Give Cincinnati a lot of credit for how they have persevered through a lot this season. The road to first place in the American Athletic Conference has not been a smooth one, but the Bearcats are there after Thursday night, and none of it came easily.
In fact, Thursday night’s game is almost a microcosm of their season, something they would surely take in the sense that it ended with an 80-79 win at Wichita State.
We have to start before this game to fully appreciate it. The Bearcats were supposed to travel to Wichita on Wednesday night, but their charter flight was canceled as a result of storms and a late-arriving plane. Instead, they flew on Thursday morning and landed before 1 p.m. Eastern, about six hours before the tip of the game.
The game wasn’t easy, either, as one would expect given that the Shockers are pretty good and especially at their home arena. Cincinnati, though, led for much of the game, but lost it with under a minute to go. That can always be a big psychological blow to a team, but as we’ve noted, this team has already overcome some adversity this season.
Jarron Cumberland has especially overcome adversity, so it’s perhaps only fitting that he had the ball in the final seconds with the Shockers leading 79-77. He drove to the right, put up a tough runner that dropped as he was fouled, and the free throw put them up by what would end up as the final score after Wichita State missed a shot at the buzzer. Cumberland finished with 24 points and has rounded into form, and the Bearcats have now won five in a row.
Cincinnati hasn’t had an easy path to where they are. There have been growing pains, sometimes very obvious ones, as well as slips and falls. But now there are wins, including ones like Thursday where a lot of things were working against them. Those are all signs of a tough, growing team, and one that can overcome the kind of adversity that is still likely to come the rest of the way since it never stops.
Side Dishes
Staying in the American Athletic Conference, UConn went on the road and picked up a big 72-56 win over Tulsa, which along with the Bearcats’ win knocks the Golden Hurricane out of first place in the American Athletic Conference. Houston kept pace with the Bearcats by knocking off Tulane 75-62.
In the Pac-12, Arizona beat USC 85-80 to go to 6-3 and Colorado held off a valiant effort by Cal for a 71-65 win to go to 7-3 in the conference. Stanford, meanwhile, had a chance to join Arizona but lost 64-56 in overtime at Utah.
College of Charleston is now alone atop the CAA after handling William & Mary 68-50 in a game with two teams going in opposite directions. The Cougars won for the fourth time in five games, while the Tribe lost for the fourth time in six games after opening CAA play 6-0. Delaware made things even more interesting, pulling to within a game and a half after an 84-78 win over Towson, who falls another half game behind the Blue Hens.
Other results of note: The top two teams in the Northeast Conference both won again, as Merrimack won their ninth straight by a 57-53 margin at Fairleigh Dickinson and Robert Morris went on the road not far away and beat Wagner 67-62 to stay a game back; Winthrop improved to 11-0 in Big South play by using a big second half to beat Campbell 62-53; Belmont handed Murray State their first OVC loss of the season 71-64 in the latest installment of a growing rivalry, and Austin Peay also lost for the first time in OVC play as Tennessee State edged them 70-68; right behind them is Eastern Kentucky, who improved to 9-2 in OVC play by winning 91-84 at Eastern Illinois; Montana beat Eastern Washington 92-82 to take sole possession of first place in the Big Sky; the big individual performance of the night was Jerrick Harding scoring 44 points to lead Weber State past Sacramento State 70-66; UC Irvine moved to 7-1 in the Big West by knocking off UC Davis 83-72; and Saint Mary’s escaped San Diego with a 66-60 win.
There is no longer any mystery behind some recent news at Wisconsin, as strength coach Erik Helland resigned on Thursday and told ESPN that he used the N-word while re-telling a story from his NBA career. Kobe King, the team’s second-leading scorer, abruptly transferred last week, and apparently had some concerns about Helland’s treatment of minority players in the program. All the while, the Badgers have lost four of six, including a 70-52 loss at Minnesota on Wednesday night.
Speaking of a story with no mystery, we now know why Zavier Simpson’s streak of 135 consecutive games at Michigan came to a close recently. The senior point guard was apparently suspended as the result of a car crash involving a car that belonged to the wife of athletic director Warde Manual, although the bigger problem was likely the fact that he lied to officers about his name and whether or not he was driving the vehicle. Simpson was reinstated following the one-game suspension.
Tonight’s Menu
A light night is on tap ahead of a big day on Saturday, as just over a dozen games are on tap.
- The Ivy League weekends continue, and the night’s action there starts early as Harvard visits Yale (5 p.m.), Dartmouth goes to Brown, Penn visits Columbia and Princeton is at Cornell (7 p.m.)
- VCU hosts Davidson in a matchup of two teams that could stand to gain a little momentum (7 p.m.)
- The MAAC has a busy slate with Canisius at Rider, Fairfield at Siena, Niagara at Manhattan and St. Peter’s at Marist all tipping at 7 p.m., while Quinnipiac hosts Iona at 7:30 p.m.
- A pair of MAC games are on tap as well, with Kent State visiting Northern Illinois in the early one (7 p.m.) and Buffalo hosting Central Michigan later (9 p.m.)
- First place in the Big Ten is on the line as Maryland takes their five-game winning streak to Illinois (8 p.m.)
- In-state rivals meet in the Sun Belt as Troy hosts South Alabama (9 p.m.)
