PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Cincinnati has lost five games this season, and in four of them, the offense has been on a milk carton. One of those games was Wednesday night’s 54-50 loss at Providence, and it was a textbook case of a bad night offensively.
Cincinnati shot 37.5 percent from the field and committed 15 turnovers in a relatively low-possession game. The score was indicative not only of the defense of the two teams, but also the slow pace and difficulty both teams had making shots. The Bearcats have more assists than turnovers on the season, but that’s not the case in Big East play and Wednesday night’s game added to that as they had just eight assists.
“In the games that we’ve struggled, we’ve turned the ball over,” said head coach Mick Cronin. “That’s been our issue, it reared its head tonight. That’s because guys tried to do too much. You’ve got to trust your teammates. Sharing the ball and trusting your teammates makes the game easy. When you don’t share the ball, you don’t trust your teammates, the game gets hard real quick.”
Point guard Cashmere Wright, who was 2-9 and had just two assists, summed it up succinctly: “The whole team was out of sync today.”
The first half was not one for the books for Cincinnati at either end, and it’s surprising that they were only down by five. Providence shot 50 percent from the field, while the Bearcats were just 8-24. Eight turnovers didn’t help, nor did surrendering six offensive boards among the 14 Providence misses. As if that wasn’t enough, they were behind despite holding Bryce Cotton, the Big East’s leading scorer, scoreless in the half on 0-4 shooting.
The second half was better for the Bearcats, but the offense doomed them once again. They got within one early on, but Providence responded with a 13-2 run to extend the lead. Later, down 47-34, the Bearcats scored 12 unanswered points to get within one, and then they had a chance down two with just over two minutes left. They missed three chances, got a big stop to get the ball back and couldn’t score again before Providence went up by four.
They got one more chance after Providence’s Kadeem Batts missed two free throws, but Sean Kilpatrick couldn’t respond to a double-team and turned the ball over on a backcourt violation with two seconds left. It was something they did on more than one occasion on the evening.
“We continued to try to dribble and find shots, and Wright and Kilpatrick have got to realize that when teams do that, they have to pass the ball,” said Cronin.
In losses to New Mexico, St. John’s and Syracuse, the Bearcats shot below 33 percent from the field. Against St. John’s, 16 turnovers hurt as well, and that’s part of how St. John’s plays. The only loss where the offense was not a problem was Notre Dame, where they allowed the Fighting Irish to shoot 50 percent from the field, including 9-17 on three-pointers.
The Bearcats aren’t lacking talent on the perimeter, although they are up front. Justin Jackson, Cheikh Mbodj and Titus Rubles aren’t going to strike fear in opposing defenses, certainly not the way the perimeter trio of Wright, Kilpatrick and JaQuon Parker can. Kilpatrick could be in the mix for Big East Player of the Year, though you wouldn’t know it from Wednesday night’s outing, where he was 5-14 from the field and had three turnovers. It doesn’t help that Wright is not the purest of point guards, although he’s made a steady improvement over his college career at that.
Cincinnati now goes home for three straight games, an opportunity to get back on track although the games won’t be easy. They start with Pittsburgh, who they beat on the road to start Big East play but has played better of late. Then Villanova and Georgetown visit, and all three games will be played within a week as the Georgetown game will be a rare Friday night affair.
Defense hasn’t been a big problem for Cincinnati, although they haven’t been as strong in Big East play at that end of the floor. Providence shot just under 43 percent on Wednesday, including 2-17 from long range, so the Bearcats were okay there. Cronin noted that they gave up just 54 points, an effort that should be good enough to win on most nights. They will have to keep up the defense and perhaps get a little better in the event of nights like Wednesday night.
