Tuesday, December 28, 1999
Bearcats learn lessons in romp
Subs Stokes, Little get key minutes
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Jermaine Tate dunks the ball during Monday night's game.
(Steven M. Herppich photo)
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Spectators who attended Monday's game at the Shoemaker Center did not see the UC Bearcats play a nationally ranked opponent or even one from a high-major conference. They did see a combined 35 minutes from Leonard Stokes and Donald Little. Which was precisely the point.
This is why teams such as the No.3-ranked Bearcats oppose teams such as Wisconsin-Milwaukee, aside from the income generated for their athletic department by a game at the Shoemaker Center and the chance to fatten up the record a bit with a comfortable 93-60 win. It also gave center Kenyon Martin a chance to spruce up his statistics; he plowed through frequent triple-teams to score a career-high 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting.
“I just put it in my mind from here on out that if teams do that, I'm not going to let that stop me,” Martin said. “No matter if it's two or three guys, I've got to find some way to get the ball.”
Little and Stokes played only five minutes combined in the previous three games, with Little leaving Oklahoma and sitting out last Wednesday's game against the Sooners to attend to personal matters. UC (10-1) was rapidly approaching the heart of the Conference USA season with a two-man bench consisting of guard Kenny Satterfield and big man Ryan Fletcher.
They moved a step or two away from that concern with the win over UWM (6-4). Stokes played 23 minutes, his longest appearance of the season, and led UC with two 3-point shots and scored a career high 10 points.
He tip-dunked another of his baskets but his most impressive score came with 13:22 left, when he drove the baseline from the left corner and twisted through traffic to lift the ball over the front of the rim and through the net.
“Leonard's going to have to play for us,” coach Bob Huggins said. “I don't think there's any question about that. I think we all know that. I think Leonard would be the first one to tell you he doesn't want to sit over there, but there's a lot of life lessons to be learned over there. Sometimes, that's your best vehicle to learn.”
Although he still had a few moments where his hands were a problem — one would-be rebound bounced off his forehead — Little demonstrated what sort of defensive bite he could add off the bench by blocking three shots in the final three minutes.
Little did not score, but he grabbed two rebounds, both at the defensive end. “Donald can help us,” Huggins said. “And Donald needs to be part of our rotation if Donald will concentrate. His attention to detail needs to improve greatly.
“I've said this a thousand times, that the reason Kenyon Martin is such a great player is his attention to detail is as good as anybody we've had. Ken understands all five positions. Donald doesn't understand his position.”
As they commonly do against opponents in the Shoemaker Center, the Bearcats applied a full-court press as soon as possible and stayed with it as long as it worked — which was quite a while.
Kenyon Martin drives to the basket past Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Clay Tucker.
(Steven M. Herppich photo)
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The Panthers turned over the ball on three of their first four trips and seven times in the first dozen minutes.
Bearcats forward Pete Mickeal excelled in this sequence. He finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, three steals, two blocks and tied his career high with five assists. Point guards Steve Logan and Kenny Satterfield combined for 13 points, eight assists and two steals.
“Turnovers always make a pressure team,” said UWM coach Bo Ryan. “As a coach that has been in that position and watching players on your team, it becomes a feeding frenzy. Anticipation gets even better. They got even hungrier and more aggressive. As a team, we needed to handle that a little better.”
UC did not show its pressure defense much against the better teams it played in December, but Huggins wanted to keep the Panthers from settling into the halfcourt, defensive-oriented game they prefer.
He is not likely to turn the Bearcats loose when they face their most dangerous opponents because he does not believe this team is at its best playing that style.
“We're a situational pressing team,” Huggins said. “We're not a team that's going to press night-in, night out. We wanted to work on it ... We didn't want them to come and take 35 seconds off the clock.
“We're trying to do some different things, but we're basically a halfcourt, man-to-man team. I'd love to press and run, but we're not very good at it right now.”
The Bearcats were better against UWM, though. That's why they play games such as this.
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