TicketsFeb. 1, 2007
Game Notes
Download Free Acrobat Reader
UC vs.
No. 25/23 RutgersDate: Saturday, Feb. 3, 2007
Time: 2 p.m. EST
Site: Louis Brown Athletic Center (8,000) Piscataway, N.J.
Live Stats: GoBEARCATS.com
TV: None.
Radio: CATSVision (Tommy Gelehrter).
Series: Rutgers leads, 1-0.
Last Meeting: Rutgers 64, UC 51 at Fifth Third Arena.
SETTING THE SCENE: The road does not get any easier for the University of Cincinnati. Following two home losses to Top 25 teams, the Bearcats must now go on the road and play a surging Rutgers on Saturday, Feb. 3. The 2 p.m. tip-off features a Rutgers team that is now ranked No. 25/23. The Scarlet Knights have upset back-to-back Top 25 teams to earn their way into the polls. They knocked off No. 16/18 Marquette, 66-56, and No. 21/23 Michigan State, 63-57. UC lost to Marquette, 76-59, on Jan. 27 and then three days later were edged, 70-60, by No. 5/6 Connecticut at Fifth Third Arena.
STORY LINES:
w For the second consecutive game the Bearcats' opponent will have a player from Cincinnati, Ohio on its roster. After facing UConn's Mel Thomas on Jan. 30, the Bearcats will encounter Rutgers' Myia McCurdy, a native of Cincinnati and 2006 graduate of Winton Woods High School.
w Michelle Jones leads UC in starts this season with 20. She is the only Bearcat to start every BIG EAST game this season.
w The game vs. Rutgers will mark the first time in UC women's basketball history that the Bearcats have played three consecutive games vs. Top 25 teams in the same season. One other time, UC played back-to-back-to-back games vs. Top 25 teams, but it spanned two different seasons. During the 1981-82 season UC fell, 83-59, at No. 16 Memphis on Feb. 26. The next game, UC's final of that season, the Bearcats defeated No. 20 Ohio State, 71-70, at home. The following year, in their opener, the Bearcats dropped an 84-76 decision to No. 8 Kentucky on Nov. 27.
w Both teams feature freshmen who are pivotal in their success. Carla Jacobs is leading the Bearcats in assists and is second in steals. Epiphanny Prince leads Rutgers in scoring, assists and steals.
w UC is 7-46 all-time vs. Top 25 teams. Seven of the Bearcats' nine losses this season have been to ranked teams or teams receiving votes in the polls. UC is 1-4 this season against ranked foes with losses to No. 14/16 Louisville, No. 22/24 Arkansas, No. 17/18 Marquette and No. 5/6 Connecticut. The Bearcats' lone win over a ranked opponent was on Jan. 14 when UC defeated No. 24/24 DePaul, 62-44. The Bearcats are 0-3 this season vs. teams that received votes (Northern Illinois, USF, Xavier).
w The two coaches have a combined 61 years of head coaching experience. UC Coach Laurie Pirtle is in her 25th season and Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer is in her 36th. They are two of the most tenured in the BIG EAST. Stringer has the most career seasons under her belt, and Villanova's Harry Perretta (29) is the only other coach with more career seasons than Pirtle.
NOTES FROM THE UCONN GAME:
w UConn (9-0) remained the only squad with a perfect BIG EAST mark.
w The Huskies own a 2-0 lead in the all-time series.
w UConn became the18th team to win 700 Division I games.
w UC had season-lows in turnovers (11) and assists (10).
w UConn's .882 free throw percentage (15-of-17) was a season-high.
w UConn, a team that averages 10.48 steals a game, registered only one steal (a season low) vs. the Bearcats. The Huskies' previous low was seven steals vs. Tennessee.
w UC outrebounded the Huskies, 38-36. The only other team to outboard UConn this season was No. 2/2 North Carolina. The Bearcats have out rebounded 18 of their 21 opponents this season.
BEARCATS DATA
CINCINNATI PLAYERS HONORED:
w Carla Jacobs earned the University of Cincinnati's first BIG EAST Women's Basketball Weekly honor this season, when she was named Freshman of the Week on Jan. 29. Jacobs, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, had a career week as she averaged 16.0 points, 6.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds, while shooting 6-of-6 from the foul line. The guard tied her career high with 15 points and dished out a career-high 10 assists in the team's 80-62 win over Georgetown (1/23/07), nabbing her first career double-double. She bettered her offensive production with a new career-high 17 points in UC's loss to No. 18/17 Marquette (1/27/07). Jacobs shot 6-of-15 from the field, including a 3-of-6 effort from 3-point range.
w Jill Stephens (Mineral Wells, W.Va./Parkersburg South) was named the athletics department's top female scholar-athlete of the fall quarter after earning a perfect 4.0 grade point average. A total of 17 student-athletes, representing each of UC's sports, were named scholar-athletes of the quarter and the contingent will have their photos added to the Academic Wall of Fame in Fifth Third Arena. A total of 268 student-athletes from UC's 17 sports were named to either the Bearcat or the Topcat Honor Roll. To qualify for the Bearcat Honor Roll, a student-athlete must have earned a grade point average between 3.0 and 3.49 for the quarter, while Topcat honorees must maintain between a 3.5 and a 4.0 GPA.
DOUBLING DOWN:
w Carla Jacobs got UC's 12th double-double of the 2006-07 season with a career performance against Georgetown (1/23/07). She had15 points and set a new career high with 10 assists.
w Karen Twehues and Michelle Jones both registered double-doubles vs. Xavier (1/17/07). Jones, accomplishing the feat for the second time in as many games, had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Twehues, notching the third of this season and in her career, had 12 points and 10 rebounds. The last time two Bearcat players had a twin double in the same game was Dec. 21, 2004 vs. Loyola Marymount when Anne Stephens scored 11 points and grabbed 11 boards, and Toni Slaughter had 16 points and 12 rebounds.
w Karen Twehues scored her first career double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds against Alabama A&M (12/18/06). She blocked two shots, a career high. She added her second career double-double with 10 points and a career-high 12 rebounds against USF (1/6/07).
w Michelle Jones recorded a double-double in the season-opener against Youngstown State (11/10/06). She scored 11 points and nabbed 10 rebounds for her second career double-double. Jones tacked on her second double-double of the season with a game-high 19 points and a career-high 13 rebounds vs. No. 24 DePaul (1/14/07).
w Shelly Bellman has six career double-doubles, including five this season, most recently vs. Seton Hall (1/20/07) when she had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Against Notre Dame (1/10/07) she had 13 points, 10 rebounds and added seven assists. She had 14 points and 11 rebounds against St. Francis (11/22/06); 13 points and 13 rebounds against Murray State (11/28/06); and 17 points and 11 rebounds against Tennessee Tech (12/21/06). She also had seven assists, on the verge of getting UC's first triple-double since Jane Anne Preston in 1992.
MOST IMPROVED:
w Junior Emy Ogide is averaging 5.9 points a game this season, more than doubling her career average coming into the season of 2.2 points. Ogide scored a team-high 12 points, on 5-of-6 six shooting from the field vs. No. 5/6 UConn (1/30/07). She had a career game in UC's 65-60 win over Dayton (11/16/06). The 6-2 junior forward came off the bench to score a game- and career-high 18 points, doubling her previous best of nine points set last year against Georgetown on Feb. 21, 2006.
BEARCATS ATTACK THE BOARDS:
w The Bearcats have won the battle of the boards in 18 of their 21 games this season. Only Georgetown and Top 25-ranked Louisville (12/14/06) and Arkansas (12/28/06) have beaten UC in that category. Cincinnati owns a +9.0 rebounding margin this season, third in the BIG EAST. The UC single-season record is a +6.7 margin.
BOARD BUDDIES:
w The sophomore trio of Shelly Bellman, Michelle Jones and Angel Morgan are wrecking balls on the boards for UC. Jones is an expert on offensive rebounding, while Bellman and Morgan make their marks on the defensive end. Bellman leads the team with 6.8, Jones adds 6.2 and Morgan is third with 5.4. Jones has 283 career rebounds and more than half have been offensive (148). Of her 130 rebounds this season, 71 are offensive. She averages 3.38 per game, fourth in the BIG EAST. Bellman has 316 career rebounds and 238 have been defensive. She has 99 defensive rebounds of her 136 total. Morgan has 113 rebounds this season and 87 have been defensive. She has 164 in her career, with 116 of those being defensive.
"A" FOR ACCURACY:
w Sophomore Michelle Jones is shooting a team-high 53 percent from the field, 10th in the BIG EAST. She has converted 102 of 193 attempts. After her 11-point performance vs. No. 5/6 UConn (1/30/07) she is second on the team in scoring (12.1). She had career highs of 10 field goals made (10-of-13) and 24 points against Tennessee Tech (12/21/06). She was also a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
STIFLING "D":
w Cincinnati has held 11 of its 21 opponents to 65 points or less and is averaging 66.4 points allowed this season. The Bearcats held No. 24 DePaul (1/14/07) to 44 points, a season low.
3-POINT THREAT:
w Senior Karen Twehues is third all-time at UC in career 3-point field goals with175. She leads the Bearcats in 3-point field goal percentage at 39 percent, fifth in the BIG EAST.
SCORING DROUGHT
w After scoring in the first 48 games of her college career, Shelly Bellman has been held scoreless for the past two games. She is averaging 9.7 field goal attempts per game but was a combined 0-for-5 vs. No. 18/17 Marquette (1/27/07) and No. 5/6 UConn (1/30/07). She has led UC in scoring four games this season, the last time was when she scored 16 points vs. Louisville (12/14/06).
STEALS AND DEALS:
w Senior Treasure Humphries and freshman Carla Jacobs are the masters of creating shots for their teammates, helping UC to 16.71 a game, fourth in the BIG EAST. The duo are also creating havoc on the defensive end, going one-two in steals.
w Humphries, who led the team in steals both her freshman and junior seasons, is pacing the team in thefts with 50 and is fourth in the BIG EAST with 2.38 a game. She has had multiple steals in 18 of 21 games this season. She tied a career-high with seven take aways vs. No. 23 Arkansas (12/28/06). Jacobs is second on the team in steals with 36. She has had multiple steals in 11 of 20 games this season.
w Carla Jacobs recently took over as UC's assist leader with 86 in 20 games, a 4.30 average that ranks fourth in the BIG EAST. She had a career-high 10 assists against Georgetown (1/23/07). She knows how to take care of the ball too. She is second in the conference in assist/turnover ratio (2.10) and the top freshman in that category. Humphries is second on the team in assists (85). She has had three or more assists in 17 of the Bearcats' 21 games. She is seventh in the BIG EAST with 4.05 per game.
DOUBLE OR NOTHING:
w Treasure Humphries is UC's leading scorer (13.0) and Shelly Bellman is the Bearcats' leading rebounder (6.8). Both Bellman and Humphries have been named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll this season.
w Bellman has scored in double figures in all but six games she has played this season and in 29 of 49 career contests. Michelle Jones has scored in double figures in a team-high 16 games this season and 33 in her career.
w The Bearcats have had at least three players score in double figures in every game except for two this season (only two vs. USF on 1/6/07 and vs. Marquette on 1/27/07). The Bearcats have had five players score in double figures in four games this season; Cincinnati's 83-51 win over St. Francis (Pa.) (11/22/06), UC's 86-70 win over Tennessee Tech (12/21/06), a 94-82 loss to No. 23 Arkansas, and UC's BIG EAST home opening win over Georgetown, 77-55 (1/3/07).
GETTING FLOOR TIME:
w Shelly Bellman leads the squad in playing time, seeing the floor 29.4 minutes a game. Angel Morgan is second on the team in average minutes played with 29.0. Morgan played the entire 40 minutes and scored a career-high 18 points, vaulting UC to a 74-57 win over Murray State (11/28/06). The win gave head coach Laurie Pirtle her 300th at Cincinnati.
RECORD SHATTERED:
w UC broke a team record for 3-point field goals in a game in an 89-65 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 14. UC finished with 13 treys, including 10 in the first half. The Bearcats bested the old mark of 12 set vs. Houston on March 5, 2004.
STREAKING:
w The Bearcats extended their home-opener winning streak to 11 with the win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff (11/14/06).
NORTHWESTERN TOURNEY HONORS:
w Shelly Bellman averaged 19.5 points and 5.5 rebounds and was named to the all-tournament team of the Mildred and Roger L. White Invitational (12/1-2/06), hosted by Northwestern.
EARLY BIRDS:
w The Bearcats had their earliest season opener in school history, playing at Youngstown State on Nov. 10.
DAGOSTINO DEPARTS UC STAFF:
w First-year assistant coach Dave Dagostino has left the UC coaching staff, citing personal reasons. The resignation was effective on January 26. Prior to joining the UC staff last Spring, Dagostino had been the head coach at Jacksonville State University, where he also resigned from his post following a six-year tenure at the Alabama school, including three as the Gamecock's head coach.
STARTING FRESH:
w With the start against YSU, Carla Jacobs became one of nine true freshmen Division I point guards in the nation who started in their teams' women's basketball season openers.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Bearcats host Providence on Tuesday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. at Fifth Third Arena in a BIG EAST match up.