Cincinnati Bearcats Make All The Mistakes In 50-46 Loss To East Carolina

This is the not the game recap I was expecting to write.

After blasting the UConn Huskies 70-58 on Thursday and rolling past East Carolina at home a month ago, the Bearcats bumbled all over themselves in an excruciating loss on the road today to the Pirates. That was a performance I never saw coming.

Let’s start with Larry Davis. The interim head coach has been mainly hitting the right buttons since taking over for Mick Cronin in mid-December. UC was 8-3 under Davis during that time with solid wins over NC State and UConn to his name. But today he made some questionable decisions.

Cincinnati Bearcats

The first of which was not starting sophomore point guard Troy Caupain, presumably for the two technical fouls and ejection he drew on Thursday against the Huskies. I think that was the right move. At this stage in his young career, Troy needs to understand that drawing attention to himself and putting his performance above that of the team should have ramifications. But not starting him in the second half was overkill and letting him see the floor for about half the game rattled his rhythm and that of his teammates. Troy finished with just 4 points on 1-6 shooting.

Then there’s the management of Farad Cobb, who had 10 points by the 11 minute mark in the first half. Davis swiftly benched him at that point, playing him for just 2 more minutes until halftime. It’s no wonder the Bearcats dropped 15 points in the first 10 minutes then struggled to cross the 20-point mark thereafter.

Finally was a 1 and a half minute stretch late in the game when Davis was too slow calling a timeout as East Carolina started stealing momentum (and the lead). With 2:32 to go, Cincinnati was up 46-41 and in lock down mode defensively. But a missed Caupain three pointer and turnovers from Cobb and Kevin Johnson allowed the Pirates to score a trio of buckets and take a 2 point lead. By the time Davis called a timeout, Cincinnati was already down 48-46 with 50 seconds to go. It was too little, too late.

But the issues don’t stop at Larry Davis. The players themselves have to take part of the blame today. Cincinnati’s been on a roll in recent weeks by not only playing stout defensively (they always do) but being efficient with their possessions. UC shot almost 50% from the field and 46% from three in the win over UConn. On the season the Bearcats have been near the top of the AAC in points per possession at 1.02.

Cincinnati averaged just 0.9 points per possession today, shooting just 36% from the field and an egregious 3-of-18 from beyond the arc. Octavius Ellis had a double-double against ECU but the guards opted to simply hoist up threes instead of feeding their front court. It was especially frustrating late in the game when the Bearcats were down just 2 points and Cobb and Johnson simply threw up the ball without even trying to get it inside.

If the guys on the floor refuse to play to their strengths, then there’s nothing Larry Davis can really do and Cincinnati will struggle offensively down the stretch.

To those games, it doesn’t get much easier from here. The Bearcats visit the SMU Mustangs on Thursday, who are 9-1 in the AAC this season. That lone loss came to Cincinnati on the road but Southern Methodist is a much different team at home, having lost just a single game there this year. UC needs to put this gaff in the rear view mirror quickly, otherwise we could be staring at a NIT birth in March.