Cincinnati puts win streak on line against Memphis (Jan 27, 2018)
Cincinnati beat Temple on Wednesday, the Bearcats' 11th straight win and 37th consecutive home victory. The 18-2 Bearcats sit atop the American Athletic Conference with a 7-0 mark, two games clear of Wichita State and Houston.
They are ranked No. 9 as they head to FedExForum for a road game against Memphis on Saturday.
But all anyone could talk about after Wednesday's win was senior forward Gary Clark's remarkable accomplishment of joining the great Oscar Robertson, becoming only the fifth player in the program's 117-year history to record 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
"I didn't realize it at first until coach (Mick Cronin) wrote it on the board and was explaining it and Kyle (Washington) always telling me how good of an accomplishment that will be. For me to do it tonight was pretty cool," Clark said.
When you have the best player on the floor, chances are pretty good something "pretty cool" will happen, at least that's what Cronin believes. And Clark's play draws praise from other coaches as well.
"He is an underrated player, other than among coaches," Cronin said. "If you talk to coaches, especially the coaches in our conference, Gary Clark is their favorite player. ... He makes no mistakes; he is just plus, plus, plus, plus. If he makes a mistake, it's like a meteor storm; it just never happens and you are in shock."
In the first game this season between the Bearcats and Tigers -- an 82-48 Cincinnati win -- Clark's numbers were rather pedestrian. He scored 13 and grabbed 10 rebounds in that Dec. 31 contest. But that's probably because the game was a blowout.
The Tigers (13-7, 4-3 AAC) were befuddled by the Bearcats' matchup zone in that game and got off to a sluggish start. Memphis shot a season-low 32.1 percent, including just 4 of 22 (18.1 percent) from 3-point range.
"We were intimidated early on, especially with our turnovers, we played so poorly, shot so poorly and against a good team like Cincinnati, they will make you look bad," Memphis coach Tubby Smith said.
Even though the Tigers are coming off a loss to Tulsa on Saturday, they have won four of their last five games, and point guard Jeremiah Martin is expected to play Saturday. The third-leading scorer in the AAC bruised a hip against Tulsa, but has had a week of treatment and is ready to go.
Martin is averaging 18.4 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.3 steals per game.
In that first game against the Bearcats, Martin scored just eight points. And it doesn't get any easier this time around as Cincinnati is giving up only 56.6 points per game, second best in the nation.
"They (Cincinnati) were taking us out of a lot of stuff with their matchup zone," Smith said after that first loss. "You've got to be patient enough to go to the second, third and fourth options and not just start to dribble and put your head down. Hopefully, our players have learned their lesson and do it the right way and do it the way we said."
Not only do the Tigers have to figure out how to stop Clark, who recorded his eighth double-double of the season against Temple, Memphis also must take care of the ball.
In Wednesday's win over the Owls, the Bearcats held their opponent to fewer than 20 field goals for the sixth time in conference play. They contested every possession, forced 20 turnovers and scored 24 points off those turnovers.
