TicketsUC Men Launch Cage Season vs. Valpo
Bearcats out to extend their string of 38 home opening victories.
Contact: Brian Teter
11/16/2004
Eric Hicks was UC's top scorer and rebounder in the two exhibition games. |
CINCINNATI vs. VALPARAISO
GAME FACTS
Date: Friday, Nov. 19, 2004
Time: 8:00 p.m. EST
Site: Fifth Third Arena (13,176), Cincinnati, Ohio
Records: Cincinnati 25-7 in 2003-04, Valparaiso 18-13 in 2003-04
TV: WXIX-TV 19 (Jeff Piecoro, Anthony Buford).
Radio: WLW-AM 700 (Dan Hoard, Chuck Machock).
Tickets: Available, $25, 513-556-CATS or www.UCBearcats.com.
Series: Cincinnati leads, 3-1.
Last Meeting: Dec. 2, 2003 in Valparaiso, Ind.; Cincinnati 68, Valparaiso 49.
The Coaches:
? BOB HUGGINS (West Virginia ?77)
At Cincinnati: 16th year, 374-119 (.759)
Overall: 24th year, 542-191 (.739)
Huggins is the nation?s seventh-winningest active coach and is 13th in victories.
? HOMER DREW (William Jewell ?65)
At Valpo: 16th year, 254-197 (.563)
Overall: 27th year, 523-319 (.621)
Drew has directed Valpo to eight Mid-Continent Conference titles, and reached the NCAA Tournament seven times.
SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati will launch its 104th men?s basketball campaign on Friday, hosting Valparaiso in the season opener for both teams. Both teams were 2-0 in their respective exhibition campaigns. The Bearcats had run-away victories over Northern Kentucky (103-64) and Southern Indiana (82-62). The Crusaders? margins of victory were closer. Valpo edged Huntington, 73-69 and had a 78-55 victory over Wisconsin-River Falls.
CINCINNATI PROBABLE STARTERS 2003-04 Statistics
F 33 Armein Kirkland, 6-8 Jr., Tyler, Texas......6.0 pts, 2.6 reb, 2.3 ast
F 14 Eric Hicks, 6-6 Jr., Greensboro, N.C........7.0 pts, 5.8 reb, 1.2 blk
F 54 Jason Maxiell, 6-7 Sr., Carrollton, Texas..13.6 pts, 6.9 reb, 2.1 blk
G 21 James White, 6-7 Jr., Kensington, Md........7.9 pts, 4.0 reb, 3.6 ast
G 1 Chadd Moore, 6-2 Jr., Huntsville, Ala.......3.2 pts, 0.9 reb, 2.0 ast
VALPARAISO PROBABLE STARTERS 2003-04 Statistics
F 30 Ron Howard, 6-5 Jr., Chicago, Ill...........5.8 pts, 1.6 reb, 1.4 ast
F 42 Dan Oppland, 6-8 Jr., St. Louis, Mo........15.7 pts, 7.2 reb, 0.6 ast
C 21 Moussa Mbaye, 6-9 So., Senegal..............1.3 pts, 2.0 reb, 0.3 blk
G 33 Ali Berdiel, 6p-6 Sr., Ponce, P.R..........11.3 pts, 3.3 reb, 6.0 ast
G 3 Jimmie Miles, 6-2 So., Olympia Fields, Ill .6.3 pts, 1.4 reb, 1.4 ast
BATTLE OF THE CHAMPS: When it comes to winning conference championships, Cincinnati and Valparaiso are second to none. The Bearcats and Crusaders share the distinction of having won the most conference regular season titles over the past 10 seasons, each with nine.
WIN STREAK ON THE LINE: Cincinnati will be out to keep its streak of consecutive home season opener victories intact when hosting Valparaiso on Friday. The Bearcats have won their last 38 home openers. UC?s last loss in a home opener occurred in 1964-65 when Miami (Ohio) defeated the Bearcats, 65-55, at Cincinnati Gardens. Cincinnati is 84-19 in home openers.
STORY LINES:
? Cincinnati brings a record of 84-19 in season opening games, both home and away, into Friday?s game. UC had a streak of 21 consecutive season opening victories snapped with a loss at Oklahoma State in 2001-02.
? Valparaiso is winless in its two visits to Fifth Third Arena. The Crusaders lost by scores of 90-47 in 1990-91 and 76-50 in 2002-03.
? Friday?s contest will be a rare matchup of coaches who have over 500 career victories. Bob Huggins has compiled a 542-191 record in 23 seasons, and enters the campaign ranked seventh among active Division I coaches in winning percentage (.739) and 13th in total victories. Valparaiso?s Homer Drew is 523-319 in 27 seasons.
? Bearcat senior forward Jason Maxiell enters the season No. 35 on the UC career scoring list with 1,060 points. He can move up two spots if he nine eight points vs. Valparaiso, passing Brian Williams (1,066, 1975-77) and Eddie Lee (1,068, 1975-79).
? Cincinnati begins its 16th season in Fifth Third Arena with a home court record of 205-27 (.884).
BEARCATS START FAST: The Bearcats got the 2004-05 season off to a fast start in their two exhibition contests, beating Northern Kentucky, 103-64, on Nov. 8 and Southern Indiana, 82-62, on Nov. 13.
? Eric Hicks scored 29 points and had 13 rebounds vs. Northern Kentucky, then hauled down 19 rebounds vs. Southern Indiana. Hicks was the Bearcats? leading scorer and rebounder during the two preseason games, posting averages of 21.0 points and 16.0 rebounds. He shot .739 from the field.
? Jason Maxiell, UC?s preseason Wooden and Naismith Award candidate, averaged 18.5 points and 8.0 rebounds. He tallied 20 points vs. Southern Indiana.
? Chadd Moore, who got the starting nod at point guard, dished out 11 assists while committing just two turnovers in the two contests and averaged 7.0 points.
? James White tallied 18 points, six rebounds and three assists.
? Armein Kirkland tallied 22 points, including four treys, vs. Southern Indiana.
? The Bearcats out-rebounded the two foes by an average of 15.0 boards per game. UC also blocked nine shots.
? UC shot .484 from the field while holding the two foes to .372 shooting.
TOURNEY TESTED: Cincinnati should be tested by its early schedule. Each of UC?s first five opponents appeared in postseaon tournaments last year, four of them (Valparaiso, Northern Iowa, Dayton and Vanderbilt) in the NCAAs. Those teams also have veteran looks, averaging 2.8 returning starters and 7.6 letterwinners.
VETERAN TEAM: The Bearcats will open the season with a combined total of 160 games of starting experience. By comparison, last year?s team brought 108 games of starting experience into the 2003-04 campaign, while the 2002-03 team began with 59 career starts.
BEARCATS IN THE POLLS: For only the third time in the last 13 seasons, Cincinnati is not ranked in preseason Top 25 of either of the two major polls. The Bearcats are receiving votes in the ESPN/USA Today initial poll and are two positions away from the Top 25 at No. 27. UC is No. 30 in the Associated Press poll. Cincinnati last opened the season unranked in 2001-02. UC climbed as high as No. 4 that season en route to a 31-4 campaign and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
MAXIELL ON WOODEN, NAISMITH LISTS: Jason Maxiell has been named to the watch lists of both the John Wooden Award and the Naismith Award, both honoring college basketball?s player of the year. Maxiell was named to the John Wooden Award Preseason All-American team for the third year in a row. His selection marks the fifth time in the last six seasons that a Cincinnati player has been represented. Kenyon Martin was selected prior to the 1999-00 season and won the John R. Wooden Award that year. Steve Logan was on the 2001-02 list and finished as one of the top five finalists. This is the first time Maxiell has earned early consideration for the Naismith Award, which Martin won in 2000.
Maxiell averaged 13.6 points and 6.9 rebounds last season, and during his three-season career as a Bearcat has averaged 11.0 points and 6.8 rebounds. He is No. 35 on the UC career scoring list with 1,060 points and second in career blocked shots with 161.
MAXIELL EARNS C-USA HONORS: Jason Maxiell was named to the Conference USA preseason all-league team for the third straight year. Maxiell joined Louisville?s Francisco Garcia, who was named Preseason Player of the Year, Memphis forward Sean Banks, Marquette guard Travis Diener and Charlotte forward Curtis Withers on the all-league team. Cincinnati, which has won eight of the previous nine C-USA regular season championships, was picked to finish third behind Louisville and Memphis.
SEVENTH-WINNINGEST PROGRAM: Cincinnati has been college basketball?s seventh-winningest program over the past five years. The Bearcats have compiled a 127-37 record for an .774 percentage during this period.
? UC?s 127 wins are the eighth-most among Division I teams over this period.
? Cincinnati has won 25 or more games eight of the last nine seasons.
? UC?s 13 straight NCAA Tournament appearances is the third-longest active streak in Division I.
? Cincinnati has been a top-four seed nine times during this streak and seven times in the last nine seasons.
CONFERENCE RULERS: The Bearcats have been regular season champions nine times in the past 10 seasons, eight in Conference USA and once in the Great Midwest Conference. The Bearcats have won either a regular season or tournament title in 12 of the past 13 seasons, and six times during that span, UC has claimed both during the same season.
BEARCAT NEWCOMERS TOP 10: The University of Cincinnati's men's basketball recruiting class for this season has achieved a top 10 ranking for the third straight year. The Bearcats' incoming class was ranked No. 10 by All Star Sports and received a No. 16 rating from PrepStars. All Star Sports' final individual rankings placed Roy Bright No. 47 among high school graduating seniors, Vincent Banks No. 3 among prep school players, and Jihad Muhammad No. 7 among junior college transfers. PrepStars rated Bright No. 18 and Banks No. 120 among high school seniors and Muhammad a top 10 junior college prospect. UC's 2002 recruiting class was ranked No. 5 by All Star Sports and No. 9 by both ESPN.com and FutureStars. The 2003 newcomers were rated No. 7 by PrepStars and No. 8 by HoopStars.
HUGGINS SEVENTH WINNINGEST: Bob Huggins enters the 2004-05 season as the nation?s seventh winningest active coach. Huggins has compiled a 542-191 record for a .739 winning percentage in his 23 seasons as a head coach. His 542 victories is tied for 13th place on the wins list.
FIVE BEARCATS IN THE NBA: Five former Bearcats were on the rosters of NBA teams when the pro season opened. The quintet of Bearcat pros is the most among C-USA schools.
Last Draft NBA
UC Yr. Pos. Season Team____________
Danny Fortson 1997 10 8th Seattle Super Sonics
DerMarr Johnson 2000 6 4th Denver Nuggets
Kenyon Martin 2000 1st 5th Denver Nuggets
Ruben Patterson 1998 31 7th Portland Trail Blazers
Nick Van Exel 1993 37 12th Portland Trail Blazers
UC?S DEFENSIVE REPUTATION: Bob Huggins-coached Cincinnati teams have earned a reputation for their defense and rebounding emphasis, and the success of last year?s team is evidence of this. UC held its foes to a .374 field goal percentage, second in the NCAA team statistics. The Bearcats were eighth in points allowed, surrendering 60.4 per game. Cincinnati was No. 2 in average scoring margin (+17.8 points) and No. 18 in rebounding margin (+5.9). The Bearcats were also pretty successful at taking care of the ball, their 11.9 turnover average ranking 11th nationally.
TICKET UPDATE: Single game tickets for all University of Cincinnati home games except the Feb. 10 Xavier contest are on sale at the UC Athletic Ticket Office at One Edwards Center. Groups of 15 or more qualify for discounted prices of $15 adult and $12 youth for every game in November and December except Vanderbilt and Miami, plus the Conference USA games vs. Houston and Southern Miss.
Season tickets for the Bearcats? 20 home games are $405 plus a $100 donation to UCATS (donation allows the purchase of two season tickets). High Five discounted season tickets, for seating in the upper five rows of designated sections of Fifth Third Arena, are available for $291 plus a $50 donation to UCATS.
Tickets may be ordered by phone using American Express, VISA, MasterCard or Discover, by calling 513-556-CATS during office hours. They may also be purchased on-line via the university's athletic web site: UCBearcats.com.
TV TIME: UC will again be one of the most televised programs in the nation this season. All but one of the Bearcats? games this year (Dec. 18 vs. Northwestern State) will be televised, and 15 of those games will be carried nationally or regionally by ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, CBS and ESPN Plus.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Bearcats return to action on Wednesday, Nov. 24 to host Northern Iowa at 8 p.m. at Fifth Third Arena. UC will travel to Indianapolis following Thanksgiving to take on Purdue in the John Wooden Tradition. The game is on Saturday, Nov. 27 at 3:30 p.m. EST and will be televised by FoxSports Net Ohio..