Thursday, January 06, 2000

UC 81, UNC Charlotte 54

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Revenge comes easily for Bearcats

BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Jermaine Tate and UNC's Jonathan Neely get tangled up while diving for a loose ball. (Saed Hindash photo) | ZOOM |

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        The fans who attended the Cincinnati Bearcats' game Wednesday night at the Shoemaker Center know what they want. They want their basketball team to be ranked No. 1 in the country. They want the poll voters to stand in awe of UC.

        The Bearcats themselves profess not to care. They intend to keep doing what is necessary to get back to the top, planning more efforts like their 81-54 destruction of Conference USA rival North Carolina Charlotte at the Shoemaker Center.

        “All that stuff doesn't matter until April,” center Kenyon Martin said of the rankings. “You can't worry about that number. That's just what people think.”

        This is an issue once again because No. 3 UC (13-1, 2-0) moved a couple of steps closer to regaining the No. 1 national ranking surrendered with the loss to Xavier in last month's Crosstown Shootout. First, there was Notre Dame's surprising victory over No. 2 Connecticut on the road. Then, behind 20 points from senior forward Pete Mickeal, UC issued UNCC (7-6, 0-1) its worst loss since 1992.

DerMarr Johnson (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        All that stands between UC and the top spot is unbeaten No.1 Stanford and continued domination of C-USA. Stanford plays No. 5 Arizona on Saturday.

        The capacity crowd at the Shoe reacted about as enthusiastically to the news of UConn's defeat as to anything the Bearcats conjured through the course of their fifth consecutive double-digit win.

        Martin scored 14 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked one shot by UNCC's KenKay Jones back to the midcourt line. Guard DerMarr Johnson scored 16 points, including the opening 3-pointer that began the disintegration of the 49ers' zone defense.

        “We played every defense we had in the first half, but it didn't really seem to matter,” 49ers coach Bobby Lutz said. “They just scored. We didn't do as well in transition as we want ed, but otherwise they just had an answer for everything.”

Pete Mickeal knocks the ball from Jobey Thomas (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        The 49ers shot .275 from the field, a season low for a UC opponent. They got 12 points from reliable forward Tremaine Gardiner, but he shot only eight times and was unable to provide a presence on the boards.

        UNCC entered the game with a reputation for reliance on the 3-point shot but perhaps was too insistent about proving it could move the ball inside against the Bearcats.

        The 49ers made six of 16 from 3-point distance in the first half, a 38 percent success rate and good for 18 of their 26 points. Inside the arc, they were 4-of-16. UC blocked one fewer shot than the 49ers made from close range.

        The Bearcats' defense had a lot to do with the selection of shots available to UNCC. Jobey Thomas got his first full dose of Mickeal's defense — a year ago, Mickeal spent all his time against UNCC guarding forward Galen Young — and wound up 3-of-10. Guard Diego Guevara was hounded by guards Steve Logan and Kenny Satterfield as well as the crowd, who booed each time Guevara touched the ball. They remember him blowing kisses to his wife after four late 3-pointers beat the Bearcats in Charlotte last year. This time, he was 2-of-9.

Leonard Stokes (Saed Hindash photo) | ZOOM |

        “We talked about that, and he knew he was going to get that,” Lutz said. “I really don't think that was a factor in his play. I think their defense was more a factor.

        “Cincinnati, they know we live and die with Thomas and him, and they did a great job against them.”

        UC opened the game with a 10-0 onslaught that was punctuated by Martin's steal and slam, and Mickeal had seven points in building UC's lead to 14-3.

        The Bearcats got a little too eager with their offense, though. After moving the ball easily, rapidly and productively in stretching out their lead, they began shooting quickly. That led to a series of eight possessions in which a Kenny Satterfield one-hander was the only UC score. UNCC was able to recover with a couple of long-range baskets from Guevara in a 10-4 surge that cut the 49ers' deficit to five points.

        When the Bearcats remembered how devastating their passing game could be, though, UNCC paid once again. “Coach Huggs gave us a good reminder,” Logan said. “He told us to stay with each other, pass the ball a lot, and we got good looks.” They scored the next 11 points and broke open the game.

        UC shot just a shade under 70 percent in the first half, with not a single Bearcat making fewer than half his attempts.

        “If there's a better team in the country, I'd like to see them,” Lutz said. “That's an awfully good team. We knew that going in, but they were even more impressive in person.”

Practice making UC just about perfect
Notre Dame 75, No. 2 Connecticut 70

UNC CHARLOTTE (54)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Zimmerman       23  3-13   0-0   2-4  0  3    8
Guevara         32   2-9   0-0   0-2  3  1    6
Thomas          31  3-10   2-2   0-3  2  0   11
Gardiner        27   4-8   3-4   3-7  0  1   12
Neely           11   0-3   0-0   0-0  0  4    0
Jones           20   1-4   0-4   2-3  0  3    2
Smith            6   1-6   0-0   0-0  0  1    3
Helliwell       15   0-1   0-0   3-4  2  4    0
Hill            24  3-10   2-2   2-6  2  1    8
Tolliver         4   0-2   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Whitehead        7   2-3   0-0   2-7  0  1    4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 19-69  7-12 14-36  9 19   54
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.275, FT-.583. 3-Point Goals:
9-34, .265 (Zimmerman 2-6, Guevara 2-7, Thomas
3-9, Gardiner 1-2, Smith 1-5, Hill 0-3, Tolliver
0-2). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 3 (Jones
2, Whitehead). Turnovers: 16 (Neely 4, Gardiner
3, Guevara 3, Helliwell, Hill, Jones, Smith,
Thomas, Zimmerman). Steals: 4 (Smith 2, Guevara,
Hill).

CINCINNATI (81)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Johnson         29  6-10   2-5   1-6  2  0   16
Martin          29  6-11   2-3  3-13  2  2   14
Mickeal         30   7-9   5-6   1-3  1  2   20
Logan           25   3-6   0-0   0-2  5  0    8
Tate            22   2-3   2-3   3-6  2  3    6
Satterfield     23   2-8   0-0   0-1  7  3    4
Stokes          10   3-5   1-1   0-1  0  1    8
Dissinger        2   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Fletcher        17   1-5   3-4   0-6  1  2    5
Taflinger        2   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Grove            2   0-0   0-0   0-1  0  0    0
Little           9   0-0   0-0   1-1  0  3    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 30-58 15-22  9-40 20 16   81
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.517, FT-.682. 3-Point Goals:
6-15, .400 (Johnson 2-4, Mickeal 1-3, Logan 2-3,
Satterfield 0-2, Stokes 1-1, Fletcher 0-1,
Taflinger 0-1). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots:
4 (Martin 2, Tate, Stokes). Turnovers: 15
(Fletcher 4, Logan 2, Mickeal 2, Satterfield 2,
Tate 2, Little, Martin, Taflinger). Steals: 7
(Martin 2, Johnson, Little, Mickeal, Satterfield,
Tate).
__________________________________
Unc Charlotte      26   28  -   54
Cincinnati         46   35  -   81
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 13,176. Officials: Don
Rutledge, David Hall, Mark Whitehead.

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