The University of Cincinnati has gotten all the help it needs. Now it's up to the Bearcats to earn at least a share of the Conference USA regular-season title and win the American Division outright.

        Plenty rides on tonight's game at South Florida.

Team Conf. All W L W L AMERICAN DIVISION Cincinnati 9 5 19 8 Charlotte 9 6 17 10 Marquette 9 6 14 12 Saint Louis 7 8 15 13 Louisville 7 8 11 18 DePaul 4 11 12 16 NATIONAL DIVISION Southern Miss 10 5 20 7 Memphis 10 5 16 12 South Florida 9 5 17 10 UAB 8 7 16 12 Houston 5 10 8 19 Tulane 2 13 9 19

        With a victory, UC (19-8, 9-5) would clinch a first-round bye in the conference tournament (March 7-10, Louisville), take over sole possession of first place in its division and tie for the best record in league play.

        Houston, which UC defeated Saturday by 35 points, upset Marquette 66-64 Wednesday night, dropping the Golden Eagles to 14-12, 9-6. They are tied for second place in the American Division with Charlotte (17-10, 9-6), which blasted DePaul 90-66.

        Southern Mississippi (20-7) is now tied with Memphis (16-12) for the best record at 10-5 after defeating the Tigers 74-55 Wednesday night.

        Much of this happened while the Bearcats were en route to Tampa, Fla.

        “I think the whole team is (excited),” UC sophomore Kenny Satterfield said even before the results were known. “Everybody's starting to understand how hard you've got to play if you want to get on the court. The last four weeks have been real intense in practice, and it's been showing in the games.”

        Cincinnati faces the top scoring tandem in Conference USA tonight: South Florida's Altron Jackson is second in the league (19.7 ppg) and B.B. Waldon seventh (17.1).

        The Bearcats have held the leading scorers of every C-USA team but one to an average below their season average. The exception: Kelly Wise of Memphis scored 16 against UC and averages 15.1.

UC at SOUTH FLORIDA

• When: 9 p.m. today.   • Where: Sun Dome, (10,411), Tampa, Fla.   • Records: South Florida (17-10, 9-5 C-USA), UC (19-8, 9-5).   • TV: ESPN.   • Radio: WLW-AM (700).   SOUTH FLORIDA   Player-Ht-Yr-Avg   Altron Jackson-6-6-Jr.-19.7   B.B. Waldon-6-8-Jr.-17.1   Gerrick Morris-6-9-Fr.-3.7   Cedric Smith -6-4-Sr.-10.8   Sam Sanders-6-4-Sr.-4.2 Coach: Seth Greenberg (73-70, fifth season; 178-140 overall)   CINCINNATI   Player-Ht-Yr-Avg   Immanuel McElroy-6-4-Jr.-6.8   Jamaal Davis -6-9-Jr.-6.8   Donald Little-6-11-So.-6.3   Steve Logan-6-0-Jr.-17.2 Kenny Satterfield-6-2-So.-14.0   Coach: Bob Huggins (295-94, 12th season; 463-166 overall)   BY THE NUMBERS   • 13-3: UC's series lead over South Florida.   • 2,731: Combined career points for USF's B.B. Waldon and Altron Jackson.   • 19: Career double-doubles for Waldon.

        The only other leading scorers to tally better than their average were Marquette's Brian Wardle (22 points, 19.0 ppg) and Louisville's Marques Maybin (19 points, 18.3 ppg), but both scored just seven points in their other game against UC.

        “I think it's all scouting and taking away their favorite moves, making them do things that they normally don't do,” UC junior Jamaal Davis said.

        Of course, slowing down the top players is just part of the battle.

        “There are not a whole lot of (teams) in our league where you can say, "Let's stop this guy and you'll win the game,'” UC coach Bob Huggins said. “It's not like that; if it was, it'd be easy.”

        A Huggins-coached UC team has never lost to South Florida. The Bearcats have beaten the Bulls nine straight times.

        South Florida is coming off a 79-61 loss at Memphis on Sunday night. Jackson, who sprained his ankle against UAB (Feb. 21), finished with just five points on 1-of-7 shooting. Coach Seth Greenberg said Jackson did not have his usual explosiveness and was “a shell of himself.”

        UC forwards Immanuel McElroy and Leonard Stokes will defend him tonight. The Bearcats will likely try to trap Waldon in the post; they've been successful doing that against other big men.

        Waldon is the No.5 scorer in league history, Jackson No.7.

        Freshman center Gerrick Morris is the leading shot blocker in the conference (2.59 a game); he had six against Memphis. Senior guard Cedric Smith has 1,147 career points and is fourth in C-USA history in assists and eighth in 3-point field goals.

        “It's probably Seth's best team,” Huggins said.

        “You can't turn the ball over against them and give them easy opportunities. They do a great job in their (1-3-1) halfcourt trap and score a lot of points off their defense. Jackson creates a lot of havoc and gets a lot of people out of what they want to do offensively. Fortunately for us, we've played against a lot of 1-3-1 this year and have had a lot of success against it. So our guys will at least have confidence attacking it.”

        South Florida also can clinch a first-round bye in the league tourney and tie for the overall best record with a victory.

        “We've got to seize the opportunity,” Greenberg said. “That's what it's all about. Being in position is one thing, taking advantage of being in that position is another.”

        Said Huggins: “I've told our guys all year we've just got to take care of our business. Everything else will take care of itself.”
       

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