyap.

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More AP college basketball: http://www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25.

Bearcats get 8th straight win at ECU, but it wasn't easy
Tom Groeschen , tgroeschen@enquirer.com Published 6:17 p.m. ET Jan. 15, 2017 | Updated 2 hours ago


GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Everything pointed to an easy University of Cincinnati basketball victory over a struggling East Carolina team here Sunday afternoon. Of course, it wasn’t.

Easy, that is.

A win, it was.

The No. 22 Bearcats led most of the game and beat ECU 55-46, with poor shooting on both sides. The game matched two national Top 20 defensive teams, before a relatively small but occasionally loud crowd of 4,597 at 8,000-seat Minges Coliseum.

Junior forward Kyle Washington led UC with 16 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots. Sophomore wing Jacob Evans backed Washington with 10 points.

“The only place we won today is on the scoreboard,” an unhappy UC coach Mick Cronin said. “We didn’t get better today. We got worse. We’ve got a lot of slippage, but everybody goes through it. Give East Carolina credit. It’s my job to make sure we execute better, and I’m going to make sure it happens. Our execution on the offensive end today was very, very poor.”

UC shot only 32.8 percent from the floor, tying its season-low set against Temple in a 56-50 road win on Dec. 28.

The Bearcats were 15-point favorites and entered with a seven-game winning streak. ECU had lost four straight games, and was without its leading scorer.

It all looked too easy going in, and it became the kind of game that makes coaches age before their time. Cronin did not smile at any point of his postgame media session.
Play Video

Bearcats say they must step up their game The Enquirer/Tom Groeschen

“I thought our execution … the next proper screen we set will be the first one,” Cronin said. “We didn’t do much to make it hard on them. Our rhythm in the first half was throw one pass and shoot it. Our rhythm in the second half was to never throw the ball inside, when that’s all we were supposed to do.”

UC did hold ECU to 25.4 percent shooting from the field, the Bearcats’ best performance in that category this season. The 46 points by ECU also were a season-low by a UC opponent.

Yet, Cronin said UC also generally did not excel defensively, noting that ECU missed several open looks. Cronin did say that freshman center Nysier Brooks, who came off the bench and blocked five shots, was a life saver.

“I was happy with Nysier Brooks,” Cronin said. “I thought he did an excellent job for us. I thought he probably won the game for us today.”

The Bearcats (15-2, 5-0 American Athletic Conference) were coming off a 66-64 home win over SMU this past Thursday. Some type of letdown was expected, but UC was able to outclass the Pirates with sheer talent and depth. ECU had only five players score, while UC had eight men score.

ECU (9-10, 1-5 AAC) played without top scorer B.J. Tyson (11.9 points per game), out indefinitely with a leg injury. Freshman guards Elijah Hughes and Jeremy Sheppard led ECU with 18 and 13 points, respectively.

UC’s Washington, who posted his sixth double-double of the season, said the players know they must perform better despite the eight-game winning streak.

“It was just a rough day,” Washington said. “We were disappointed in ourselves. Coach was disappointed in us. We have to take that into perspective and really move forward and get better, because we’re trying to do something big in March.”

UC led 31-23 at halftime. East Carolina could get no closer than six points after halftime, at 35-29.

The game included multiple airballs, shot-clock violations and a horrendous 34-for-117 combined shooting by the two teams. There were 17 blocked shots overall, nine by UC.

HOT AND COLD: UC senior point guard Troy Caupain, who was averaging 10.4 points per game, did not attempt a shot during the first 16 minutes.

“At that point I asked him, if he would have told me I would have left him at home and brought one of the managers,” Cronin said. “I’m sure that they would have appreciated the opportunity to come down here today and put on a uniform.”

Caupain then went on a personal 8-0 scoring run to lift UC from a 21-21 tie to a 29-21 lead late in the half. Thereafter, he took only two more shots and did not score again. Caupain also had no assists, only the third time that has happened in his three years as a fulltime starter.

Caupain said he has been under the weather, but also said that was no excuse.

“I really wasn’t feeling it today, or these past couple days,” Caupain said. “It just kind of opened up toward the end of the first half. Coach got on me. He was like, ‘Sixteen minutes into the game, you haven’t taken a shot. You haven’t thrown an assist. You haven’t done anything. So, if you really want to impact the game, you’ve got to do something different.’

“I just thought of that, in my mind, toward the end I’ve just got to do something, force the issue a little bit.”

HOME AGAIN: UC junior forward Gary Clark played before many family members and friends, with Clark’s hometown of Clayton, N.C. about 70 miles west of Greenville.

Clark had eight points and nine rebounds, his best performance in the ECU arena since joining UC. Clark scored four points in each of his two previous UC appearances at East Carolina, as a freshman and sophomore.

OPPOSING VIEW: ECU coach Jeff Lebo on Sunday coached his last game for a while. The 50-year-old Lebo is to undergo hip surgery Monday and will be sidelined indefinitely.

“I told my team tonight that I was really proud of them,” Lebo said. “I was proud to be their coach tonight. I thought we battled really hard. We executed our game plan defensively and executed offensively against a good team, but we just couldn’t put the ball in the basket again.”

The Pirates entered the day ranked 333rd of 347 NCAA Division I teams in scoring, at 62.7 points per game. UC was 79th in offense, at 78.4 points per game.

ECU entered the game ranked No. 20 nationally in scoring defense, at 62.6 points per game. That was not far behind UC, which was No. 12 in scoring defense at 61.6 per game.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/c.../96621734/

Thank you ctipton for posting these!

These kind of games are inevitable in a conference with such disparity between the top tier and the bottom. UC players see prior scores, read that the ECU point guard is out and see predictions of a blowout. The psychological and emotional letdown is palpable.

UC did what they needed to do and need to do the same in several remaining "trap" games that have the potential to undo all the good work they've done to date.

On the surface, UC just keeps clicking along and currently winning 8 in a row and 9 out of their last 10. The conference appears to be theirs for the taking but keep an eye on SMU obviously. Any road conference win is a good win IMO and you could argue that UC has the depth and defensive prowess to pull out these types of wins this year when the offense isn't clicking on all cylinders. That said, I'm going to use a Bearcat Mark stat (not a bad thing I might add) and mention that UC has dropped a bit in kenpom to #20 overall. Their adjusted defensive efficiency ranking has risen to #3 but the adjusted offensive efficiency ranking has gradually fallen to #62. Ideally, you want to see more of a balance between these two stats as most of the teams in the top 20 kenpom exhibit. FWIW, through the games played yesterday #12 UCLA has the biggest disparity at #1 on offense and #96 on defense. What does it all mean? Who knows but the bottom line is that winning counts most in March during the conference tournament and NCAA tournament. All this other stuff gets flushed down the toilet with poor tournament showings. The exception is winning now certainly helps to establish your NCAA seed.

(01-16-2017 10:43 AM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  That said, I'm going to use a Bearcat Mark stat (not bad thing I might add) and mention that UC has dropped a bit in kenpom to #20 overall. Their adjusted defensive efficiency ranking has risen to #3 but the adjusted offensive efficiency ranking has gradually fallen to #62. Ideally, you want to see more of a balance between these two stats as most of the teams in the top 20 kenpom exhibit.

90+% of the final four teams over the past 20 years were Top 40 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Not one single team in the past 20 years has won it all without being Top 40 in both categories. And most years the teams in the championship game are Top 20 in both categories.

The closest exception was the year UConn won it with a 39th ranked AdjO. But they all had the best PG in the nation who could control all aspects of the game.

Mick has got to figure this out of it's just gonna be more of the same year after year.

In general, the better you play and offense and defense combined results in a more wins and a higher ranking.

(01-16-2017 12:35 AM)WalterSobchak Wrote:  Thank you ctipton for posting these!

Ditto! Thanks!

(01-16-2017 10:58 AM)nachoman91 Wrote:  

(01-16-2017 10:43 AM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  That said, I'm going to use a Bearcat Mark stat (not bad thing I might add) and mention that UC has dropped a bit in kenpom to #20 overall. Their adjusted defensive efficiency ranking has risen to #3 but the adjusted offensive efficiency ranking has gradually fallen to #62. Ideally, you want to see more of a balance between these two stats as most of the teams in the top 20 kenpom exhibit.

90+% of the final four teams over the past 20 years were Top 40 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Not one single team in the past 20 years has won it all without being Top 40 in both categories. And most years the teams in the championship game are Top 20 in both categories.

The closest exception was the year UConn won it with a 39th ranked AdjO. But they all had the best PG in the nation who could control all aspects of the game.

Mick has got to figure this out of it's just gonna be more of the same year after year.

This is a fair and very good point. It's why I've thought the threshold for UC being a true threat for a deep run is getting to a top 30 caliber offense. The biggest issue has been road offense and I think the recent struggles of Jacob Evans have contributed to the fall. They need Evans to be a great offensive player to reach their potential offensively. UC has been better this year offensively but not where they need to be to be a true contender yet.

(01-16-2017 10:43 AM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  On the surface, UC just keeps clicking along and currently winning 8 in a row and 9 out of their last 10. The conference appears to be theirs for the taking but keep an eye on SMU obviously. Any road conference win is a good win IMO and you could argue that UC has the depth and defensive prowess to pull out these types of wins this year when the offense isn't clicking on all cylinders. That said, I'm going to use a Bearcat Mark stat (not a bad thing I might add) and mention that UC has dropped a bit in kenpom to #20 overall. Their adjusted defensive efficiency ranking has risen to #3 but the adjusted offensive efficiency ranking has gradually fallen to #62. Ideally, you want to see more of a balance between these two stats as most of the teams in the top 20 kenpom exhibit. FWIW, through the games played yesterday #12 UCLA has the biggest disparity at #1 on offense and #96 on defense. What does it all mean? Who knows but the bottom line is that winning counts most in March during the conference tournament and NCAA tournament. All this other stuff gets flushed down the toilet with poor tournament showings. The exception is winning now certainly helps to establish your NCAA seed.

Great analysis. Seeding (bolded) is important for escaping the first weekend of the NCAA unscathed. Then I think the offensive efficiency takes center stage. I think Evans is too good a player to have anything more than an offensive slump here or there. If fatigue has become a factor it may be why we're seeing more of Cumberland. Seems to me the more Mick can use the bench down the stretch, the better his starters legs will be come March. It's a long grind.

(01-16-2017 11:43 AM)OKIcat Wrote:  

(01-16-2017 10:43 AM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  On the surface, UC just keeps clicking along and currently winning 8 in a row and 9 out of their last 10. The conference appears to be theirs for the taking but keep an eye on SMU obviously. Any road conference win is a good win IMO and you could argue that UC has the depth and defensive prowess to pull out these types of wins this year when the offense isn't clicking on all cylinders. That said, I'm going to use a Bearcat Mark stat (not a bad thing I might add) and mention that UC has dropped a bit in kenpom to #20 overall. Their adjusted defensive efficiency ranking has risen to #3 but the adjusted offensive efficiency ranking has gradually fallen to #62. Ideally, you want to see more of a balance between these two stats as most of the teams in the top 20 kenpom exhibit. FWIW, through the games played yesterday #12 UCLA has the biggest disparity at #1 on offense and #96 on defense. What does it all mean? Who knows but the bottom line is that winning counts most in March during the conference tournament and NCAA tournament. All this other stuff gets flushed down the toilet with poor tournament showings. The exception is winning now certainly helps to establish your NCAA seed.

Great analysis. Seeding (bolded) is important for escaping the first weekend of the NCAA unscathed. Then I think the offensive efficiency takes center stage. I think Evans is too good a player to have anything more than an offensive slump here or there. If fatigue has become a factor it may be why we're seeing more of Cumberland. Seems to me the more Mick can use the bench down the stretch, the better his starters legs will be come March. It's a long grind.

SK's senior year the team peaked in the middle of conference play and then came back down to earth during the last couple of weeks. I hope this team peaks in March and rides that to a deep tournament run. What I see is a team that can win a bunch of different ways if needed.

(01-16-2017 12:24 PM)bearcatlawjd2 Wrote:  

(01-16-2017 11:43 AM)OKIcat Wrote:  

(01-16-2017 10:43 AM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  On the surface, UC just keeps clicking along and currently winning 8 in a row and 9 out of their last 10. The conference appears to be theirs for the taking but keep an eye on SMU obviously. Any road conference win is a good win IMO and you could argue that UC has the depth and defensive prowess to pull out these types of wins this year when the offense isn't clicking on all cylinders. That said, I'm going to use a Bearcat Mark stat (not a bad thing I might add) and mention that UC has dropped a bit in kenpom to #20 overall. Their adjusted defensive efficiency ranking has risen to #3 but the adjusted offensive efficiency ranking has gradually fallen to #62. Ideally, you want to see more of a balance between these two stats as most of the teams in the top 20 kenpom exhibit. FWIW, through the games played yesterday #12 UCLA has the biggest disparity at #1 on offense and #96 on defense. What does it all mean? Who knows but the bottom line is that winning counts most in March during the conference tournament and NCAA tournament. All this other stuff gets flushed down the toilet with poor tournament showings. The exception is winning now certainly helps to establish your NCAA seed.

Great analysis. Seeding (bolded) is important for escaping the first weekend of the NCAA unscathed. Then I think the offensive efficiency takes center stage. I think Evans is too good a player to have anything more than an offensive slump here or there. If fatigue has become a factor it may be why we're seeing more of Cumberland. Seems to me the more Mick can use the bench down the stretch, the better his starters legs will be come March. It's a long grind.

SK's senior year the team peaked in the middle of conference play and then came back down to earth during the last couple of weeks. I hope this team peaks in March and rides that to a deep tournament run. What I see is a team that can win a bunch of different ways if needed.

Hope you're right. UCONN had a knack for always peaking at exactly the right time.