Immanuel McElroy takes the Dukes' Aaron Lovelace to the hole. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        You can say this about the University of Cincinnati's four consecutive victories: The Bearcats have won each by double digits — and by an average of 24.3 points — and they have not allowed opponents to make runs and get back in games.

        UC's 74-41 disposal of Duquesne on Saturday was just the latest example.

        “Later on in the season, we're going to have to play for 40 (minutes), and that's what we did tonight,” UC senior guard Steve Logan said. “We played for a whole 40 minutes and kept the pressure on them. We ... did not stop playing out there, and that's the sign of a good team or a team getting better.”

        The Bearcats go into final exam week with a 4-1 record after a dominating performance.

        Cincinnati won the rebounding battle 55-28, held the Dukes to just 22.9 percent shooting and helped force 19 turnovers. No Duquesne player scored more than nine points.

        The game was never really a contest. Never.

        The Bearcats were ahead by 10 points five minutes after tipoff and by 20 points 16 minutes into it. It was 40-17 at halftime. The lead reached 35 with less than three minutes remaining.

        “Bobby was very generous to Duquesne, because I play in his golf tournament during the summer,” Dukes coach Danny Nee said of UC coach Bob Huggins. “They could've beaten us by 150 if they wanted to. We're disappointed we couldn't give them a little more competition.”

        Logan led the Bearcats with 22 points. The senior guard also had three rebounds, three assists, two steals and just one turnover before going to the bench for good with 4:10 left. He was the only player who scored in double figures. No Bearcat played more than 26 minutes.

        Jamaal Davis, who grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds against Dayton, followed that up with a game-high 11 Saturday. Donald Little had 10 rebounds.

        “Our defense is starting to pick up,” Logan said. “Our guys are in position to stop men and rebound the ball and get out and start the break. Coach has been telling us to get the rebound and kick it out and let us run. Our defense creates offense. We work on it at least two hours out of the three hours we're in practice, so we should be making improvement.”

        Huggins' rotation is starting to become clear. Freshman Jason Maxiell is the first big man off the bench, followed by 6-foot-5 senior forward Rodney Crawford. Field Williams and Taron Barker are the top reserve guards — who comes first is situational.

        So what good came from Saturday?

        “We got a chance to play a lot of guys,” Huggins said.

        Jimmy Hubbard played a career-high 13 minutes, Williams 17, Barker 18 and Maxiell 19.

        “I think some of those guys we're going to have to play,” Huggins said. “Barker's going to have to play. Field's going to have to play. Hopefully they'll make a shot next time we play them (Williams and Barker were a combined 2-of-11 from the field). Jimmy Hubbard, hopefully he'll make a shot the next time we play him (he was 1-of-6).”

        Duquesne (2-2) is an Atlantic 10 Conference program trying to ease out of the depths of three consecutive 20-loss seasons. The Dukes have not been to the NCAA Tournament since 1977, have not had a winning season since 1993-94 and had gone 62-137 (.312) over the previous seven years under John Carroll, Scott Edgar and Darelle Porter.

        Nee, who rebuilt programs at Ohio University and Nebraska, was hired in April as Duquesne's new coach. He coached Robert Morris last season.

        “We're teaching the system,” he said. “We're instilling discipline. We're instilling a work ethic. creating a program from scratch. It's a lot of work, a lot of time, but you have to know what you're doing. You have to have a plan. We have a good plan.

        “It's slowly coming around. I don't know what's going to happen day to day; it's a journey.”

        Duquesne 17 - 24—41
Cincinnati 40 - 34—74

        Attendance—10,711. 3-point goals—Duquesne 4-14 (Smith 1-3, Lovelace 0-1, Njoya 1-1, Forney 0-1, Midgley 0-1, Bluemling 0-3, Pawlak 2-3), UC 4-25 (Davis 0-1, Stokes 0-2, Logan 2-6, Williams 1-7, Meeker 0-1, Barker 0-3, Flowers 0-1, Hubbard 1-4). Technical fouls— None. Officials—Art McDonald, Bill Conner, Frankie Bordeaux.

Bearcats bound for Motor City Bowl Guidugli follows UK but keeps focus on his team UC pours it on... and on and on UC notebook

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