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Bearcats Travel To Georgetown For Weekend Battle

Bearcats Travel To Georgetown For Weekend BattleBearcats Travel To Georgetown For Weekend Battle

Jan. 26, 2007

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SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati seeks its first BIG EAST Conference road win of the season when the Bearcats visit Georgetown on Saturday, Jan. 27 for a noon contest. Cincinnati, 10-9 overall, is 1-4 in league play, its lone win a 96-83 home overtime victory over West Virginia. UC lost to conference leader, No. 9 Pittsburgh, 67-51, on Wednesday. Georgetown, 14-5, is 4-2 in league play following Wednesday's 66-52 win over DePaul.

STORY LINES:

  • The Bearcats will be taking on one of the top defensive teams in the BIG EAST when they meet Georgetown on Saturday. The Hoyas lead the league and are ranked fifth nationally in scoring defense, surrendering 55.6 points per outing. Georgetown has held 11 of its last 12 foes to fewer than 60 points.
  • Saturday's game will be only the second meeting between Cincinnati and Georgetown. The two teams played almost exactly one year ago--on Jan. 28--with the Hoyas taking a 76-57 victory.
  • Cincinnati and Georgetown will meet twice this season as mirror opponents in the BIG EAST schedule. The two teams will play in Cincinnati on Feb. 21.
  • Georgetown is 8-2 this season in the Verizon Center and has a 92-43 record in all games played in the facility.
  • The Bearcats and Hoyas have played two common opponents. Georgetown has defeated Rutgers (68-54) and lost to Pittsburgh (74-69) while Cincinnati has lost to both Rutgers (54-42) and Pittsburgh (67-51).
  • Marcus Sikes has been UC's chief offensive threat recently. The junior has averaged 14.6 points and shot .550 from 3-point range over the past three games.

LAST SEASON: Jeff Green's 20 points sparked Georgetown to a 76-57 win over Cincinnati on Jan. 28, 2006 in Washington. Georgetown, which shot .517 from the field, took advantage of poor Cincinnati first-half shooting (.242) to build a 16-point lead. James White led UC with 22 points.

NOTING THE PITTSBURGH GAME:

  • Pittsburgh's .605 shooting percentage (23 of 38) was a Fifth Third Arena record by a UC opponent, breaking the mark of .592 set by Louisville in 1989-90.
  • The Panthers' .632 3-point percentage was a season high by a UC opponent.
  • Jamual Warren, with three steals, had his 12th multiple steal game of the season. The junior has had at least one steal in all but one game this year.
  • Each of Cincinnati's five starters logged over 31 minutes of playing time with that starting five accounting for all but 25 of the team's 200 player minutes.

WILLIAMSON ON THE BOARDS: John Williamson continues to be one of the most effective rebounders in the BIG EAST Conference, particularly under the offensive glass. The 6-6 junior had five offensive rebounds in Wednesday's game vs. No. 9 Pittsburgh to up his season average to 3.7, second in the BIG EAST. Williamson is ranked seventh in the league in overall rebounding with his 8.0 average.

  • Williamson is also Cincinnati's most consistent scorer, having reached double figures in 14 of the team's 19 contests.
  • Williamson recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 17 points and 13 rebounds in the Jan. 20 win over West Virginia. His rebound total was second to the 16 rebounds he gathered vs. No. 4 Ohio State on Dec. 16.
  • Williamson earned BIG EAST Conference Honor Roll accolades for his play the week of Dec. 11-17, during which he averaged 17.5 points and 12.0 rebounds.

SIKES STEPS UP PLAY: Marcus Sikes has been one of Cincinnati's top offensive performers in recent games. The 6-8 junior has averaged 14.6 points over the last three games. Sikes is a perimeter performer in a big man's role. He has the second-most 3-pointers on the team (29) and leads UC and is among the conference leaders in 3-point shooting percentage (.453). Sikes stepped outside to make eight 3-point field goals in 12 tries and finished with 24 points in the Jan. 17 Syracuse contest.

VAUGHN MAKING AN IMPRESSION: Deonta Vaughn, who has taken over the Bearcats' scoring lead (13.6), has ranked among the top freshmen scorers in the BIG EAST Conference throughout the season. He is currently second to Eugene Harvey (15.6 points) of Seton Hall.

  • Vaughn has twice earned BIG EAST Conference Rookie of the Week honors. He was recognized most recently for his performance in Cincinnati's victory over North Carolina State on Dec. 23, in which he scored 25 points and reached career highs with nine assists and six steals.
  • Vaughn has shown that he does not play like a freshman when the stakes are high. In the 67-57 win over crosstown rival Xavier on Dec. 13, the 6-1 guard led all scorers with 24 points.
  • Vaughn tallied a UC freshman single-game scoring record of 33 points vs. Wofford on Nov. 21. He connected on nine 3-pointers, the second most by any Bearcat in UC history. His 33-point effort is the third-highest scoring performance by any BIG EAST Conference player this season.
  • Vaughn has dished out five or more assists in nine games with a single-game high of 10 and leads the squad with a 3.8 average.

GENTRY PROVIDES BOOST: Marvin Gentry, Cincinnati's super sixth man, stepped up his play in a big way in the 96-83 win over West Virginia on Jan. 20. Gentry scored a career-high 32 points. The 6-3 junior was 5-of-7 from 3-point range and sank nine of his dozen free throw tries. Gentry, who tallied 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the Jan. 17 loss at Syracuse, was named to the weekly BIG EAST Honor Roll for his efforts.

WARREN PICKING UP THE TEMPO: Jamual Warren has averaged 5.5 rebounds and 2.8 steals over his last four games. He tied his career scoring high with 16 points and set a new personal best with eight rebounds in the Jan. 20 win over West Virginia. On Jan. 17, he recorded a career-high five steals vs. Syracuse.

  • Warren continues to be a factor on the defensive end. The 6-2 junior leads the team in steals (2.1), having made at least one steal in all but one game this season and posting multiple steals 12 times.

A STEAL IN TIME: Jamual Warren has had at least one steal in all but one game this season and has had multiple steals in all but six contests. The 6-2 junior, who had a streak of 15 games with a steal, leads the Bearcats with his 2.1 average. Warren set a career high with five steals in the Jan. 17 USF contest.

  • Perhaps no steal was more timely than the one in which Warren made to extend his streak during the Dec. 27 win over Miami. After sinking a short jumper to give UC a 54-52 lead with 2:14 to play, Warren stole the ball and dunked on a break-away to present the Bearcats with an insurmountable lead. The 6-2 junior finished with 15 points.

McGOWAN MAKING GOOD: Cedric McGowan tied his career scoring high with 20 points vs. No. 22 Memphis, going 7-of-9 from the field and 2-of-2 from 3-point range.

  • In the Dec. 13 contest vs. Xavier, McGowan picked an opportune time to come out of his 3-point shooting slump. In the final 1:20 of the first half, McGowan, who was a mere 1-of-18 in 3-point field goals on the season, sank a pair of 3s, the second with 10 seconds to play putting UC in the lead for good.

COMEBACK CATS: The Bearcats fell to an early 17-point deficit vs. West Virginia on Jan. 20 which they overcame for their 96-83 overtime win. It was the second-largest deficit that Cincinnati has come back from to win in the history of Fifth Third Arena.

  • UC has twice overcome 18-point margins for wins in Fifth Third. On Feb. 28, 1998, the Bearcats fought back from 18 points down to defeat Saint Louis, 61-58. They overcame the same size margin on Nov. 28, 2004 for a 76-70 overtime win over Northern Iowa.

BEARCATS DATA:

  • The Bearcats have shot .330 (33 of 100) from 3-point range over their last four games, an improvement over the .188 percentage the team had over its previous six contests.
  • Over the last three games, UC opponents have shot .451 (37 of 82) from 3-point range. West Virginia tied a record by a Cincinnati opponent by making 15 treys vs. the Bearcats on Jan. 20. Pittsburgh shot .632 from 3-point range on Jan. 24.
  • UC has made recent improvements in taking care of the basketball. The Bearcats have averaged 8.0 turnovers over their last three games, including a season-low six turnovers vs. West Virginia on Jan. 20. UC has a +8.0 turnover margin during this span to up its season margin to +3.2.
  • Cincinnati has made 34 steals over its last four games.

LOOKING AHEAD: The Bearcats return to Fifth Third Arena to host Louisville on Wednesday, Jan. 31. Game time is 8 p.m. UC also plays host to St. John's on Sunday, Feb. 4 at noon before returning to the road to visit Providence on Feb. 6.