TicketsNov. 3, 2005
CINCINNATI, Ohio - First-year University of Cincinnati head basketball coach Andy Kennedy may not have been nervous as his Bearcats opened their 2005-06 basketball season on Thursday night against Hillsdale College, but a lot of his new players were feeling it during the first half at Fifth Third Arena.
After leading by just a 49-40 tally at halftime, the Bearcats got themselves together, and led by their five seniors, rolled to an easy 99-71 win by stepping up their play in the second half and playing a much more complete half in the eyes of their rookie mentor.
"We played better in the second half. I have not been a head coach for very long, but I could see that," said Kennedy. "In the first half, I tried to do some things we weren't ready for yet with some of our new players. I wanted to make a statement that said this is how we are going to play, and as you saw, there was a huge difference when the new guys came into the game."
UC blew the game open early in the second half and shot 57 percent from the field. The Bearcats, who shot 52 percent for the game, including 48 from three-point range, raced to a 25-point lead at 70-45 less than seven minutes into the second half after a pull up jumper from senior guard Chadd Moore, who came off the bench to tally 13 points in 13 minutes of action.
Fellow seniors Eric Hicks, James White, and Jihad Muhammad all shared team-high scoring honors with 15 points each, while the fifth senior on this year's squad, Armein Kirkland, chipped in 10 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists.
Hicks was 6-8 from the floor to go with eight rebounds; White was 5-7 with three high-flying dunks; and Muhammad was 5-7 from three-point land and also dished out four assists. Joining the senior quintet in double digits was freshman forward DeAndre Coleman, who tallied 11 points and five rebounds.
"Tonight showed us a lot of areas that we need to improve on. We have a lot of young players and a lot of them probably had butterflies in their stomach, but then we started playing better on offense and they got into the groove with us," Hicks said. "We (seniors) have to show the newcomers, but they need to pick it up fast because we are counting on them for important minutes."
Besides Coleman, other Bearcat newcomers to contribute included freshman guard Devan Downey, who scored five points, grabbed four rebounds, and handed out a game-high five assists in 17 minutes of action. Fellow freshman guard Domonic Tilford played eight minutes and scored six points, while juniors Cedric McGowan (four points and two rebounds) and Ronald Allen (four points and five rebounds) helped out up front.
Hillsdale, a Division II school in Michigan, made 11 three-pointers and actually out-rebounded the taller Bearcats 37-36. Tim Homan came off the bench to lead the Chargers with a game-high 18 points.
"This was a great experience for our guys - it was fun playing here and we hope we can build off this as we begin our season," explained Hillsdale head coach Ed Douma.
UC started four of the five seniors (Hicks, Kirkland, White, and Muhammad) along with junior McGowan, and the elder players pleased their new head coach in his first game as the man in charge.
"I thought our upperclassmen were good. We've shot the ball well this preseason and we did tonight, too," Kennedy noted. "I am concerned with our rebounding. Cedric needs more and we need more from James (White) and Armein (Kirkland). They tend to leak a little too much, but we will work on that."
The Bearcats get one more tune-up before the regular season begins as regional foe Northern Kentucky, also a Division II school, visits Fifth Third Arena on Saturday, Nov. 12 for a 7:00 p.m. contest.
UC, in its first year as a member of the powerful BIG EAST Conference, opens the regular season at home on Saturday, Nov. 19 against Murray State.