Kevin Paige, left, and Paul Dyson, center, of Louisiana-Monroe, get tangled up with Cincinnati's Jason Maxiell. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        LAS VEGAS — Bob Huggins was shuffling his players in and out of the lineup like a blackjack dealer at a six-deck table. (Who could resist that analogy about a tournament game in Las Vegas?)

        In the first eight minutes of the University of Cincinnati's 102-66 victory over Louisiana-Monroe on Thursday night, the Bearcats coach used every healthy player available.

        He benched his starters. He benched the reserves who came in for the starters. He substituted one seldom-used walk-on (John Meeker) for another (Jamaal Lucas). He gave B.J. Grove his first minutes of the season. UC was struggling against the Indians' zone defense and against their full-court press.

        “I didn't think we came ready to play,” Huggins said. “I was trying to put some other people out there, and if they'd have played hard, they would've stayed.”

        Then it all started coming together.

        One minute, the game was tied at 14. Then the Bearcats scored nine straight points to begin a 23-4 run. It was never close after that.

        “We guard pretty good when we want to,” Huggins said. “And we started to guard better.”

        UC (9-1) won its ninth straight and improved to 2-0 in the Las Vegas Classic.

        Its game tonight against Mississippi State matches what appears to be the two best teams in the tournament.

        The Bulldogs (11-0) are also 2-0 in pool play. They just got past Richmond 74-72 on Thursday night.

        “I didn't think we played very well,” Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said. “I hope we don't play that way (tonight). If we do, we won't have a chance against Cincinnati.”

        Same for the Bearcats.

        “Our defense was horrible,” UC junior Taron Barker said. “If we play like that (tonight), we'll be in for a long night. We've got to come more focused.”

Cincinnati's Rodney Crawford, left, shoots over Louisiana-Monroe's Kevin Paige. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        The Bearcats didn't appear in sync at either end of the floor Thursday night.

        It was Barker who got them going with his best all-around game. He finished with a career-high 18 points and career-high five assists.

        “I thought he was our best player tonight,” Huggins said. “He played hard. He defended.”

        Barker also hit five of nine 3-point tries. Coming in, he was 1-of-7.

        “Usually I try to get other people off and I don't get wide-open looks as I got tonight,” Barker said. “I can knock down shots.

        “(Coach) just came over and told me, "T, just go out there and play,' so I just tried to do that. I love playing defense; that's what gets me going. And when I make some assists, that gets me cooking, too.”

        Huggins praised Barker's improved attitude since spraining his ankle and not dressing for the Coppin State game Dec.8. That angered Huggins, who said repeatedly that sprained ankles aren't injuries at UC.

        Barker dressed for the Toledo game but did not play.

        “His sense of purpose is so much better,” Huggins said. “He's come into practice with the idea he's going to come in and get better instead of coming in worrying and pouting about not getting enough playing time. That really has turned him around. He's twice as good as he was.

        “We need him. We needed another guy on the perimeter.”

CINCINNATI (102)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Davis           18   3-5   1-3   2-4  1  2    7
Mcelroy         23   3-4   1-2   3-5  2  2    8
Little          10   1-3   1-3   1-3  0  5    3
Stokes          17   1-2   4-4   0-0  1  1    7
Logan           25  7-13   4-4   2-5  3  2   23
Williams        13   4-7   0-0   0-1  0  1   12
Meeker           3   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    3
Lucas            4   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Barker          21   5-9   3-4   0-2  5  2   18
Flowers          6   2-2   1-2   1-3  1  0    5
Crawford        13   0-0   2-7   2-5  0  3    2
Hubbard         15   1-4   0-0   0-0  1  1    3
Grove           17   1-2   3-4   2-4  0  1    5
Maxiell         15   2-4   2-4   2-5  0  3    6
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 31-56 22-37 15-37 14 23  102
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.554, FT-.595. 3-Point Goals:
18-34, .529 (Davis 0-1, Mcelroy 1-2, Stokes 1-2,
Logan 5-10, Williams 4-6, Meeker 1-1, Barker 5-9,
Hubbard 1-3). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 3
(Little 2, Flowers). Turnovers: 24 (Barker 4,
Davis 3, Flowers 2, Little 2, Stokes 2, Williams
2, Crawford, Logan, Lucas, Mcelroy). Steals: 9
(Davis 2, Maxiell 2, Barker, Logan, Lucas,
Mcelroy, Stokes).


UL MONROE (66)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Lubeck          23  4-10   3-4   1-1  0  2   12
Paige            9   0-0   1-2   0-0  0  5    1
Myrda            5   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  5    0
Horn            16   1-3   2-3   1-1  1  1    4
Coln            27   4-9   0-1   0-2  0  1   12
Griffin         23   1-4   1-3   1-2  2  1    3
Hardaway        16   0-0   0-0   0-0  1  0    0
Branch          10   1-3   4-4   2-2  1  1    6
Woodham          2   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  1    2
Keith           16   2-4   0-3   0-2  0  0    4
Ciszkiewicz      3   0-1   0-0   0-1  0  0    0
Dyson            9   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
C Johnson       16   0-4   0-0   1-3  0  3    0
Lemons          25 11-13   0-5  5-11  3  5   22
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 25-54 11-25 11-25  8 25   66
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.463, FT-.440. 3-Point Goals:
5-16, .313 (Lubeck 1-4, Horn 0-1, Coln 4-8,
Griffin 0-2, Keith 0-1). Team rebounds: 3.
Blocked shots: None. Turnovers: 26 (Griffin 6,
Coln 4, Hardaway 2, Horn 2, Lubeck 2, Paige 2, C
Johnson, Lemons, Myrda, Woodham). Steals: 7
(Lemons 3, Coln 2, Horn, Paige).
__________________________________
Cincinnati         54   48  -  102
Ul Monroe          28   38  -   66
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. Officials: Jd Collins,
Bruce Hosier, Bill Forehand.

---

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