UC 72, Tulane 59



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Thursday, January 13, 2000
UC 72, Tulane 59
Bearcats trailed by 9 at half

BY SCOTT MacGREGOR
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Kenyon Martin: 27 pts, 13 reb
(AP photos)
| ZOOM |

NEW ORLEANS — In the end, the picture of the nation's top-ranked college basketball team Wednesday was the usual one: Kenyon Martin's fearsome force, Pete Mickeal's steady determination, Steve Logan's cool stare, all leading the UC Bearcats to their 15th victory in 16 games this season.
Had that picture been taken in the first half of Wednesday's 72-59 UC win at Tulane, however, the image would have been remarkably different: That of a frustrated top dog being hounded into submission. And into a nine-point hole.
The Bearcats (15-1, 4-0 Conference USA) remain the No.1 team in the country this morning, but only after fighting back from a sloppy and frustrating first half to put down Tulane's spirited uprising.
The difference? Stingy defense and a half-court trap. Quick baskets in transition that led to a lead-taking 7-0 run. The will of Martin — who scored a career-high 27 points and had 13 rebounds — and Mickeal, who scored 18.
And a big mental adjustment at halftime.

Pete Mickeal: 18 pts
| ZOOM |

“We just had to turn it up,” said Martin, who dominated the second half on both ends of the floor. “We were on our heels. We went at them in the second half, and that got them on their heels. Last time we were down at halftime, we lost. We didn't want to go through that again.”
UC coach Bob Huggins said the previous two days of practice had been the worst of the year, and that carried over into a first half in which the Bearcats missed wide-open shots and threw away passes. He termed the intensity of those practices “awful” and called out his players at halftime.
Huggins told the Bearcats he knew what he'd get from Martin and Mickeal. What they needed was someone else to catch fire and make some plays.
“We're not going to be behind at halftime more than twice,” Huggins said. “We've got to respond. I think it's all about your mental approach. Ours was so much better in the second half.”

Steve Logan: 12 pts, 5 ast
| ZOOM |

The Bearcats came out a different team after halftime, playing “like ourselves,” Logan said. Logan, whose ball-handling and shooting contributed to the bad first half, believed he was the key guy Huggins was calling out in the locker room. He became a key factor, finishing with 12 points.
“The first half, I'm out there running the point, and if I'm not ready to play, the team's not ready to play,” Logan said. “Coach really told me there were certain things I was doing that I wasn't being myself. I had to come to grips with that.”
Logan began the second half by hitting two free throws and a 3-pointer, and Martin sank a turn-around jumper to get within three at 35-32.
Logan's pull-up jumper with 15 minutes to play cut it to two, and he tied it at 38-38 on a fast-break layup. UC then took the lead for good behind Mickeal with 12:20 to play when he drove the baseline, spun in the lane and lofted an acrobatic layup to put UC up 40-39.
The Bearcats never trailed again. DerMarr Johnson hit a 3-pointer, and Martin dunked to make it 45-41. On the next trip, Martin blocked one shot, disrupted a second and muscled the rebound. Kenny Satterfield then hit a short jumper for a six-point lead.
“We stayed mentally tough,” Logan said. “We felt like we were being us. We played up and down, we got Ken the ball, Pete was slashing, we hit a couple open shots. We were rolling.”
Martin dominated the second half, scoring 16 of his 27 points.
“Kenyon dominates a lot of second halves,” Huggins said. “If he's not the best player in the country, I don't want to play against the best player in the country.”
“It was mental. It wasn't physical,” Mickeal said. “We learned something else about ourselves. Being the championship team we are, we proved we can withstand everybody's best run.”
For Huggins, late night is all right

CINCINNATI (72) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp Tate 28 2-4 0-2 1-7 0 4 4 Mickeal 40 7-13 4-4 3-5 2 3 18 Martin 38 10-17 7-10 3-13 1 4 27 Johnson 32 3-9 0-0 0-3 0 2 8 Logan 19 3-8 6-6 1-2 5 1 12 Stokes 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Fletcher 14 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 1 0 Satterfield 28 1-5 1-2 2-5 2 2 3 _______________________________________________ TOTALS 200 26-57 18-24 11-36 10 18 72 _______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.456, FT-.750. 3-Point Goals: 2-12, .167 (Mickeal 0-3, Johnson 2-5, Logan 0-2, Satterfield 0-2). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 6 (Martin 5, Fletcher). Turnovers: 8 (Martin 3, Johnson 2, Satterfield 2, Fletcher). Steals: 8 (Johnson 2, Martin 2, Satterfield 2, Logan, Mickeal).
TULANE (59) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp Galloway 25 5-10 0-1 4-6 1 3 12 Davis 36 5-14 2-2 3-7 1 1 14 Jordan 21 1-7 1-2 0-3 0 1 3 Marsh 35 1-6 0-0 0-5 4 4 2 Osean 33 4-7 4-4 0-1 4 0 14 Mason 8 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 3 Johnson 8 0-0 2-2 1-2 0 3 2 Miles 10 0-3 0-0 1-2 1 2 0 Billingsley 22 3-5 1-5 1-3 3 4 7 Brown 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 _______________________________________________ TOTALS 200 21-54 10-16 10-29 14 20 59 _______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.389, FT-.625. 3-Point Goals: 7-15, .467 (Galloway 2-3, Davis 2-2, Jordan 0-2, Marsh 0-2, Osean 2-4, Mason 1-1, Miles 0-1). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 1 (Jordan). Turnovers: 16 (Galloway 3, Marsh 3, Osean 3, Billingsley 2, Davis, Jordan, Mason, Miles). Steals: 2 (Billingsley, Miles). __________________________________ Cincinnati 26 46 - 72 Tulane 35 24 - 59 __________________________________ Technical fouls: Cincinnati 1 (Mickeal). A: 9,363. Officials: Don Rutledge, Terry Moore, Sam Croft.