Thursday, January 27, 2000
UC-Louisville: Is there fight in the Cards?
Bearcats have won five straight
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
If Cincinnati Bearcats coach Bob Huggins is right, and the Louisville fans at Freedom Hall are “a lot classier” than your typical college basketball fans, perhaps the reception tonight for UC center Kenyon Martin will not be unduly harsh.
Maybe they won't even remember what he said on Conference USA media day in October, or maybe they understood the context in which his message was delivered.
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UC at LOUISVILLE
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• When: 9 tonight
• Where: Freedom Hall (18,865), Louisville
• Records: UC 18-1 (6-0 Conference USA); Louisville 11-6 (3-3)
• TV: ESPN
• Radio: WLW-AM (700)
BY THE NUMBERS
• 6: Bob Huggins' rank among active coaches in career winning percentage after he passed Arizona's Lute Olson Sunday.
• 12.5/10: Jermaine Tate's average points and rebounds vs. Louisville last season.
• 1-3: UofL's record vs. No.1 teams.
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Martin was asked by Ashley McGeachy, then a reporter with the Louisville Courier-Journal, if he believed some of the Cardinals were scared of UC.
“I really think some of their players are,” Martin said then. “I hope that will change, so we can have a game.”
Martin clarified his comments to ensure it was understood he was referring more to former Cardinals Alex Sanders and Cameron Murray than to the players who will start for Louisville against No.1-ranked UC (18-1, 6-0) in tonight's 9 p.m. C-USA game.
And he remembers he was not the only one who said as much that afternoon. Nate Johnson, a four-year starter at forward for Louisville (11-6, 3-3), agreed some Cardinals were intimidated during their five consecutive losses to UC in the past two seasons.
“Me and Nate Johnson said the same thing,” Martin said. “She (the reporter) sat right behind me and asked Nate the same questions, and he gave her the same answers, basically. It was all fun and games. But they might take it the wrong way.”
The losing streak Louisville carries against UC is of less concern at this point than its three losses in the past four games. The Cardinals appeared to be building a team capable of challenging for the league's regular-season title when they destroyed North Carolina (by 17) and Utah (by 20).
In the past two weeks, though, the Cardinals have shot 20-of-68 from 3-point range and been beaten on the boards by an average of 8.3 rebounds a game.
“We're a better team, but we haven't been very consistent,” coach Denny Crum said. “We're not real big and physical, so we've got to beat teams with quickness and good shooting.”
The Bearcats view Louisville as their most athletic opponent to date. With 6-foot-7 Tony Williams at power forward, Johnson at small forward and high-leaping junior Marques Maybin at shooting guard, the Cardinals have three players who can shoot from long distance and attack the basket with drives.
The greatest difference in the Cardinals, though, is the arrival of 6-6 freshman point guard Reece Gaines. With an average of only 3.1 assists, he is not a prototypical playmaker, but Gaines has averaged 12 points and 4.3 rebounds over the past eight games.
“They can make shots. When they make shots, they're very good,” Huggins said. “They're probably more perimeter-oriented, and when they make shots, they spread you out so far.”
Huggins feels the Louisville-Cincinnati rivalry is not what he remembered from his early days as UC coach, before the Bearcats split for the Great Midwest Conference in 1991.
In fact, the competition between the two recovered a lot of its appeal in the first two seasons after they reunited in Conference USA. Louisville came into the Shoemaker Center in February 1996, and dealt the Bearcats their only home-court loss. The Cardinals won the only regular-season meeting in 1996-97 as well.
UC has won the past five against the Cardinals by an average of 14.6 points. Martin expects a more determined opponent this time.
“I think they have guys that will compete now, won't quit,” Martin said. “They've shown it, because they've beaten Utah, North Carolina, people like that. They've got players that will compete.”
GROVE OUT: For the second consecutive game, freshman center B.J. Grove will not make the road trip with the Bearcats, because he did not meet conditioning goals established by the coaching staff.
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