TicketsNov. 23, 2006
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SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati will try to bounce back from Tuesday's upset loss to Wofford when hosting Central Michigan on Saturday in a 6 p.m. contest. The Bearcats incurred their first loss of the season after three victories when Wofford edged them in a shooting match, 91-90. Central Michigan enters the contest with a 2-1 record, having handily defeated Brown and Missouri-Kansas City following a season-opening loss to Youngstown State.
STORY LINES:
Saturday's game is the first-ever meeting between Cincinnati and Central Michigan. CMU is the lone Mid-American Conference team that the Bearcats have never played. UC holes a 183-115 record vs. the rest of the league.
Cincinnati will seek consistency on defense. After holding its first three opponents to a combined .290 field goal shooting, the Bearcats were burnt by .528 shooting from Wofford, which was 12-of-24 from 3-point range.
John Williamson continues to lead UC in scoring. The junior is averaging 17.0 points after his double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds vs. Wofford.
NOTING THE WOFFORD GAME
Deonta Vaughn scored 33 points, a single game record by a UC freshman and the most by a Bearcat since Steve Logan tallied 41 points vs. Southern Miss on Feb. 15, 2002. The previous freshman scoring mark was 31 points by Danny Fortson vs. Saint Louis on March 11, 1995. Vaughn was 9-of-17 from 3-point range, the second-highest single game marks for 3-pointers and attempts.
UC's 17 treys was the third-highest single game total while its 32 attempts was fifth. Half of the Bearcats' baskets were from behind the arc.
John Williamson recorded his first double-double as a Bearcat with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
The Bearcats had assists on 22 of their 34 baskets.
Wofford's 91 points is the most surrendered by UC since Memphis tallied the same number in a 91-81 win over UC on Dec. 3, 2005.
UC shot a season-high .540 from the field, the highest since the Bearcats shot .552 vs. North Carolina A&T last season.
The Bearcats were outscored, 23-5, at the foul line.
DOUBLE-DIGIT REBOUNDING: UC has had one player reach double digits in rebounding in each of its four contests--Marvin Gentry (10) vs. Howard, Marcus Sikes (10) vs. Tennessee-Martin, Cedric McGowan (12) vs. High Point and John Williamson (11) vs. Wofford.
BEARCAT DATA: Cincinnati opened the season with three straight victories to win the Jim Thorpe Association Classic on Nov. 10-12. John Williamson was named tournament most outstanding player and Marcus Sikes was elected to the all-tournament team.
Sikes celebrated his 22nd birthday by recording the Bearcats' first double-double of the season in the win over Tennessee-Martin on Nov. 11. The 6-8 junior had 18 points and 10 rebounds vs. the Skyhawks. He was 3-of-6 from 3-point range and is UC's top 3-point shooter, sinking 5-of-8 from behind the arc.
Cedric McGowan followed up Sikes' performance with a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds in the Sunday win over High Point. McGowan averaged 8.7 rebounds through the three-game tournament.
Williamson became the first Bearcat to top the 20-point mark this season, scoring 23 points vs. Tennessee-Martin on 8-of-11 shooting from the field.
UC limited Howard to 39 points, the fewest allowed by the Bearcats since an 89-37 victory over Southern Miss. on Feb. 15, 2002. Mick Cronin became the 18th UC head coach out of 26 to record a victory in his Bearcats coaching debut.
Cincinnati notched its 40th-consecutive victory in home openers and upped its record to 86-19 in season home openers.
The Bearcats upped their record in season openers to 87-19. UC has won 25 of its last 26 season openers.
ABOUT THE BEARCATS: The Bearcats boast only one returning starter, Cedric McGowan, and four lettermen from the 2005-06 team. One of those lettermen, Connor Barwin, is a sophomore tight end on the football team and will not be able to join the squad until the grid season has concluded.
McGowan averaged 7.2 rebounds last year to rank 11th in the BIG EAST, and 8.5 points.
To replenish the thin ranks, the coaching staff signed eight players for the coming season, seven of them products of the junior college ranks.
Junior college transfer John Williamson is no stranger to Cincinnati. The Columbus, Ohio native, who always dreamed of being a Bearcat, played at Cincinnati State the past two years. He averaged 27.4 points and 11.7 rebounds to help the Surge to a 26-9 record and reach the finals of the NJCAA Tournament.
Another junior college transfer who adds maturity to the young team is 6-2 guard Jamual Warren, who will turn 23 in December. Warren earned second team NJCAA Division I All-American honors last season at Globe Institute of Technology where he averaged 22.2 points and 5.9 assists.
The lone freshman on the squad is Deonta Vaughn. The 6-1 Indianapolis native, who was a two-time all-state selection at Arlington High, averaged 17.4 points and 6.6 assists at Harmony Community School in Cincinnati last season.
TEN BEARCATS AVAILABLE: The Bearcats currently have only 10 members of the 2006-07 Cincinnati team, including a walk-on who joined the squad in October, eligible. Junior college transfer Adam Hrycaniuk has not been declared eligible by the NCAA, which is evaluating his amateur status. Connor Barwin, a sophomore tight end on the UC football team, has not yet practiced with the team. Mike Williams, a transfer from Texas who has been practicing with UC, has to sit out the competitive part of the 2006-07 season due to NCAA rules.
UC IN THE BIG EAST: Cincinnati enters its second season as a member of the expanded BIG EAST Conference. In the preseason polls of the league's coaches the Bearcats were picked to finish 13th among the 16 teams. The Bearcats have compiled a record of 139-105 for a .570 winning percentage against the current BIG EAST membership. Last year UC finished eighth in the regular season race with an 8-8 ledger.
106th CAMPAIGN: The 2006-07 season is Cincinnati's 106th year of basketball competition. The school has compiled a 1,524-868 record for a .637 percentage.
ELEVENTH-WINNINGEST PROGRAM: Cincinnati has been college basketball's 11th-winningest program since the turn of the century. Over the past seven years, the Bearcats have compiled a 174-58 record for an .750 percentage.
Cincinnati has won 25 or more games nine of the last 11 seasons.
The Bearcats won a conference regular season and/or tournament title in 12 of the past 15 seasons, and six times during this period have claimed both during the same season.
BEARCATS UNBEATABLE IN 5/3 ARENA: Cincinnati is in its 18th season in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center with a 238-35 record a .872 winning percentage. UC is 74-12 in Fifth Third over the last five-plus seasons.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Bearcats play host to Oakland on Wednesday, Nov. 29. Tipoff is 8 p.m. UC will also host UAB on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 4 p.m.