TicketsBearcats Fall To Top Ranked Illinois, 67-45
UC win streak halted at 11
Contact: Brian Teter
12/31/2004
Jason Maxiell scored a team-best 12 points vs. Illinois. |
LAS VEGAS, Nev.---For the first time this season, No. 17 Cincinnati came up short, as No. 1 Illinois topped the Bearcats 67-45 in the championship game of the Las Vegas Holiday Classic on Friday night. The game was played before an overflow crowd at Valley High School of more than 2,000.
Illinois got a game-high 18 points from Deron Williams to spark the offense, while limiting the Bearcats to just 27 percent shooting as the Illini improved to 14-0 on the year. The defeat snaps Cincinnati?s win streak at 11, leaving Illinois as just one of eight remaining undefeated teams in the country.
The Bearcats? scoring output was easily a season low and marked UC?s lowest scoring effort since a 67-48 loss to Memphis on March 1, 2003. One night after scoring a career-high 30 points in a win over Longwood, Jason Maxiell was held to just 12 points as the only Bearcat player in double figures. Free throw shooting also haunted the Bearcats all night as they converted just 13 of 26 (50%) from the charity stripe.
All four of the Illinois starters that average double figure points joined Williams with at least 10 for the Illini. Roger Powell, Jr. and Dee Brown each scored 13 points, while leading point man Luther Head added 11 for Illinois, which shot just 37 percent from the field in the victory. Illinois was able to utilize the three-point shot to its advantage, draining 9 of 23 treys to just 4 of 15 for the Bearcats.
The game had all the makings of an intense, physical battle as Illinois opened the game with an early 10-2 lead. UC could never really recover from the slow start as Chadd Moore?s three with 16:21 to play brought the Bearcats as close as they would get, five points, for the balance of the evening.
The Bearcats were able to keep the deficit at around 10 for much of the first half and trailed by just eight at 26-18 on a free throw by Nick Williams. But Illinois quickly went back up 12 behind four straight points by Nick Smith, before Jihad Muhammad snapped a 5:30 Bearcat field goal drought with a putback lay-up. Illinois then built its lead to 13 as Richard McBride dropped in a three-pointer with 3:04 to play before the break.
As the first half wound down, UC continued to struggle to find the basket, failing to score a field goal over the final 3:29 of the half, as they converted just two in the final nine minutes of the stanza. The Bearcats went into the break with a 35-24 deficit, after shooting just 23 percent from the field and making 10 of 18 from the foul line. Illinois shot only 36 percent in the first 20 minutes, while knocking down 9 of 11 from the charity stripe.
The opening to the second half saw Illinois score eight of the first 10 points of the half to build its lead to 43-26. UC started to show a bit of momentum as Eric Hicks converted back-to-back buckets to draw UC back to within 13 points. But cold shooting once again overtook the Bearcats, as UC made just two field goals over the next seven minutes. Illinois, meanwhile, continued to show its range, as Head nailed a triple to make it 60-39 with just over four minutes left.
The Illinois lead reached its highest point of the game on a dunk by Powell with 2:06 showing that put the Illini firmly ahead, 67-43. A putback by Maxiell with under a minute to play proved to be the final score of the night as Illinois was content to run out the clock.
The match-up with the top ranked Illini marked the 10th all-time meeting against a No. 1 team for Cincinnati, but was just the fourth loss. UC last played a top-ranked opponent on Nov. 28, 1998 when the Bearcats upset Duke, 78-75 on Melvin Levett?s last second dunk. The Bearcats last fell to a No. 1 team when Kansas was victorious over UC, 72-66 on Dec. 4, 1996.
The defeat was also the Bearcats? first in the championship game of an in-season tournament in its last six tries, dating back to the 1995-96 season. UC won its last trip to the Las Vegas Classic on the strength of a 79-62 win over Purdue during the 2001-02 season.
The Bearcats will next be in action when they open their final season of Conference USA play on Thursday, Jan. 6. UC?s opponent in its conference home opener will be DePaul and tip-off from Fifth Third Arena is set for 7 p.m. ET.