TicketsBearcats Face Flyers for 87th Time
UC brings No. 24 ranking into Saturday's game at Dayton.
Contact: Brian Teter
12/1/2004
Armein Kirkland had 16 points vs. Purdue |
CINCINNATI vs. DAYTON
GAME FACTS
Date: Saturday, Dec. 4, 2004
Time: 4:00 p.m. EST
Site: UD Arena (13,409), Dayton, Ohio
Records:
Cincinnati (24USA): 3-0
Dayton: 1-1
TV: ESPN (Bob Carpenter, Larry Conley).
Radio: WLW-AM 700 (Dan Hoard, Chuck Machock).
Tickets: Available at site.
Series: Cincinnati leads, 57-29.
Last Meeting: Dec. 23, 2003 in Cincinnati; Cincinnati 82, Dayton 53.
The Coaches:
? BOB HUGGINS (West Virginia ?77)
At Cincinnati: 16th year, 377-119 (.760)
Overall: 24th year, 545-191 (.740)
Huggins is the nation?s seventh-winningest active coach and is 13th in victories.
? BRIAN GREGORY (Oakland ?90)
At Dayton: 2nd year, 25-10 (.714)
Overall: 2nd year, 25-10 (.714)
Gregory directed Dayton to an NCAA Tournament appearance in his first season at the school. He previously compiled 13 years of experience as an assistant, 10 at Michigan State where the Spartans appeared in postseason play in every season.
CINCINNATI PROBABLE STARTERS 2004-05 Statistics
F 33 Armein Kirkland, 6-8 Jr., Tyler, Texas......7.3 pts, 3.3 reb, 1.7 ast
F 14 Eric Hicks, 6-6 Jr., Greensboro, N.C.......15.0 pts, 10.7 reb, 3.0 blk
F 54 Jason Maxiell, 6-7 Sr., Carrollton, Texas..14.3 pts, 9.7 reb, 3.0 blk
G 21 James White, 6-7 Jr., Kensington, Md.......10.0 pts, 5.7 reb, 1.7 ast
G 13 Jihad Muhammad, 5-11 Jr., Plainfield, N.J..17.3 pts, 4.3 reb, 1.7 ast
DAYTON PROBABLE STARTERS 2004-05 Statistics
F 1 Monty Scott, 6-6 Jr., Reynoldsburg, Ohio...12.5 pts, 3.5 reb, 1.5 ast
F 21 Norman Plummer, 6-7 Fr., Fairfield, Ohio....2.0 pts, 2.5 reb, 0.5 ast
C 44 James Cripe, 6-11 So., Loveland, Ohio.......4.0 pts, 2.5 reb, 0.5 blk
G 14 Mark Jones, 6-1 Sr., Taftville, Conn........6.5 pts, 5.0 reb, 1.5 ast
G 11 Warren Williams, 6-0 Jr., Gaithersburg, Md..4.0 pts, 1.0 reb, 4.0 ast
SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati renews its rivalry with the University of Dayton on Saturday when the two teams meet at UD Arena. The 4 p.m. contest will be televised nationally by ESPN. The Bearcats, who moved into the No. 24 spot in this week?s ESPN/USA Today poll, head into the contest with a 3-0 ledger. UC defeated Purdue, 79-59, in its most recent outing, last Saturday at the John Wooden Tradition in Indianapolis. Dayton took a 1-1 ledger into its Wednesday game at DePaul.
BEARCATS IN THE POLLS: Cincinnati made its first appearance of the season in the Top 25 this week, moving into the No. 24 spot in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. UC is No. 27 in the latest Associated Press poll. For only the third time in the last 13 seasons, Cincinnati was not ranked in preseason Top 25 of either of the two major polls. Cincinnati last opened unranked in 2001-02. UC climbed as high as No. 4 that year en route to a 31-4 campaign and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
STORY LINES:
? The Bearcats will be playing their second game of the season away from Fifth Third Arena and their first on an opponent?s floor when Cincinnati visits Dayton. UC opened the season with home wins over Valparaiso and Northern Iowa and defeated Purdue at the John Wooden Tradition in Indianapolis.
? The rivalry with Dayton is Cincinnati?s second-most played series. The two schools have met 86 times, second only to the UC-Miami series which includes 140 contests. The Bearcats have won 12 of the last 13 games and lead the series, 57-29.
? The Flyers have a 422-166 record (.718) record at UD Arena since the building became their home in 1969. Cincinnati has a 10-7 record against Dayton in the arena.
? UC head coach Bob Huggins has a 12-1 record vs. Dayton.
? Dayton is the fourth of five straight Cincinnati opponents that participated in postseason tourney play last season. The Flyers were in last year?s NCAA Tournament, along with Valparaiso, Northern Iowa and Vanderbilt. Purdue was an NIT participant last season.
? Bearcat senior forward Jason Maxiell has moved into 29th place on UC?s career scoring list with 1,103 points. Bill Lammert (1952-55) and Melvin Levett (1996-99) share 27th place with 1,119 points.
MUHAMMAD TAKING CHARGE: Jihad Muhammad has wasted little time making an impact at Cincinnati. The junior college transfer, who has taken over the point guard duties, is the Bearcats? leading scorer, averaging 17.3 points per game. Muhammad tallied 23 points in the Nov. 24 win over Northern Iowa, keying UC?s late comebackby scoring 12 points in the final 6:46 of regulation. He turned in a four-point play, connecting on a 3-pointer and then adding a free throw, to tie the game at 56 with 1:23 to play and send it into overtime. He was 5-of-6 at the foul line in the second overtime to help clinch the victory.
HICKS STARTING FAST: Eric Hicks, who was UC?s leading scorer (21.0) and rebounder (16.0) during preseason, has continued to show the fine offensive play in Cincinnati?s first three games that he demonstrated during the preseason exhibition contests.
? The 6-6 junior forward scored a career-high 18 points, making 6-of-8 field goals, and gathered nine rebounds, two blocks and two steals in the Bearcats? season opening win over Valparaiso.
? Hicks followed that by scoring 16 points and grabbing 13 rebounds , his fourth career double-double, in the Nov. 24 win over Northern Iowa.
? Hicks posted his second straight and fifth career duble-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds vs. Purdue on Nov. 27. He also blocked four shots.
? He is the team?s second-leading scorer (15.0 points) and leading rebounder (10.7), and owns the top field goal shooting percentage (.500).
? A career .515 foul shooter entering the season, Hicks was 7-of-8 from the line vs. Purdue and has shot .739 at the charity stripe for the season.
? He is the team co-leader in blocks (3.0), with seven blocks over his last two games.
OTHER NOTES FROM THE PURDUE WIN:
? With six players reaching double figures, Cincinnati achieved the balanced scoring which has been an objective of head coach Bob Huggins. Moreover, one of the non-double digit scorers was All-American candidate Jason Maxiell, whose foul troubles helped limit him to four points.
? Armein Kirkland, who had managed only one basket during the Bearcats? first two games, found the range, hitting 5-of-11 shots for 16 points, two shy of his career high.
? The Bearcats shot over 70 percent from the foul line (.759) for the third straight game. UC sports a team free throw percentage of .728, a significant improvement over last season?s final .669 mark.
MOORE ASSISTS THE OFFENSE: Cincinnati?s assist leader is a non-starter?Chadd Moore. The junior, who dished out six assists in the win over Purdue, is averaging 4.7 assists over the team?s first three games. Not only does Moore not start (extenuating circumstances put him in the starting lineup for the season opener), he has averaged only 18.7 minutes of playing time.
MAX GETS INTO THE ACT: Jason Maxiell played a huge role in Cincinnati?s 76-70 double overtime win over Northerrn Iowa on Nov. 24. The 6-7 senior, who is on the watch lists for the Naismith and Wooden national player of the year awards, scored 21 points, blocked five shots and pulled down a career high-tying 15 rebounds. He sealed the victory with 1:03 remaining in the second overtime by stealing the ball and dribbling the length of the court for a dunk which gave UC an insurmountable seven-point lead. Maxiell now has 15 double doubles.
VETERAN TEAM: The Bearcats opened 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.
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. 29 on the UC career scoring list with 1,103 points and second in career blocked shots with 170.
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.
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.
HISTORIC COMEBACK: The Bearcats staged their greatest comeback ever in the 16-year history of Fifth Third Arena on Nov. 24. Trailing by 18 points (50-32) with 10:03 remaining in the second half, UC went on a 24-6 run at the end of regulation, then prevailed in double overtime, 76-70. On Feb. 28, 1998, the Bearcats trailed Saint Louis by 18 in the first half, before rallying for a 61-58 win.
LOOKING AHEAD: Cincinnati returns to Fifth Third Arena on Dec. 9 to host Southeastern Conference rival Vanderbilt at 8 p.m. The game begins a slate of six straight home games for the Bearcats.