Donald Little (Ernest Coleman photos) | ZOOM

        Now, if the University of Cincinnati only could get Donald Little to play like this all the time. The 6-foot-11 junior center took advantage of an outsized and outmanned Wright State team Tuesday night, finishing with eight points, 10 rebounds, three blocked shots and — drumroll, please — no personal fouls in 29 minutes as the Bearcats blew out the Raiders 83-54.

        The game, played before 11,507 fans at Shoemaker Center, matched UC against an upper-to-middle-of-the-pack Horizon League team.

        That's a far cry from playing on the road against a top-20 club, which UC did in its opener Friday against Oklahoma State. Little had just four points and five rebounds in 32 minutes in that game.

        “I think I got embarrassed last game,” Little said. “I tried to come in there not too hyper, because when I get hyper, I get in foul trouble. So I think I was a little relaxed ... and I played a little soft. Tonight I tried to come out more aggressive. When I come out active and ready to go, my team follows me.”

        UC (1-1) did a lot of the things against Wright State (1-1) that it failed to do in its season opener.

Taron Barker | ZOOM

        The Bearcats made 3-point shots, they dove on the floor, they got easy baskets in transition, they got Immanuel McElroy more attempts, they got rebounds from the starting frontline.

        But it's tough to compare the games because of the difference in the levels of competition. Wright State is a perimeter-oriented team, and its tallest players are 6-8, 6-7 and 6-7.

        “Friday night, Donald had 240-pound bodies laying on him all night,” UC coach Bob Huggins said. “It's harder to jump. Donald's going to make plays in a game like this. ... The problem is he's playing against a lot smaller guys.”

        “We need him like that every game,” senior Steve Logan said. “He's been hiding from us, I guess. It's all on him. It's how he feels out there all the time. It's more of a mental thing. He felt good out there tonight.”

Bob Huggins | ZOOM

        UC won its 36th consecutive home opener and improved to 82-19 all time in home openers.

        Logan led Cincinnati with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting and added six assists and five rebounds; he had zero assists at Oklahoma State.

        Leonard Stokes was 7-of-10 from the field and scored 16 points after going 5-of-14 in the opener. McElroy was 5-of-10 from the field with 10 points.

        “I think we got the majority of our baskets in transition,” Huggins said. “We really need to work a little bit harder on halfcourt offense. We're, I hope, a work in progress.”

Leonard Stokes | ZOOM

        The Bearcats made 10 of 22 shots from 3-point range (.455) after going 1-of-13 in their first game.

        The first half was quite a contrast to that of the Bearcats' opener when they scored just 16 points.

        UC had 10 first-half turnovers Friday night and six for the game against WSU; it shot 22.7 percent from the field in the first half at OSU and 58.1 percent against the Raiders.

        The Bearcats led 42-24 at intermission against Wright State, finishing the half with an 11-0 run. They built on that with the first six points of the second half and were ahead 48-24 with 17:13 remaining.

Barker | ZOOM

        It never was a contest.

        The closest Wright State came was 24-20. Then Logan hit a short jumper in the paint. Both teams missed shots. Logan stole the ball from Cain Doliboa right under the UC basket, scored and was fouled. He made the free throw and made it 29-20. The deficit never was fewer than seven points after that.

        “You ask Coach about when is it right for me to go?” Logan said. “And I think that's one of the times when it's right for me to go, when we need a basket and I feel I can get to the rim. That's when I take over.”

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WRIGHT ST (54)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Deister         29   2-7   0-0   0-1  1  1    4
Hope            23   3-5   0-0   1-3  1  3    8
C Doliboa       21  3-11   0-0   3-7  2  2    7
Hollins         36   3-8   2-7   1-4  1  0    8
Bills           24   0-1   0-0   1-1  0  2    0
Bushman         13   1-4   0-1   0-1  1  2    2
Freeman         14   1-2   1-4   0-1  0  1    4
Andrews         10   2-2   0-0   0-1  0  2    6
S Doliboa       30  6-16   3-4   2-7  0  1   15
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 21-56  6-16  8-26  6 14   54
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.375, FT-.375. 3-Point Goals:
6-19, .316 (Deister 0-1, Hope 2-2, C Doliboa 1-7,
Hollins 0-1, Bills 0-1, Bushman 0-1, Freeman 1-1,
Andrews 2-2, S Doliboa 0-3). Team rebounds: 6.
Blocked shots: 1 (Deister). Turnovers: 12
(Hollins 4, Bushman 2, C Doliboa 2, S Doliboa 2,
Deister, Hope). Steals: 2 (Bushman, Hope).

CINCINNATI (83)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Mcelroy         28  5-10   0-1   1-3  2  2   10
Maxiell         18   1-5   0-1   0-4  0  1    2
Little          29   4-5   0-0  2-10  0  0    8
Stokes          25  7-10   1-2   0-3  1  1   16
Logan           29  8-12   1-1   0-5  6  2   21
Williams        18   2-6   0-0   0-1  0  3    6
Meeker           3   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Barker          14   3-4   0-0   1-2  3  1    6
Flowers         10   0-0   2-2   0-0  0  3    2
Crawford        15   1-3   0-0   1-3  0  3    2
Hubbard         11   3-5   1-2   1-3  0  3   10
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 34-61   5-9  6-34 12 19   83
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.557, FT-.556. 3-Point Goals:
10-22, .455 (Mcelroy 0-1, Stokes 1-2, Logan 4-5,
Williams 2-6, Meeker 0-1, Barker 0-1, Crawford
0-1, Hubbard 3-5). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked
shots: 6 (Little 3, Crawford 2, Maxiell).
Turnovers: 6 (Little 2, Flowers, Logan, Maxiell,
Stokes). Steals: 7 (Barker 2, Logan, Maxiell,
Mcelroy, Stokes, Williams).
__________________________________
Wright St          24   30  -   54
Cincinnati         42   41  -   83
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 11,507. Officials:
Rick Hartzell, Larry Ware, Steven Pyatt.

---

Bearcats Stories

UC 83, Wright State 54

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