TicketsJan. 17, 2006
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GAME FACTS
UC vs. Xavier
Date: Thursday, Jan. 19, 2006
Time: 9:00 p.m. EST
Site: Cintas Center (10,250), Cincinnati, Ohio
Records:
Cincinnati : 13-4, 2-2 BIG EAST
Xavier: 11-2, 3-0 Atlantic 10
TV: ESPN (Dave O'Brien, Jay Bilas, Stacey Dales-Schuman)
Radio: WLW-AM 700 (Dan Hoard, Chuck Machock), UC; WKRC-AM (Joe Sunderman, Byron Larkin), XU
CINCINNATI PROBABLE STARTERS 2005-06 Statistics
F 30 Cedric McGowan 6-6 Jr. Miami, Fla. 8.6 pts, 7.1 reb, 0.8 ast F 14 Eric Hicks 6-6 Sr. Greensboro, N.C. 14.7 pts, 8.9 reb, 3.5 blk G 21 James White 6-7 Sr. Washington, D.C. 17.5 pts, 5.2 reb, 2.2 ast G 1 Chadd Moore 6-2 Sr. Huntsville, Ala. 2.8 pts, 1.4 reb, 1.3 ast G 3 Devan Downey 5-10 Fr. Chester, S.C. 13.1 pts, 2.2 reb, 3.9 ast
XAVIER PROBABLE STARTERS 2005-06 Statistics
F 3 Justin Cage 6-6 Jr. Indianapolis, Ind. 8.4 pts, 4.9 reb, 1.5 ast
F 15 Justin Doellman 6-9 Jr. Union, Ky. 11.6 pts, 6.0 reb, 2.7 ast
C 2 Brian Thornton 6-8 Sr. Louisville, Ky. 15.8 pts, 7.3 reb, 1.7 blk
G 12 Dedrick Finn 6-2 Sr. Newburgh, Ind. 5.2 pts, 1.8 reb, 4.0 ast
G 34 Stanley Burrell 6-3 So. Indianapolis, Ind. 13.9 pts, 2.9 reb, 3.8 ast
SETTING THE SCENE: Local bragging rights will be on the line when Cincinnati and Xavier clash in the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout on Thursday at XU's Cintas Center. The two teams will be meeting for the 73rd time in their highly-contested rivalry when they meet at 9 p.m. EST, but they will be entering the game from different directions. Cincinnati, 13-4, will be seeking an end to a two-game losing skid, having dropped contests to No. 4 Connecticut (70-59) and No. 24 Syracuse (77-58). Xavier, 11-2 is riding a six-game winning streak and has won eight of its last nine contests. The Musketeers defeated Charlotte, 78-65, on Saturday.
STORY LINES:
The Cincinnati-Xavier game has not been kind to coaches who were in their first years at their schools. The last five "rookie" mentors, Bob Huggins and Tony Yates at UC and Skip Prosser, Thad Matta and Sean Miller at XU, lost while making their Crosstown Shootout debuts. In the history of the series, new head coaches at Cincinnati have a 5-4 record while their Xavier counterparts are 4-9.
This year's game will mark only the 22nd time the Cincinnati-Xavier game has been played on one of the two schools' campuses and the ninth time that it has been contested at Xavier. The teams are 4-4 in games played at Xavier, 1-1 in the Cintas Center.
Xavier is 7-0 in the Cintas Center this season and enters Thursday's game with a 12-game home winning streak, the 13th longest in the nation.
The homecourt has not proven to be much of an advantage recently. The visiting team has won three of the last five Cincinnati-Xavier clashes.
Cincinnati and Xavier have played one common opponent, Miami (Ohio). Both teams posted wins over the RedHawks by the exact score of 75-65.
There is an adage about throwing out the records when a rivalry crops up and that may be true of the Cincinnati-Xavier series in recent years. Eight of the last nine UC-XU contests have had a Top 25-ranked team. In four of those contests, the unranked team has felled the ranked squad.
LAST TIME VS. XAVIER: Eric Hicks scored 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead Cincinnati to a 65-54 win over Xavier on Feb. 10, 2005 at Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats, who had been defeated by the Musketeers in two of the previous three crosstown shootout games played at UC, built a 28-22 halftime lead, then raced to a 21-point advantage midway through the second half. UC held XU to .298 shooting and won the rebounding battle by 11.
LAST TIME AT THE CINTAS CENTER: Lionel Chalmers' fade-away jumper with 26 seconds to play boosted Xavier to a 71-69 win over No. 10 Cincinnati on Feb. 3, 2004 at XU's Cintas Center. UC overcame an eight-point deficit in the second half to take a 66-61 lead with 4:15 to play. Xavier tied the score at 66 with 2:37 remaining. The lead changed hands three times, Jason Maxiell giving UC a 69-68 advantage with 56 seconds to play. Chalmers led all scorers with 20 points. Tony Bobbitt tallied 17 for UC.
HICKS HOT AGAINST XAVIER: Eric Hicks has enjoyed two of his better games as a Bearcat in the Crosstown Shootout. As a sophomore, Hicks blocked eight shots, a career-high he bettered with 10 rejections this season, and finished with 10 points and nine rebounds. Last season, he had 16 points and 14 rebounds vs. the Musketeers.
BEARCATS IN THE POLLS: One week after making its first appearance of the season in the Top 25, and its 176th in the last 244 polls, Cincinnati fell out of the rankings, to the 36th spot in the Associated Press poll and No. 37 in the ESPN/USA Today rankings.
COMPUTERS LIKE THE CATS: The Bearcats have been a Top 20 team most of the season in the computer ratings. UC entered the week ranked No. 15 in the Sagarin Index and No. 16 in the RPI. Cincinnati was No. 5 in the RPI strength of schedule rankings.
NOTES FROM THE SYRACUSE GAME:
James White, with 16 points, extended his streak of double-digit scoring games to 17.
Eric Hicks had his streak of games with a blocked shot stopped at 15.
The 77-58 setback was UC's second-worst loss in Fifth Third Arena, second to the 81-60 setback vs. Indiana on Jan. 4, 1992.
UC had season lows for points scored (58) and field goals (19) and tied its season low for assists (7). The Bearcats were outrebounded, 51-27, their largest deficit of the season.
HICKS IS HOT: Eric Hicks is one of the hottest players in the BIG EAST Conference. The 6-6 senior is averaging a double-double over his last seven games (17.3 points, 10.3 rebounds). Hicks averaged 21.0 points, 13.5 rebounds and 5.5 blocks in a pair of victories to earn BIG EAST co-Player of the Week honors on Jan. 9. A highlight of his recent performance was a triple double, consisting of 22 points, 12 rebounds and a school record-tying 10 blocked shots in a victory over Marquette (1/7/06). It was the 15th triple-double in UC history. Oscar Robertson had 10, Kenyon Martin two and Rick Roberson and Kenny Satterfield one each. Hicks has topped the 20-point mark in four of his last six contests.
HICKS HAVING A BLOCK-FEST: Eric Hicks, who blocked a school record-tying 10 shots in the Jan. 7 win over Marquette, has blocked 47 shots in his last 11 games, and 25 shots over his last five contests. He has blocked at least one shot in 46 of his last 49 games. The 6-6 senior is ranked sixth nationally in blocks. Hicks has moved into third place at Cincinnati in career blocks with 202, trailing Kenyon Martin (292) and Jason Maxiell (254).
DOWNEY NOT PLAYING LIKE A FRESHMAN: Devan Downey is attracting attention for Freshman of the Year honors, primarily because he is not playing like one. The Bearcats' 5-10 point guard, has had the following noteworthy performances:
On Dec. 10, Downey keyed UC's 92-83 win over Vanderbilt by scoring 18 points, 16 in the second half, and recording four steals and a pair of assists, earning BIG EAST Conference Rookie of the Week honors.
On Dec. 14 vs. Ohio, Downey scored a career-high 24 points--a Bearcat high for the 2005-06 season--shooting 10-of-16 from the field, and had five assists and four steals.
On Dec. 17 vs. Tennessee Tech, he recorded 16 points and nine assists while posting a career-high seven rebounds.
On Dec. 22 vs. Dayton, he recorded a game-high 21 points and three assists.
On Dec. 23 vs. LSU, he recorded eight assists and 11 points.
On Dec. 28 vs. Miami, he tallied 19 points, on 4-of-7 shooting.
On Dec. 30 vs. North Carolina A&T, he passed for a career-high 11 assists and scored 13 points for his first career double-double.
Downey averaged 14.7 points, 5.1 assists and 2.1 steals during UC's recent 10-game winning streak.
Downey is UC's third-leading scorer, averaging 13.1 points. He leads the Bearcats in assists (3.9) and steals (2.2).
WHITE'S SCORING CONSISTENT: James White not only leads Cincinnati in scoring with his 17.6 average, but he is tops in scoring consistency. The 6-7 senior sports a 17.5 scoring average. He has scored 17, 18 or 19 points in 11 of his 17 games this season. White has scored in double digits in all 17 games this season while shooting .497 from the field. The production is a significant boost for White, who averaged 10.2 points last season and entered the campaign with an 8.1 career scoring average.
OTHER BEARCAT BITS:
Cincinnati has been outrebounded by an average margin of 22 over its last two games. That is quite a reversal for the Bearcats, who had out-rebounded its previous three foes by an average margin of +9.7.
After averaging 85.5 points and shooting .483 from the field during their 10-game winning streak, the Bearcats have struggled offensively in the last two games, both losses. UC has averaged 58.5 points and shot .345 from the field during this span, setting season lows for points and field goals vs. UConn and Syracuse.
Cincinnati set a school record with 18 blocked shots in the Jan. 7 win at Marquette, topping the old mark of 15 set by the 1999-00 team vs. Iowa State. Eric Hicks tied a UC record with 10 blocks and James White had a career-best four rejections.
Since surrendering a season-high .528 field goal percentage to LSU on Dec. 23, Cincinnati has held its last six foes to .393 shooting.
Cincinnati has held eight opponents under the .400 mark in field goal percentage, including two under 33 percent. UC has posted sub-.400 defensive field goal percentages in six of the last eight seasons.
The Bearcats have scored 80 or more points in eight games this season, topping the 100-point mark twice. UC tallied 105 points vs. Tennessee Tech on Dec. 17, then matched that with 105 points vs. North Carolina A&T on Dec. 30.
UC shot a season-high .563 vs. Tennessee Tech on Dec. 17 and a .552 effort vs. North Carolina A&T on Dec. 30.
Cincinnati has had at least five double-figure scorers in five of the last eight games, and seven times during the course of the season. Six Bearcats reached double figures in scoring in the Dec. 30 win over North Carolina A&T.
UC recorded a season-high 25 assists vs. North Carolina A&T on Dec. 30.
In their 10-game winning streak, the Bearcats averaged 85.5 points, posted an average victory margin of 19.4 points and shot .483 from the field.
The Bearcats set season highs for rebounds (53) and rebounding margin (+18) in the Jan. 4 win vs. DePaul, while committing a season-low six turnovers.
Two members of the Bearcats' football program, Connor Barwin and Angelo Craig, joined the team as walk-ons on Jan. 11.
Senior forward Armein Kirkland suffered a season-ending knee injury vs. UConn on Jan. 9, and had successful surgery on Jan. 13.
BEARCATS TAKE LEAGUE HONORS:
Devan Downey earned the BIG EAST Conference Rookie of the Week in back-to-back weeks (Dec. 10, Dec. 17).
Eric Hicks was named BIG EAST co-Player of the Week on Jan. 9 after averaging 21.0 points, 13.5 rebounds and 5.5 blocks in wins over DePaul and Marquette. Hicks previously earned BIG EAST Honor Roll recognition on Dec. 5 and Jan. 2.
James White was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll on Dec. 19 and Dec. 26.
STREAK BUSTERS: Cincinnati ended modest win streaks of three opponents. UC stopped Vanderbilt's unbeaten start at five games with a 92-83 win over the Commodores on Dec. 10. The Bearcats also snapped Vandy's 28-game home non-conference win streak. UC halted Ohio's 4-0 start with an 86-58 win on Dec. 14. On Dec. 17, UC ended Tennessee Tech's six-game win streak with a 105-62 victory. UC's win at Marquette on Jan. 7 snapped MU's home winning streak at seven and overall win streak at five.
BLOUNT RETURNS: Corie Blount, the starting center on the University of Cincinnati basketball teams which reached the NCAA Final Four in 1992 and Elite Eight in 1993, returned to the Bearcat bench as interim assistant coach in early December. A first round draft pick by the Chicago Bulls following his UC career, Blount is an 11-year veteran of the National Basketball Association. Blount averaged 9.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocked shots during his two seasons as a Bearcat.
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. 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 1975-76, the regular season and tournament titles in the Great Midwest Conference in 1991-92, and the regular season and tourney championships of Conference USA in 1995-96.
LOOKING AHEAD: Cincinnati returns to BIG EAST Conference play on Sunday, Jan. 22, hosting Rutgers at 2 p.m. EST. The Bearcats will then visit No. 15 Louisville on Jan. 25.