Cincinnati has went through a bit of a tumultuous season thus far. They started out the year undefeated at 5-0, but were shocked at home by the lowly Ole Miss Rebels to break that streak. They then hit an inconsistent stretch, where they lost to both Nebraska and Virginia Commonwealth, but also defeated a talented San Diego State team at Fifth Third Arena. To top it all off, they lost their head coach Mick Cronin for the season due to a non-life-threatening vascular condition known as arterial dissection (Cronin will still be able to serve his squad in an advisory role this year. With interim head coach Larry Davis at the helm, the Bearcats have rallied, and after a big win over the Southern Methodist Mustangs today, they are in the drivers seat for the AAC title.
Southern Methodist, led by 6-11 center Yanick Moreira and senior guard Ryan Manuel today, held control most of the first half. At one point, after a Moreira jumper, held a 20-12 lead over the Bearcats. However, Cincy big man Octavius Ellis and sharpshooting guard Farad Cobb (who came off of the bench to score 18 today, going 4-9 in three pointer attempts) led the Bearcats back to a three point deficit at halftime, 22-19 in SMU's favor.
The Mustangs and Bearcats traded baskets in the first 5 minutes of the first half, but Cobb instigated a 13-2 run by scoring 9 points in a row for the home team, and while Southern Methodist's star forward Markus Kennedy (in only his 4th game of the year after being academically ineligible during most of the non-conference schedule) tried to lead his team back, Cobb kept the Bearcats in front by consistently knocking down timely 3-pointers, and Cincy held on to win 56-50.
Southern Methodist would fall to 1-1 in the American in what has been an underwhelming season for a team that came in with such high expectations. Sophemore forward Ben Moore had a poor game today, with 0 points, 4 rebounds and 3 turnovers. It was a down game for Moore after 15 points and 5 rebounds in SMU's demolition of South Florida on Wednesday. SMU also got little production from their bench today, and two of their most critical guards, Nic Moore and Keith Frazier, were a combined 5-19 shooting. Moore also had 6 turnovers.
Cincinnati is now on a roll as they go into a 4 game stretch that includes perennial powerhouses in the AAC, such as Memphis, UConn, and Temple. They will continue to rely on Cobb to give them a boost beyond the arc, and their bigs to continue the great defensive job they produced today against SMU, where they garnered 20 defensive rebounds and 6 blocks.
Cincy is back in action against East Carolina on Tuesday, while SMU tries to get back on track against Memphis on Thursday.