TicketsDec. 21, 2006
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SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati returns to action after a week's layoff to host North Carolina State on Saturday, Dec. 23 in a 12 noon contest in Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats, 7-3, will be out to rebound from last Saturday's 72-50 loss to No. 4 Ohio State and will also be seeking their first-ever win over North Carolina State. The Wolfpack are also 7-3. They lost to No. 10 Alabama, 82-75, on Wednesday.
STORY LINES:
Saturday's battle features a pair of head coaches who are in their first years at their respective schools. Mick Cronin, a former Bearcat assistant, inherited the Cincinnati program after compiling a 69-24 record in three seasons at Murray State. Sidney Lowe, a former Wolfpack star who was part of the school's national championship team in 1983 as a player, is in his first year of coaching in the college ranks.
North Carolina State has won all five previous meetings, the last of which took place in 1958-59, a 69-60 victory in the Dixie Classic in Winston-Salem, N.C. The teams have played twice in Cincinnati, in 1947-48 at the Music Hall and in 1954-55 at Cincinnati Gardens.
Each team has a native of Poland on its roster. Adam Hrycaniuk, a 6-10 junior from Myslibortz, is sitting the season out at Cincinnati because of an NCAA penalty. Bartosz Lewandowski, a 7-3 freshman from Torun, has seen action in one game for North Carolina State.
The teams have played one common opponent--Wofford. North Carolina State defeated Wofford, 92-88, in its season opener. Cincinnati suffered a 91-90 loss to Wofford.
NOTING THE OHIO STATE GAME:
John Williams recorded a new career high with his 16 rebounds and notched his third double-double of his UC career. The 6-6 junior from Columbus has averaged 12.7 rebounds over his last three games.
Jamual Warren, with three steals, extended his streak of games with a steal to 10. The 6-2 junior has made multiple steals in all but two games. Warren has made seven steals over his last two games.
Cincinnati made a total of nine steals, the second-highest game total of the season. The Bearcats have made 17 steals over their last two contests.
UC committed nine turnovers, its second straight game of single-digit miscues.
Branden Miller's six points was a career high.
WILLIAMSON WINNING PRAISE: John Williamson continues to draw attention for his play. The 6-6 junior and newcomer from the junior college ranks has earned BIG EAST Conference Honor Roll honors for his play last week, during which he averaged 17.5 points and 12.0 rebounds.
Williamson grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds, the most by a Bearcat and the second-most this season in the BIG EAST Conference, vs. No. 4 Ohio State on Dec. 16. He has averaged 12.3 rebounds over his last three games and has moved up to fourth place in the BIG EAST ranking of rebounders with his 8.9 average.
Williamson scored 17 points vs. Ohio State for his third double-double of the season and his second in three games.
SO CLOSE: Cincinnati is 7-3 but is separated by a mere three points from a 9-1 ledger. The Bearcats dropped a 91-90 decision to Wofford on Nov. 21 and suffered a 59-57 setback to UAB on Dec. 2. In both games, the winning points were scored on free throws in the final seven seconds and in both cases UC had a shot at the buzzer bounce off the rim.
VAUGHN MAKING AN IMPACT: A frequent observation made of Deonta Vaughn is that he does not play like a freshman. That certainly held true in Cincinnati's win over Xavier on Dec. 13, when the 6-1 guard led all scorers with 24 points in the 67-57 win.
Vaughn has averaged 18.4 points over his last seven games, coinciding with his promotion to the starting lineup. He tallied a UC freshman single-game scoring record 33 points vs. Wofford on Nov. 21, with the aid of nine 3-pointers, second-most in UC history. He was the BIG EAST Conference Rookie of the Week for Nov. 20-26.
Vaughn's 33-point game vs. Wofford is the top individual game performance this season in the BIG EAST Conference as is his nine 3-point field goals. He enters the week as the second-leading freshman scorer in the BIG EAST with his 15.4-point average.
Vaughn has dished out five or more assists in six games and leads the squad with a 4.0 average.
Vaughn has the second-best scoring average at the 10-game mark of the season of any Cincinnati freshman.
IT TAKES A THIEF: Jamual Warren continues to serve as Cincinnati's defensive spark. The 6-2 junior has had at least one steal in every game and has had multiple steals in all but two contests to lead the Bearcats with his 2.3 average. Warren has made seven steals over his last two games. He set a new career high when he recorded four steals in the Dec. 13 win over Xavier.
McGOWAN TRIPLES IN WIN: Cedric McGowan picked an opportune time to come out of his 3-point shooting slump. The 6-7 senior, who opened the season going 0-for-13 from behind the arc and entered the Dec. 13 contest vs. Xavier a mere 1-of-15 in 3-point field goals, missed his first three trey tries. In the final 1:20 of the first half, he sank a pair of 3s, the second with 10 seconds to play putting UC in the lead for good.
CRONIN OFF TO FAST START: Mick Cronin is off to one of the best starts of any first-year head coach in Cincinnati history. Cronin's 7-3 ledger is tied for the third-best start at the 10-game mark among new Bearcats coaches of the modern era (post World War II).
BEARCATS DATA:
After shooting just .567 (38-of-67) at the foul line over their first four games, the Bearcats have shot a .726 percentage (82-of-113) over their last six contests.
UC has finished in single digits in turnovers in each of its last two games and three times this season. The Bearcats have averaged 8.5 turnovers over their last two games.
Cincinnati has had a double digit rebounder in six of its 10 games. John Williamson has reached double digits in three games--11 vs. Wofford, 13 vs. Temple and 16 vs. Ohio State. Marvin Gentry collected 10 rebounds in the opener vs. Howard, Marcus Sikes grabbed 10 boards vs. Tennessee-Martin and Cedric McGowan had 12 rebounds vs. High Point.
UC's 17 3-point field goals vs. Wofford (11/21/06) was the third-highest single game total while its 32 attempts was fifth-most. Half of UC's baskets were from behind the arc.
The Bearcats have had five double-double performances this season. John Williamson owns three of those twin doubles, having totalled 19 points and 11 rebounds vs. Wofford (11/21/06), 15 points and 13 rebounds vs. Temple (12/9/06) and 17 points and 16 rebounds vs. Ohio State (12/16/06). Marcus Sikes had 18 points and 10 rebounds vs. Tennessee-Martin (11/11/06) while Cedric McGowan recorded 13 points and 12 rebounds vs. High Point (11/12/06).
Cincinnati has held four of its foes to 51 or fewer points. The Bearcats limited Howard to 39 points in the season opener, the fewest allowed by the Bearcats since an 89-37 victory over Southern Miss. on Feb. 15, 2002.
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.
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 whose participation will be arranged around the squad's schedule of preparations for its bowl game.
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.
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.
106th CAMPAIGN: The 2006-07 season is Cincinnati's 106th year of basketball competition. The school has compiled a 1,528-870 record for a .637 percentage.
BEARCATS UNBEATABLE IN 5/3 ARENA: Cincinnati is in its 18th season in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center with a 241-35 record, a .873 winning percentage. UC is 77-12 in Fifth Third over the last five-plus seasons.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Bearcats will take a break for the Christmas holiday. The team will host Miami University on Wednesday, Dec. 27 at U.S. Bank Arena. Tip off is 8 p.m. UC will travel to Cleveland to meet Ohio at the Quicken Loans Arena on Saturday, Dec. 30 and closes the non-conference part of its schedule with a Jan. 4 visit to Memphis.