Monday, February 21, 2000

TEMPLE 77, UC 69

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'It's a fallacy that they own us,' Huggins says - but results say otherwise

BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Kenny Satterfield loses the race to the ball against Temple's Quincy Wadley. (Jeff Swinger photos) | ZOOM |

        The Cincinnati Bearcats were in search of a challenging game to measure where they are as a basketball team, and now they know. They are 504 miles from Philadelphia's Broad Street, site of the Temple University campus, and that is close enough.

        They would be just as well if they were a few regions removed from Temple when the NCAA Tournament selection committee releases its bracket in less than three weeks. The main thing UC discovered Sunday afternoon in a 77-69 loss to the Owls at the Shoemaker Center: The Bearcats — who dropped from No.1 to No. 3 in both polls — can lose if the other team is big, talented and unorthodox.

        In other words, if the other team is Temple.

        “If I had my druthers, there's a lot of people that I'd rather play,” UC coach Bob Huggins said. “But it's a fallacy that they own us.”

        No.15 Temple (20-4) has won its past three against the Bearcats (24-2) who saw their Division I-best 16-game winning streak and second-best 42-game home-court streak end.

DerMarr Johnson wrestles for the ball. | ZOOM |

        The Owls used three varieties of their matchup zone to keep the Bearcats off balance. It's hard to imagine a team with the Owls' personnel playing a standard man-to-man defense and holding center Kenyon Martin to 5-of-14 shooting and 13 points. It's impossible to expect a team with two big men the size of 6-foot-9 Kevin Lyde and 6-10 Lamont Barnes to set them up for five inside attempts combined, mitigating Martin's defensive impact.

        The Owls got 59 of their points from wings Mark Karcher (28), Quincy Wadley (16) and Lynn Greer (15). They became the first team in 63 games to shoot .500 or better against UC, even though they scored only five baskets from within six feet of the goal.

        Greer hit 5-of-5 from 3-point range in the first half. Karcher scored 23 of Temple's first 29 points in the second half to rally the Owls from a 53-46 deficit that stood after UC's Steve Logan hit the second of consecutive 3-pointers.

        Temple had point guard Pepe Sanchez in the lineup for five assists and one huge 3-pointer despite the ankle injury coach John Chaney insisted would bench him. They've still lost just once in the 16 games he's played.

Pete Mickeal drives past Wadley. | ZOOM |

        “I thought coming in they were a top-five team. I don't know who's voting them 15th,” Huggins said. “They're very good, and they made every shot. Hopefully, our guys understand how much better we've got to get on the perimeter defensively. We've got to get a whole lot tougher.”

        That's what frustrated Huggins most. The Bearcats handled many of the concerns Temple presents, but lost the game at one of their strongest points: wing defense.

        “Pete Mickeal's supposed to be able to go out and guard. His guy got 28,” Huggins said. “We got knocked off the ball.”

        Huggins also used DerMarr Johnson and Logan against Karcher. Johnson's reach was a bother, but Karcher successfully shot over his fingertips at least twice.

        “He was hitting unbelievable shots,” Johnson said. “He was fading away. He's got a wide body, so he can push off and get a shot off. They hit a lot of big shots that kind of broke our heart.”

        The Bearcats had far more problems operating their defense than solving Temple's. They shot .463 from the field, made seven 3-pointers and turned over the ball nine times, with point guard Kenny Satterfield dicing the zone for 10 points and five assists. Sanchez had one steal, tying a season low. UC's point total was the highest of any team that played the Owls with Sanchez in the lineup.

        UC was led by 16 points from Johnson, who connected three times from 3-point range in the first half.

        After Temple adjusted its zone from a 1-3-1 look to a 2-3 to make it more difficult for Johnson to get jumpers in the corners and deep wings, Logan made three 3-pointers from the point and propelled UC to its only seven-point lead with 9:39 left.

        Temple then extended its defense toward the midcourt line and forced the Bearcats to begin their attack farther from the goal. They scored only two field goals, both by Martin, in the next eight minutes.

        “At this time of year ... irrespective of the outcome, it says a lot about what kind of team you have,” Chaney said. “I don't think Bobby is too ashamed. It might be the best thing to happen to his team to lose a game like this.

        “It was a close game against, I think, a good team. I think he can walk away knowing they lost a very close game, and they could win this game just like we won it.”

• AP Poll • USAT/ESPN Poll

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