Wake Forest coach Dave Odom suspected his team would be ahead of others early in the season. Nine of its top 10 players were returning from last season, including its top four scorers.

WAKE FOREST at UC

• When: 1 p.m. today.   • Where: Shoemaker Center (13,176).   • Records: Wake 14-4 (3-4 ACC), UC 12-6 (3-3).   • TV: Ch.9, 2.   • Radio: WLW-AM (700).   WAKE FOREST   Player-Ht-Yr-Avg   Josh Howard-6-6-So.-14.5   Darius Songaila -6-9-Jr.-13.4   Josh Shoemaker-6-9-Sr.-6.8   Robert O'Kelley-6-1-Sr.-12.0   Ervin Murray -6-5-Jr.-2.4   Coach: Dave Odom (235-125, 12th season; 273-167 overall)   CINCINNATI   Player-Ht-Yr-Avg   Immanuel McElroy-6-4-Jr.-5.3   Jamaal Davis -6-9-Jr.-8.1   B.J. Grove-6-11-So.-3.2   Steve Logan-6-0-Jr.-15.3   Kenny Satterfield-6-2-So.-14.9   Coach: Bob Huggins (288-92, 12th season; 456-164 overall)   BY THE NUMBERS   • 4: Times UC has lost three straight under Bob Huggins   • 3-0: UC's series lead vs. Wake Forest.

        But he did not expect to start 12-0, including a 31-point victory over then-No.3 Kansas, a 23-point victory over then-No.8 Virginia and road wins at Michigan and Temple.

        Ranked 20th in the pre season, the Demon Deacons were as high as No.4 (Jan. 1).

        “I didn't think we'd go through our nonconference schedule in November and December undefeated,” Odom said.

        “We were playing our best basketball at that time. That's good and bad. It's good in that you want to play well, but you certainly want to play well and be able to build on it. The problem that we've run into is our league (Atlantic Coast Conference) is so difficult.”

        No. 9 Wake Forest, which faces the University of Cincinnati today at Shoemaker Center, has lost four of its past six games.

        The Demon Deacons (14-4) have lost four straight on the road — at North Carolina, Maryland, Georgia Tech (in OT) and Duke (85-62, Wednesday). But they have won 21 of their last 22 games against unranked opponents.

        “A couple of our games, we did not play that well,” Odom said. “We're not playing badly, but we're not playing our best. It's more the schedule than it is how you're playing.”

        What makes Wake Forest most dangerous is its balance. Four players average double-figure scoring. Seven average at least 6.6 points a game. Nine average at least 11 minutes a game.

        Sophomore Josh Howard, who sat out the Duke game because of the flu, is the leading scorer (14.5 ppg). Darius Songaila (13.4) and Robert O'Kelley (12.0) were preseason candidates for the John R. Wooden All-American team and Player of the Year award. Craig Dawson (13.2 ppg) has come off the bench every game but one. Broderick Hicks has averaged 17 points over his past two games.

        O'Kelley is the No.9 scorer in Wake Forest history and its No.2 all-time 3-point er shooter.

        “If one or two guys aren't playing well, we have the ability to roll our lineup through and hopefully hit on somebody that is playing well,” Odom said. “I don't go into any game saying, "If this guy doesn't score 20 points for us, we don't have any chance of winning.'

        “We have to get back to getting the ball inside and getting more production out of our inside guys.”

        The Bearcats (12-6) are trying to get production, period. They have lost two straight games and are coming off a lackluster 63-54 home loss to Louisville that had coach Bob Huggins criticizing his team's lack of effort and enthusiasm.

        UC has never lost two straight at Shoemaker Center. It is 11-7 against Top 25 teams at the Shoe; Wake Forest is the second-highest ranked opponent (by the As sociated Press) to face the Bearcats there.

        “Cincinnati's a difficult place to go for any team looking for a win,” Odom said. “The atmosphere's going to be very much like we faced (at Duke). They need a win for their own reasons. You'd like to think you'd go in there and catch them fat and happy. That's not the case. That's going to only add to the difficulty of our challenge.

        “We certainly have to get into the game on the perimeter. We can't let (Steve) Logan and (Kenny) Satterfield ring up 25 points apiece. That would be absolutely death for us.”

        Steve Logan, who missed Thursday's practice with a migraine, returned to practice Friday and is expected to be fine for today's game. Howard did not practice Thursday but returned to practice Friday and is expected to play today, although he won't be 100 percent.

UC, Wake Forest need boost McGuire was mentor to area coaches Southern Miss women 81, UC 71

New Cinergy Field has views, grass, character
Readers like tall wall
New manager likes grass
Graves biggest star at Redsfest
Baseball blocks Deion's contract
Chalmers takes aim at Duquesne
XU women 72, St. Bonaventure 60
Bengals not happy with training staff
New St. X stadium will have artificial turf
'Browns Backers' rooting against Ravens
DAUGHERTY: Modell gets a facelift
Ex-Browns say Modell had to move
Modell helped build NFL foundation
Players can find trouble in Tampa
Super Bowl list
Super Bowl notebook
Miami's Jameson gets another test
UK looks to recover in Rupp
McGuire was mentor to area coaches
Olympic boxers make pro premiers
Local boxers fight here in April
Mighty Ducks 5, Louisville 4
Cleveland 5, Cyclones 4
New Mexico 105, Stuff 96
Boys basketball coverage
Girls basketball coverage
Hamilton 59, Colerain 39
Scott 66, Campbell County 56
Cincinnati high school results