By Bill Koch
Before I settled in to watch the AAC Tournament semifinal game between UC and top-ranked Houston this afternon - which UC lost 69-48 - I was reminded of the UC-Houston game on March 3, 2016 at Houston.
That was the game that started to turn the series in the Cougars’ favor.
Before that game, UC’s all-time record against Houston was 27-1. When the Bearcats went to Hofheinz Pavilion, the games were sparsely attended and a UC victory was virtually assured.
But that was about to change in Kelvin Sampson’s second year as the Cougars’ head coach when Houston posted a 69-56 win over UC.
On that night, Houston was the aggressor, which UC coach Mick Cronin angrily pointed out during his post-game interview, which was conducted in the Bearcats’ locker room.
“We got manhandled,” Cronin said. “I’ve watched a lot of basketball. I’ve been around it my whole life. You can break stuff down with X’s and O’s, but we got manhandled, physically manhandled, on both ends of the floor, and that’s the story of the game.”
I was writing for UC’s website at the time. After road games, I would get on a bus with the team, ride to the airport, and write on the plane during the flight home. But on this night, there was one more reason for Cronin to be angry.
After he finished his post-game interview, Cronin found out that the plane that was supposed to pick us up and take us back to Cincinnati wasn’t going to make it.
I didn’t realize that as I boarded the bus. After a few minutes, I realized we were back downtown. Soon we were pulling into the same hotel we had checked out of a few hours earlier. We checked back into our rooms and spent one more night in Houston before flying home the next morning.
Since then, UC has gone 6-10 against Houston. The Bearcats have now lost nine in a row against the Cougars and 11 of the last 13.
Before I settled in to watch the AAC Tournament semifinal game between UC and top-ranked Houston this afternon - which UC lost 69-48 - I was reminded of the UC-Houston game on March 3, 2016 at Houston.
That was the game that started to turn the series in the Cougars’ favor.
Before that game, UC’s all-time record against Houston was 27-1. When the Bearcats went to Hofheinz Pavilion, the games were sparsely attended and a UC victory was virtually assured.
But that was about to change in Kelvin Sampson’s second year as the Cougars’ head coach when Houston posted a 69-56 win over UC.
On that night, Houston was the aggressor, which UC coach Mick Cronin angrily pointed out during his post-game interview, which was conducted in the Bearcats’ locker room.
“We got manhandled,” Cronin said. “I’ve watched a lot of basketball. I’ve been around it my whole life. You can break stuff down with X’s and O’s, but we got manhandled, physically manhandled, on both ends of the floor, and that’s the story of the game.”
I was writing for UC’s website at the time. After road games, I would get on a bus with the team, ride to the airport, and write on the plane during the flight home. But on this night, there was one more reason for Cronin to be angry.
After he finished his post-game interview, Cronin found out that the plane that was supposed to pick us up and take us back to Cincinnati wasn’t going to make it.
I didn’t realize that as I boarded the bus. After a few minutes, I realized we were back downtown. Soon we were pulling into the same hotel we had checked out of a few hours earlier. We checked back into our rooms and spent one more night in Houston before flying home the next morning.
Since then, UC has gone 6-10 against Houston. The Bearcats have now lost nine in a row against the Cougars and 11 of the last 13.
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