TicketsUC Women Host C-USA Undefeateds This Weekend
Contact: Geoff Wiswell
1/19/2005
Micah Harvey is now 10th in UC history in assists. |
GAME FACTS:
Date: Fri., Jan. 21, 2005
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Site: Fifth Third Arena (13,176)
Cincinnati, Ohio
Records: Cincinnati, 5-11 (0-3 C-USA)
Houston, 13-3 (4-0 C-USA)
Radio: www.bearcast.uc.edu
TV: None
Live Stats: www.UCBearcats.com
Tickets: $5/$3, 513-556-CATS
Series: UC leads, 9-3
Last Meeting: Mar. 5, 2004 at C-USA Tournament
11UH 84, UC 67
SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team hosts the top two teams in Conference USA this weekend, beginning with Houston on Friday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. in Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats stand at 5-11 overall and 0-3 in the league after a last-second, 72-71 loss to Louisville on Sunday. The Lady Cougars are 4-0 in C-USA, along with Sunday opponent TCU, after two easy wins last weekend. UH, 13-3 on the year, is the defending C-USA regular season and tournament champions.
CINCINNATI PROBABLE STARTERS PPG RPG APG FG%
F 13 Toni Slaughter, 6-0 So., Shelbyville, Ky. 10.6 6.3 1.6 .351
F 14 Emy Ogide, 6-2 Fr., Rockmart, Ga. 2.1 2.4 0.2 .481
G 11 Leslie Knoch, 5-6 Jr., Whipple, Ohio 7.9 2.8 2.9 .408
G 12 Micah Harvey, 5-7 Jr., Sardinia, Ohio 4.8 1.8 3.8 .294
G 32 Karen Twehues, 6-0 So., Minusio, Switz. 9.6 2.4 0.9 .342
HOUSTON PROBABLE STARTERS PPG RPG APG FG%
F 4 Emily Fryters, 6-2 Jr., Adelaide, SA, Australia 1.0 1.7 0.7 .300
F 45 Kiemona Harris, 6-5 Sr., Port Arthur, Texas 9.7 8.2 0.8 .426
C 21 Sancho Lyttle, 6-4 Sr., St. Vincent, West Indies 20.5 13.1 1.8 .486
G 20 Joann Overstreet, 5-5 Sr., Killeen, Texas 8.5 5.0 7.2 .308
G 25 Crystal Simpson, 5-11 Sr., Galveston, Texas 7.8 3.7 2.4 .404
STORYLINES:
? UC stands eight wins from reaching the 500-win mark in program history, while Houston is three away.
? Eight different Bearcats have scored in double-figures this year and five players have led the team in scoring in at least one game.
? UC has used four different lineups in the last five games. Micah Harvey is the only player to start each of the last five games.
? Karen Twehues has averaged 15.3 points over the last three games, making 11-of-28 (.393) three-pointers. In two games against Houston last year she averaged 17 points per game and made 9-of-15 treys.
? The Bearcats have scored an average of 69 points in the last two games after scoring just 51.4 in the previous five.
? UC and UH have faced three common opponents: Middle Tennessee, UAB and USF. The Lady Cougars defeated all three while UC fell to the trio.
? Houston is led by senior center Sancho Lyttle who is averaging 20.5 points and 13.1 rebounds per game, ranking 14th and second in the nation in last week's rankings.
? The Lady Cougars are 10th in the nation averaging 13 steals per game. Joann Overstreet is second in the country in steals (4.5) and assists (7.3).
OFFENSIVE OUTBURST: In the last two games the Bearcats have scored 67 and 71 points, respectively, two of their three best scoring games of the season. This comes after averaging 51.4 points in the previous five games. In both games UC put four players in double-figures. The Bearcats' shooting percentage is 47.4 percent in those games, almost 10 percent higher than their season average.
NOTING LOUISVILLE:
? Micah Harvey recorded seven assists to move into 10th on UC's career assists chart with 257.
? Bellva May equalled her career-high with five steals.
? UC's .500 shooting was a season-high and Louisville's .643 was the highest by a UC opponent in 138 games.
? The teams each grabbed 23 rebounds, the fewest by the Bearcats or a Bearcat opponent this season.
TAKE A KID TO THE GAME: Sunday's contest against TCU has been designated Take A Kid to the Game Day. Tickets for children aged 12 and under to the 2 p.m. contest are free with the purchase of an adult ticket.
CONTROLLING THE BALL: In the last three games the Bearcats have averaged just 10.3 turnovers per game after averaging 18.3 in the first 14 games, committing 18 or more seven times. UC has a 1.45 assist-to-turnover ratio in the last three games, led by Micah Harvey's 22 assists against six turnovers in this span.
TOP 10 CATS: Juniors Anne Stephens and Micah Harvey are seeing the results of their careers in the UC record books. Stephens now has 37 career blocks to rank 10th in school history, one behind ninth place Angel Minton. Harvey has handed out 257 assists in her career, which is 10th all-time by a Bearcat and four away from ninth place. Harvey's 135 assists last season was the eighth-best single-season total in UC history.
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.
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 77-60 (.562) in the 10-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.
BLOCK PARTY: Against Arkansas and UAB UC recorded 15 total blocked shots, including eight at UAB for the second-highest single-game total in school history. It trails only the 12 rejections against Miami (Ohio) in Dec. 1983. Anne Stephens and Emy Ogide had 11 of the 15 and rank seventh and 12th, respectively, in C-USA. The Bearcats are averaging 3.7 blocks per game this year, on pace for 100, which would break the school record of 96 held by that 1983-84 squad.
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 averaged 7.8 points in her first four games with a high of 11 points at USF.
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 498 and Houston has 497. East Carolina (492) and Louisville (490) are right with UC.
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.
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 extended action against Xavier because of injuries, she responded with two points, three rebounds and two blocks. She has played in all 10 games since and started the last four, averaging 2.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in that time. She had a career day against Arkansas, setting new bests with eight points, nine rebounds, four blocks and two assists.
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. Five times they have made at least 38 percent, including 11-of-27 (.407) vs. Alabama State and 10-of-19 (.526) against Louisville. Eight times UC has struggled, shooting under 30 percent. In the six games before Louisville UC was 19-of-94 (.202). 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.
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 and eight different players have recorded a total of 41 double-digit scoring games. The Louisville game was the fourth this season in which four Bearcats reached double-figures. Also, three players ? Toni Slaughter, Anne Stephens and Ashley Brown ? are recording near or over six rebounds per game.
COMING ON STRONG: Sophomore captain Toni Slaughter had turned on the offense in the last eight games before going scoreless at UAB, 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.
HOME SWEET HOME: Since Fifth Third Arena became the home of UC basketball in 1989, the Bearcats have gone 147-79 (.650) on their home court. Over the past seven years they have been nearly unbeatable at home, posting a 100-25 mark (.800). 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.
C-USA OPENERS: The Jan. 7 loss at UAB 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 1-9 in these games.
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 14 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 12th in C-USA in assists with 2.9 per game.
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 11 losses the Bearcats are giving up 71.2 points on .475 shooting. Also, the rebounding margin is +7.8 wins against -5.8 in losses.
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 218 in the last 12 games for an 18.2 average per game. Though the Bearcats have still taken 74 fewer than their opponents. UC is 3-0 when taking more free throws than its opponents.
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.
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 UC single-game total at the time.
ROAD WEARY: 25 of UC's last 38 losses have occurred away from Cincinnati. UC has lost 17 of its last 21 road games. The Bearcats have averaged 10.8 fewer points scored on the road this year than at home.
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: The Bearcats host TCU on Sunday, Jan. 23 at 1 p.m. in a game to be broadcast on C-USA TV.