Saturday, November 27, 1999
Freshmen draw Huggins' wrath
UC NOTEBOOK
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HILO, Hawaii — If you think a 30-point lead is enough for UC coach Bob Huggins, you should have seen see him tear into freshmen big men B.J. Grove and Donald Little for allowing themselves to be outmuscled underneath the boards.
After Grove took a forearm in the back that pushed him under the backboard — that allowed a rebound basket to CSU's David Barrett — Huggins called a timeout with 3:48 left and shouted at both Grove and Little.
As Grove had been the most recent offender, he got the worst of it. And because the Fox Sports Net telecast took a TV timeout, Huggins had another minute to yell at Grove after the team took the floor.
“If they're going to go on the floor, they're going to play,” Huggins said. “If they don't do that, I wasn't going to let it go. That's not doing anyone any good.”
The tactic worked as Huggins intended. Grove grabbed four rebounds before the end of the game.
Off his game
UC senior forward Pete Mickeal scored 12 points for his 27th double-figure scoring output in 35 career games. And he held Cleveland State's Sonny Johnson to eight points, 20 fewer than Johnson scored in his first game. And he was angry with himself.
“I don't know really what it was,” Mickeal said. “I couldn't do anything right. I probably have one of these every 20 games.”
Mickeal didn't have the stats to prove it, but he estimated his turnovers at five. He had four personal fouls, an unusually high number for him even though he plays with great intensity on defense.
A number of pro scouts were in the audience to see the eight teams gathered here.
“I want to have a big showing, and I didn't start off right,” Mickeal said. “It really hurts me.”
Fan-tastic
Tournament games such as this sometimes can feel as though they're being played in a vacuum, but this was almost a UC home game.
In the 3,000-seat civic center, UC fans filled between 500 and 700 seats, including every row of bleachers in the lower section behind the team benches.
UC also had its cheerleaders in the gym. They raised money since last summer — coach Tabby Fagan estimated it cost $25,000-30,000 for the squad to make the trip — by working various jobs and holding a raffle. One job the cheerleaders undertook: painting a house.
Numerology
• These Bearcats are 2-0 as the nation's No.1 team, something the last UC team that earned the top ranking couldn't manage. In 1996-97, UC lost to Xavier at home in its second game.
• The Bearcats have won their last seven games played outside the contiguous 48 states.
• UC is 4-3 in games played in Hawaii under Huggins.
• UC has won its last four games against Ohio schools and all 11 of its games vs. Cleveland State.
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