Keith Williams would not let the University of Cincinnati men's basketball team lose on Sunday.
The Bearcats' senior leader scored a game-high 20 points, including a personal 9-0 run in the second half, to lead Cincinnati to a 64-61 win at Tulane.
"We don't win tonight's game without his effort," UC coach John Brannen said.
A lot went wrong for Cincinnati for the second straight game. But also for the second straight game, the Bearcats (5-7, 3-4 American Athletic Conference) did enough to win, improving to 2-0 since COVID-19 issues kept them off the court for 25 days.
Up next: Cincinnati is scheduled to travel to Tennessee to face Memphis on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN2 or ESPNU. It will be the Bearcats' AAC-record fifth straight road game.
What we learned from Sunday's win:
Keith Williams joins 1,000-point club
With 2:22 remaining in the first half, Williams hit the first of two free throws to become the 54th player in program history with 1,000 career points.
The preseason first-team All-AAC selection, who entered the weekend tied for sixth in the league in scoring (15 points per game), finished with 20 points, giving him 1,011 for his career.
"He scored 1,000 today? Great," Brannen said. "Nah, I mean, listen, Keith Williams will score 1,000 points in every league he's in. Like, you know the YMCA league? When he's like 40-something, he'll score 1,000 points in that league. He's a gifted scorer. But (I'm) extremely proud of him. Storied tradition here at Cincinnati, he's certainly one of those guys."
Williams, who did not start Thursday at Temple but still scored 15 points in 22 minutes, also had three rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block in the victory over the Green Wave (7-7, 2-7 AAC).
Williams also ranks in the top 10 in the American in steals, averaging more than 1.3 per game.
"I mean, Keith, there's not much to be said," freshman forward Tari Eason said. "I mean, 1,000 career points today. I mean, he's huge for us. He's our scorer. He's our leader. He's our guy. He's really important each and every night."
Williams joins former teammates Jarron Cumberland (1,782), Gary Clark (1,462) and Jacob Evans (1,233) in UC's 1,000-point club.
Oscar Robertson (2,973) and Sean Kilpatrick (2,145) are the only players in the program's uber-exclusive 2,000-point club.
Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers
Turnovers plagued the Bearcats last season against Tulane, which plays a zone-only defense. UC committed 17 turnovers and the Green Wave turned those into 18 points against only six points off of turnovers for Cincinnati in a 76-71 loss at Tulane on Jan. 4, 2020.
UC on Sunday had 13 turnovers in the first half, including five in the last 4:12 before intermission. After a sloppy start to the second half, Brannen elected to put in walk-ons Sam Martin and Rob Banks.
"We weren't playing with any energy at all and we needed a spark," Brannen said.
The Bearcats had freshman guard Mike Saunders, sophomore guard Mika Adams-Woods, Martin, Banks and Eason on the court. That's two freshmen, two walk-ons and a sophomore.
Once Brannen made the brief lineup change, Cincinnati committed three turnovers the rest of the way. Martin entered the game and immediately recorded an assist and took a charge on defense.
"Sam's had a really, really good year this year," Brannen said of Martin, who hadn't played all season. "He's much better this year in prepping our guys for games than he was last year. The toughness he shows every day in practice. The game of basketball is a truth-teller. He's going to play well. I had no issues with him. I had complete faith that he was going to make plays.
"Rob, same thing. Those guys bring it every day. That's why Rob started the other night, he brings it every day. When you have that, the guys respect them, the coaches respect them, and as a head coach, in a high-level game, in the middle of a conference season, in the middle of a pandemic, to put them in the game in the second half of a tight game, complete confidence."
Learning to finish
Six of Cincinnati's seven losses this season have been by single digits. The issue has been finishing games. But that seems to have gone away.
The Bearcats have won three of their last four games. The last two victories came down to the final possession, and UC finished and won.
"I think it's experience," said Eason, who had 13 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two steals, a block and the go-ahead layup with 43 seconds to play on Sunday. "Guys are starting to understand how to finish a game. Obviously, past experiences, knowing how we hadn't, it's not a good feeling. As a team, we want to just leave everything on the table."