TicketsUC Opens C-USA Play at UAB
Contact: Geoff Wiswell
1/5/2005
Micah Harvey is averaging almost five assists per game since entering the starting lineup. |
GAME FACTS:
Date: Fri., Jan. 7, 2005
Time: 7:00 p.m. CT
Site: Bartow Arena (8,500)
Birmingham, Ala.
Records: Cincinnati, 5-7
UAB, 3-10
Radio: None
TV: None
Live Stats: www.UABsports.com
Tickets: (205) 975-UAB1
Series: UAB leads, 13-7
Last Meeting: Feb. 8, 2004 at UC
UC 69, UAB 58
SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team opens its final season of Conference USA play on Friday, Jan. 7, when it travels to take on UAB at 7 p.m. CT in Bartow Arena. The Bearcats enter league play with a 5-7 mark after dropping a 66-54 game to Arkansas on Sunday. UAB finds itself 3-10 on the year following a 74-49 loss at Georgia Tech on Monday. UC's opening weekend then takes them to Tampa to face USF on Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2 p.m. ET.
CINCINNATI PROBABLE STARTERS PPG RPG APG FG%
G 13 Toni Slaughter, 6-0 So., Shelbyville, Ky. 11.9 6.9 1.8 .361
C 45 Anne Stephens, 6-4 Jr., Mineral Wells, W. Va. 11.3 6.5 0.5 .487
G 11 Leslie Knoch, 5-6 Jr., Whipple, Ohio 8.6 3.3 3.0 .405
G 12 Micah Harvey, 5-7 Jr, Sardinia, Ohio 4.8 1.3 2.9 .294
G 32 Karen Twehues, 6-0 So., Minusio, Switz. 8.3 2.6 0.9 .316
UAB PROBABLE STARTERS PPG RPG APG FG%
F 25 Katie Billue, 6-0 Sr., Guntersville, Ala. 5.8 4.0 1.2 .394
F 44 Deirdre Larry, 5-10 Jr., Bradley, Ark. 5.2 4.2 0.6 .371
F 52 Christon Ingram, 6-3 Fr., Stone Mountain, Ga. 2.5 4.8 0.2 .313
G 1 Crystal McFadden, 5-10 So., New York, N.Y. 10.7 5.2 1.6 .316
G 22 Carmen Guzman, 5-9 So., New York, N.Y. 15.7 4.2 2.2 .376
STORYLINES:
? UC stands eight wins from reaching the 500-win mark in program history.
? Toni Slaughter has scored in double-figures the past eight games, averaging 14.8 points and 6.9 rebounds in that span.
? Seven different Bearcats have scored in double-figures this year and five players have led the team in scoring in at least one game.
? The Bearcats have held six of 12 opponents under .400 shooting and seven under 65 points.
? After recording one point and one rebound in the first six games of the year, freshman Emy Ogide has averaged 3.3 rebounds in the last six games, capped by an eight point, nine rebound game vs. Arkansas.
? The Bearcats enter their final season in Conference USA with a 77-57 all-time record in league-play, one of seven teams with a record over .500. UC is 1-8, however, in C-USA openers.
? UC has won the last four meetings with the Blazers, including two of the last three in Bartow Arena.
? Both teams are stuggling on offense, as UC is averaging 58.0 points per game and UAB is at 57.8 points per game. The Bearcats hold the defensive edge, allowing just 60.7 ppg to 73.0 for UAB.
NOTING ARKANSAS:
? Emy Ogide set career-highs with eight points, nine rebounds, four blocks and two assists.
? UC suffered just its second loss of the year when winning the rebounding battle.
? The Bearcats set a season-low for three-point percentage for the second-straight game, making just 2-of-17 (.118).
? UC equalled a season-high with seven blocks, tied for the second-most in a game in school history.
? The Bearcats fell to 0-7 when allowing 60 points or more and 3-4 when leading at halftime.
C-USA OPENERS: Last year's loss at Marquette continued UC's struggles in C-USA opening games. Until 2002-03 the Bearcats had never won their conference opener. The Bearcats' 67-48 win over Louisville was UC's first win after losing its first seven Conference USA-opening games. UC is now 1-8 in these games.
RAPID RETURN: Sophomore Treasure Humphries underwent surgery for a torn ACL in September and has astounded all by making it back to the court in a little over three months. UC's steals leader and fourth-leading scorer last year, she made her debut at Middle Tennessee State on Dec. 29 and scored eight points in 11 minutes with two steals. Humphries had six points and three rebounds in 21 minutes vs. Arkansas.
EMERGING EMY: Freshman Emy Ogide (pronounced A-mee O-giday) played in just three of the first six games, recording one point and one rebound. Pressed into exteneded action against Xavier because of injuries, she responded with two points, three rebounds and two blocks. She has played in every game since, averaging 2.3 points, 33 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in that time. She had a career day against Arkansas, setting new bests with eight points, nine rebounds, four blocks and two assists.
CONFERENCE USA SUCCESS: The Bearcats are one of seven teams to have a conference record over .500 throughout the history of Conference USA. UC is 77-57 (.575) in the nine-year history of the league, posting winning league marks in the five years before last year. The Bearcats were 12-4 in the 1998-99 season to claim the regular season championship.
YOUTH MOVEMENT: The Bearcats opened the season with a combined total of 71 games of starting experience. 49 of those games came from Anne Stephens (25) and Micah Harvey (24). For comparison, last year?s team brought 229 games of starting experience into the 2003-04 campaign. Nine of the players on the 2004-05 roster are in just their first or second year at UC.
APPROACHING MILESTONE: Now in its 34th season of play, UC has won 492 games. The Bearcats are vying with four other schools to become the first women's team in Conference USA to reach 500 all-time victories. Southern Miss is the current leader with 496, while Houston has 494. East Carolina (488), and Louisville (488) are right behind UC.
BALANCED ATTACK: UC has gotten contributions from a number of different sources offensively and on the boards. Five different players have led UC in scoring in the first 12 games and seven different players have recorded a total of 30 double-digit scoring game. Also, three players ? Toni Slaughter, Anne Stephens and Ashley Brown ? are recording over six rebounds per game.
COMING ON STRONG: Sophomore captain Toni Slaughter has turned on the offense in the last eight games, averaging 14.8 points in that span and making .400 of her three-pointers. She had failed to score in double-figures in the first four games after averaging 11.8 points in her last eight starts last year. Slaughter also leads the team in rebounding at 6.9 per game. She tied her career-high with 20 points at Evansville and recorded her first double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds vs. Loyola Marymount.
UNQUESTIONED LEADER: Head Coach Laurie Pirtle is UC's all-time leader in coaching wins and on Feb. 21, 2002, she earned her 250th win leading the Bearcats. She joined DePaul's Doug Bruno as the only C-USA coaches with at least 250 wins at their current school. On Feb. 20, 2004 against East Carolina she became the 54th active coach to win 350 games in a career.
TAKING ADVANTAGE: Fully healthy for the first time in her career, redshirt junior Leslie Knoch has become a leader for the Bearcats on and off the court. She is one of four team captains and has started all 12 games this year, the first starts of her career. She has scored in double-figures five times this season, with a career high 20 points in the comeback win over Ball State. She ranks 11th in C-USA in assists (3.00/g) and ninth in three-pointers made (1.42/g).
DEFENSE AND REBOUNDING: The Bearcats have allowed fewer than 60 points in five games and recorded all five of their wins in those games. In those five games UC has allowed an average of 45.8 points and held its opponents to .323 shooting. In the seven losses the Bearcats are giving up 71.3 points on .451 shooting. Also, the rebounding margin is +7.8 wins and -5.7 in losses.
ROAD WEARY: The Bearcats have won 58 of their last 92 games, with 23 of those 34 losses occurring away from Cincinnati. UC has lost 15 of its last 19 road games. The Bearcats averaged 11.3 fewer points scored on the road last year than at home.
TALE OF TWO HALVES: The Arkansas game, in which UC held the Lady'Backs to 22 first half points but was outscored 44-25 in the second half, was a microcosm of one of the Bearcats chief struggles this year. The Bearcats are holding opponents to 25.7 points in the first half, while scoring 29.3. In the second half, however, UC has allowed an average of 35.0 points while scoring just 28.7. Five opponents this year have posted 40 or more points after halftime and UC has reached 30 points in just four second stanzas. The Bearcats have led at halftime of seven games, but are just 3-4 in those contests.
GETTING TO THE LINE: After taking just 39 free throw attempts (9.8 per game) in their first four games, the Bearcats have gotten more aggressive. They have taken 163 in the last eight games for a 20.4 average per game. The percentage has also improved from .590 in those first four games to .675 since.
A DAY FOR THANKS: The day before Thanksgiving left much to be thankful for in Bearcat basketball at Fifth Third Arena. In the afternoon, the UC women came back from a 14-point deficit with fewer than nine minutes left to top Ball State, 62-58. Leslie Knoch's career-high 20 points led the comeback effort. Later that night, the men trailed Northern Iowa by 18 with 10 minutes left, but UC evened the score and eventually won, 76-70, in double overtime. The greatest comeback in Fifth Third Arena history was led by Jihad Muhammad's 23 points, nine coming in the final 2:50 of regulation.
ALL OR NOTHING: When it comes to three-point shooting, UC is rarely average. In just three games this year have the Bearcats shot between .300 and .380 from behind the arc. Four times they have made at least 38 percent, including 11-of-27 (.407) vs. Alabama State and 7-of-13 (.538) against Michigan State. Five times, including the last three games, UC has struggled, shooting under 30 percent. In the last three games UC is 7-of-45 (.156). Last season, the Bearcats ranked 19th in the country with a .366 team three-point percentage, which was a school record, as was the 177 made treys.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: The Bearcats will play 14 games this year against teams that reached the postseason in 2004. As a result, UC's schedule was ranked as the 38th toughest in the nation by the WBCA/Summerville RPI. UC's 2004-05 opponents had a combined 438-326 record for a .573 winning percentage last year.
DEFENSIVE LOCKDOWN: The 31 points scored by Detroit in UC's 60-31 win on Nov. 21 was the 11th-fewest ever allowed by the Bearcats. It was the lowest total by a UC opponent since Robert Morris scored 29 on Nov. 20, 2001. It was also the fewest points ever scored by Detroit. The seven blocked shots by the Bearcats equalled the second-best single-game total in school annals.
CLOSE CALLS: UC was 3-8 last year in games decided by six points or fewer, but won on two of the last three occasions. The season opener at Toledo, where UC lost a 12-point halftime lead and was defeated by five, and the 62-58 comeback win over Ball State continued the trend of close games. The Bearcats lost 16 games last year by an average of just 8.6 points.
HOME SWEET HOME: Since Fifth Third Arena became the home of UC basketball in 1989, the Bearcats have gone 147-77 (.656) on their home court. Over the past seven years they have been nearly unbeatable at home, posting a 100-23 mark (.813). UC went 15-1 at home in 2001-02, the best-ever mark. The Bearcats put together a school-record 21-game home win streak from Jan. 1, 2002 until a loss to Tulane on Feb. 2, 2003.
POWER CONFERENCE: Last year Conference USA produced an all-time high of 17 postseason basketball teams (6 NCAA Men, 4 NCAA Women, 2 NIT, 5 WNIT). Only the Big East with 19 (6 NCAA Men, 8 NCAA women, 4 NIT and 1 WNIT) and the Big 12 with 18 (4 NCAA Men, 7 NCAA Women, 5 NIT and 2 WNIT) produced more postseason basketball teams last March.
POSTSEASON TRADITION: The Bearcats have reached postseason tourney play seven straight times, with this era accounting for all but two of the postseason appearances in school history. Four of the seven have been to the WNIT, including last year. The seven-season streak is the longest active streak in Conference USA.
UP NEXT: UC continues its opening weekend of league play when they face USF in Tampa, Fla. on Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2 p.m. ET. The Bearcats return home to host North Dakota State on Wednesday, Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. ET in Fifth Third Arena.