And with that, the greatest rivalry in sports has come to an end. Memphis and Cincinnati might not ever meet again. Most people remember Cincinnati beating Memphis four times in one season during the 91-92 season, but my lasting memory from this heated affair is Logan Johnson (shoutout LoJo) stepping in front of a pass directed to Jeremiah Martin (dude could ball) with three seconds left to give Cincinnati a narrow 71-69 win. Sarcasm aside, the last installment of this “fierce rivalry” crushed my soul. Memphis beat Cincinnati for the fifth consecutive time Sunday 76-73.

Simply put, Cincinnati played pretty terribly for the majority of this game. 20 turnovers. That sums it up. There are turnovers you can shake off. The occasional travel will happen, a defender takes a charge, etc., but it felt like 95 percent of these turnovers were live-ball turnovers. And Memphis made them pay. The Tigers scored 24 points of Cincinnati turnovers. That’s all there is to say. Cincinnati played a tremendous final eight minutes. They clawed back and made a game out of something that should have been a rocking chair win for the opponent. That seems to be the difference between this year and last year. Last year, more often than the other team outclassed Cincinnati, and the offense went down the tubes. That team just wasn’t very good. This year there are a few plays here and a few plays there that could have changed multiple losses into wins.

I feel bad for Landers Nolley II. It was a homecoming to be forgotten. He came alive in the last segment to tally 13 points, but the turnovers will probably haunt him. Alex Lomax picked his pocket on back-to-back possessions for two easy lay-ups. That changed the tone of the first half.

David DeJulius did his best to keep Cincinnati in this game. He led the team with 16 points and added six assists and six rebounds. The one play that will get scrutinized is his shot getting blocked by DeAndre Williams off an inbounds play. You’d like to see Dave go up quicker than he did. He hesitated, and it gave Williams time to swat his attempt away.

Mika Adams-Woods didn’t have a gaudy stat line, but he played a fine game. He had eight assists, including a sweet no-look pass to Landers on a fastbreak for an easy bucket. I thought he did a good job making Kendric Davis work for his 22 points. Davis will almost always get his, but he only shot six free throws, and he had to attempt 22 shots to get those 22 points.

It seems Viktor Lakhin is still finding his way after returning from his sprained ankle. Getting double-teamed in the post gave him fits. DeAndre Williams is also not a great matchup for Vik. I’m wondering if Wes will let him shoot more threes after his 30-foot heave with under a second to go went in. He’s up to 50 percent from beyond the arc on the season 😉

I joked on here that Ody Oguama was Shaq last week. He might be. In his last six games, he’s averaging 11.8 PPG and 7 RPG, while shooting 81 percent from the field. Not bad. The officials also incorrectly gave him a goal tend in the second half. A sham.

I don’t like piling on. I’ve been in his corner, but I can’t imagine the collective groan from UC fans across the city after Jeremiah Davenport air-balled a three when Cincinnati had all the momentum with around six minutes to go. Memphis canned a triple on the next trip down the floor to push the lead back up to nine. JD can giveth at times, but he can also taketh away.

Sadly there’s only one game left in the regular season. It has flown by. SMU at home on Sunday, and then three wins in three days get you to the big dance. Let’s make it happen.

Game Ball: Ody Oguama (1)

Featured Image credit: Katie Stratman/USA Today Sports