Saturday, January 01, 2000
UC spends quality time in Boise
Bearcats get well-rounded victory in Idaho
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When the UC Bearcats hurriedly departed BSU Pavilion Thursday night, eager for a few short moments to enjoy the pleasures of Idaho, they figured their 32-point victory over Boise State was reasonably impressive.
When they arrived at their hotel, they discovered how impressive.
Closer to home, No.6-ranked Michigan State had wandered into Dayton's Nutter Center to play 3-8 Wright State and was beaten in one of the rare college basketball games that may accurately be described as an upset.
The No.3 Bearcats could look at their box score and see they shot .593 from the field, held Boise State to .292 shooting and forced 23 turnovers and won 78-46 even with star center Kenyon Martin playing just 18 minutes because of foul trouble.
“I think we grew up on the road since the first road game. It's always good to go into somebody else's place and beat them like that,” said UC guard Steve Logan, who scored 11 points. “It's tough when you go anywhere on the road, especially in an atmosphere like that, where they had the bowl game going, and there were 12,000 people. It's a big win for us.”
The Bearcats (11-1) have won twice on the road, by a combined 47 points, since they were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and energy mustered by Xavier and its fans in the Crosstown Shootout.
At both Oklahoma and Boise State, they scored the game's first three baskets and used an aggressive offensive style to keep the crowd muted.
“Our only chance was if the place was really rocking,” said BSU coach Rod Jensen. “So what do they do? Come out and score the first three baskets and take us right out of it. We played a little scared, but they're going to make a lot of teams look silly.”
Coach Bob Huggins employed a full-court zone press for much of the first half, and that accounted for much of UC's offensive production with Martin on the bench.
He played only three minutes before picking up two fouls, and Huggins did not want to risk exposing him to further jeopardy. His absence meant the Bearcats lacked the low-post game that is the fulcrum of their halfcourt attack. So instead they stole the basketball 13 times in the game, seven in the first half, and used those opportunities to fuel the fast break.
Forward Pete Mickeal, with Martin gone so long, dominated the base line with 23 points and 14 rebounds, both season highs. Senior Jermaine Tate filled in part of the time at center, and Huggins got another solid effort from redshirt freshman Donald Little.
“They got a lot of their stuff in transition, which was created by their defense,” Jensen said. “Some teams we play, when you make a mistake, you pay with a basket. You make a mistake against these guys, and it costs you three baskets.”
Boise State's defense, which so impressed Huggins in preparation for this game, consisted of a 3-2 alignment. Logan and guard Kenny Satterfield reacted to that defense by driving the ball toward the lane.
Logan missed all four of his 3-point shots, but missed just twice when he opted instead for short pull-up jumpers and layups. He also cut through the zone for six assists without a turnover. Satterfield was 4-of-6 from the field and scored 10.
“If we try to start our offense from halfcourt, we know we won't be effective,” Logan said. “We really wanted to attack them, put pressure on them.”
The one negative for UC during the game was its long-distance shooting. The Bearcats made just 2-of-12, both of those by DerMarr Johnson, who scored 14. UC missed only 11 of the 42 shots it attempted inside the 3-point line.
Off the floor, there were other concerns. Although the Bearcats comfortably survived their unwanted trip to Boise, imposed as part of the deal to get the football team invited to the Humanitarian Bowl in 1997, Huggins fretted over how the travel involved would affect them in their game Sunday afternoon against UNLV.
They had little choice but to practice Friday afternoon immediately after arriving in Cincinnati from Boise — a trip that began with a bus ride from the hotel to the airport at 7:15a.m. MST and ended with a 3:30 p.m. landing at home.
UNLV had the luxury of arriving in Cincinnati well before the Bearcats and even watching the Channel 19 broadcast of the UC-Boise game.
“The hard thing is, UNLV is sitting back home (in Cincinnati) watching our game, and we're in Boise,” Huggins said. “We've got to go back, get some rest and go about taking care of our business.”
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