TicketsNov. 10, 2005
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Cincinnati vs. Northern Kentucky
Date: Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005
Time: 7:00 p.m. EST
Site: Fifth Third Arena (13,176), Cincinnati, Ohio
Records:
Cincinnati ................ 25-8 in 2004-05
Northern Kentucky:. 14-15 in 2004-05
TV: None.
Radio: WLW-AM 700 (Dan Hoard, Terry Nelson).
Tickets: Available, $22, $15, youth 12-and-under $15, 513-556-CATS or www.UCBearcats.com.
Series: Cincinnati leads, 7-0 and has four exhibition victories.
Last Meeting: Nov. 8, 2004 in Fifth Third Arena; Cincinnati 103, Northern Kentucky 64 in an exhibition game.
The Coaches:
Andy Kennedy (UAB '91)
At Cincinnati: 1st year
Overall: 1st year
DAVE BEZOLD (Viterbo '90)
At NKU: 14-15 (1 year)
Overall: 14-15 (1 year)
CINCINNATI PROBABLE STARTERS 2004-05 Statistics F 30 Cedric McGowan, 6-6 Jr., Miami, Fla......... *15.1 pts, 5.9 reb, 1.1 ast
F 14 Eric Hicks, 6-6 Sr., Greensboro, N.C.......... 13.7 pts, 9.0 reb, 2.3 blk
F-G 33 Armein Kirkland, 6-8 Sr., Tyler, Texas........ 10.3 pts, 4.3 reb, 2.5 ast
G 21 James White, 6-7 Sr., Kensington, Md........ 10.2 pts, 4.8 reb, 3.1 ast
G 13 Jihad Muhammad, 5-11 Sr., Plainfield, N.J.. 10.4 pts, 3.0 reb, 2.7 ast
*stats from junior college
NORTHERN KENTUCKY PROBABLE STARTERS 2004-05 Statistics
F 42 Kevin Reinhardt, 6-4 Jr., Wilder, Ky.............. 8.4 pts, 3.5 reb, 0.7 blk
F 5 Vincent Humphrey, 6-4 Jr., Plainfield, Ill......... transfer
C 40 Travis Rasso, 6-8 So., Florence, Ky............. 2.1 pts, 3.0 reb, 0.1 blk
G 11 Aaron Smith, 6-3 Jr., Mansfield, Texas transfer
G 10 Scott Bibbins, 5-9 Fr., Taylor Mill, Ky............ unavailable
SETTING THE SCENE: The Bearcats will be seeking continued improvement when they host Northern Kentucky in an exhibition contest on Saturday, Nov. 12. Tipoff at Fifth Third Arena is at 7 p.m. Cincinnati showed off a lot of offensive muscle in its 99-71 exhibition victory over Hillsdale on Nov. 3. The Norse launched exhibition play with a 78-44 loss to Xavier on Nov. 5. Both teams will use the contest to make final tuneups for next week's season openers.
ABOUT NKU: The Norse are one of the winningest teams in the NCAA Division II Tournament, twice reaching the tourney finals. The Norse were runners up in 1996 and 1997. NKU has been picked to finish second in the Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division, after finishing seventh in the overall standings last year.
PLAY IT AGAIN: Saturday's game will mark the fifth consecutive season in which Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky have met in a preseason exhibition contest. The Bearcats have won all four previous meetings by an average of 25.0 points. The teams previously played seven regular season contests between 1981-82 and 1988-89 with UC winning all seven matchups.
FIFTH YEAR FOR DIVISION II ACTION: Prior to 2001-02, preseason basketball games featured touring foreign teams and amateur club squads from the U.S. A new NCAA rule was implemented to permit a Division I team to schedule exhibition contests against Division II or Division III teams. UC athletics director Bob Goin was instrumental in the new rule through his work on the NCAA Championships/Competition Cabinet.
NOTES FROM UC'S FIRST EXHIBITION WIN: Cincinnati outscored Hillsdale, 13-6, in the final 3:53 of the first half and tallied the first seven points of the second half en route to a 99-71 victory on Nov. 3.
Eric Hicks, Jihad Muhammad and James White each scored 15 points. Chadd Moore chipped in 13 points and Armein Kirkland added 12. DeAndre Coleman came off the bench to contribute 11.
The Bearcats shot .524 from the field, .483 from 3-point range.
UC's offense clicked with 18 assists, five from freshman point guard Devan Downey.
UC held Hillsdale to .394 shooting but lost the rebounding battle, 37-36.
CHANGES IN THE ARENA: Fans attending Saturday's UC-Northern Kentucky exhibition contest will see some major changes in Fifth Third Arena. The a new scoreboard/videoboard has been hung over center court. The video display area is nearly 50 percent greater than that of the old unit. New video boards have been installed at each end of the arena. There are new courtside tables with video displays. The court has been resurfaced and contains the new UC and BIG EAST logos. Operationally, the game clock will be started and stopped by the officials via the Precision Timing system, and LED lighting behind the backboards will help signal the end of periods.
UC IN THE BIG EAST: Cincinnati makes its debut as a member of the expanded BIG EAST Conference this season after playing the past 10 years in Conference USA. In the preseason polls of both the league's coaches and media, the Bearcats were picked to finish ninth among the 16 teams. Senior Eric Hicks was an honorable mention selection to the BIG EAST preseason all-league team. The Bearcats have compiled a record of 131-96 for a .577 winning percentage against the current BIG EAST membership.
CONFERENCE DEBUTS GOOD FOR UC: The Bearcats can expect to enjoy success in their inaugural season in the BIG EAST, if the past is any precursor. Every time Cincinnati has begun play in a new conference, it has claimed the championship in that initial year. UC captured the Buckeye Athletic Association title in 1925-26, the Mid-American Conference championship in 1946-47, the Missouri Valley Conference crown in 1957-58, the Metro Conference Tournament championship in the league's first season of play in 1975-76, the regular season and tournament title in the Great Midwest Conference in 1991-92, and the regular season and tourney championships of Conference USA in 1995-96.
NINTH-WINNINGEST PROGRAM: Cincinnati has been college basketball's ninth-winningest program since the turn of the century. Over the past six years, the Bearcats have compiled a 152-45 record for an .772 percentage.
Cincinnati's 152 wins are the ninth-most among Division I teams over this period.
Cincinnati has won 25 or more games nine of the last 10 seasons.
The Bearcats have won a conference regular season and/or tournament title in 12 of the past 14 seasons, and six times during this period have claimed both during the same season.
UC's 14 straight NCAA Tournament appearances is the third-longest active streak in Division I, trailing only Arizona (21) and Kansas (17)
ERIC'S SUMMER TRIP: Eric Hicks did not have your typical summer vacation. The Bearcats' senior forward helped the United States to the Gold Medal at the World University Games in Izmir, Turkey. Hicks was one of 15 players invited to the USA Basketball Trials in Colorado Springs to participate in tryouts for the team in late July. He made the 12-player roster for the games and travelled to Turkey in August. Hicks averaged 6.6 points and 3.1 rebounds at the games, shooting .576 from the field. He had a team-leading 24 points in the 117-61 win over China.
VETERAN TEAM: The Bearcats will open the season with a combined total of 145 games of starting experience. For comparison, last year's team brought 160 games of starting experience into the 2004-05 campaign. The 2003-04 team had 108 games of starting experience while the 2002-03 team began with only 59 career starts.
105th CAMPAIGN: The 2005-06 season will be Cincinnati's 105th year of basketball competition. The school has compiled a 1,499-855 record for a .637 percentage.
BEARCATS UNBEATABLE IN 5/3 ARENA: Cincinnati enters its 17th season in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center with a 220-29 record a .884 winning percentage. UC is 56-6 in Fifth Third over the last four seasons, and compiled a 73-7 mark vs. Conference USA teams during its 10 years in that league.
BEARCATS NO. 1 AMONG CONFERENCE RULERS: Cincinnati shares with Valparaiso the distinction of having won the most conference regular season championships over the last 11 seasons. The Bearcats have been regular season champions nine times in the past 11 seasons, eight in Conference USA and once in the Great Midwest Conference.
UC'S DEFENSIVE REPUTATION: 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 .373 field goal percentage to rank second in the nation. The Bearcats have held their opponents to sub-.400 shooting in eight of the past 10 seasons and have been annually ranked among the nation's teams in fewest points allowed.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Bearcats start playing games that count on Nov. 19 when they host Murray State in a 7 p.m. season-opening contest at Fifth Third Arena.