By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The offense was better, but the defense was spotty at best.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Tuesday's game

So while the University of Cincinnati's 92-75 exhibition victory over the EA Sports All-Stars on Tuesday at Shoemaker Center's Fifth Third Arena looked more impressive on the surface than the Bearcats' 61-48 victory over Northern Kentucky 10 days earlier, the improvement was regarded as only minimal by UC coach Bob Huggins.

"I look at where we can be," Huggins said, "and we're so far from being there."

After trailing, 67-65, with 6:42 to go, the Bearcats, No. 18 in the AP preseason poll, outscored EA Sports 27-8 the rest of the way.

Guard Field Williams scored 25 points to lead UC, making 7-of-12 3-pointers. Center Robert Whaley had 21 points and seven rebounds, but he recognized his shortcomings on defense.

"My offense has just come automatic, but I've been trying to work on my 'D.' It's a more physical game."

EA Sports, which lost to Xavier 100-63 and to Louisville 90-78, shot 44.4 percent and scored 28 points in the paint and 16 in transition.

"I thought it was awful," Huggins said of the UC defense. "The offense I can understand because we just put some stuff in, but the time we've spent on defense with our veteran guys... They got seven points in the first half on out-of-bounds plays because we just stood there."

Sophomore point guard Chadd Moore, who missed the NKU game because of a sore back, played 25 minutes, had four assists and ran the offense efficiently in place of Nick Williams. When he wasn't in the game, he lay on his stomach by the bench.

"It was a little sore, but I played through it," Moore said of his back. "... After four or five minutes, I started getting tight. I had to ask coach Huggins to take me out."

Moore, who's scheduled to receive an epidural shot this morning, said he's prepared to play through the season with pain.

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E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com

EA Sports	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Shirley	35	9	14	2	4	7	1	4	5	20
Price	28	8	13	4	6	6	0	1	0	20
Jones	25	2	7	0	0	4	2	4	2	4
Grays	37	6	16	2	2	4	5	1	3	19
Faux	26	2	6	0	2	2	4	1	1	6
Sufi	7	0	1	2	2	0	2	0	2	2
Houser	6	0	0	2	2	0	0	3	1	2
Brown	15	0	3	0	2	4	0	4	2	0
Buckley	21	1	3	0	0	4	2	1	1	2
Totals	200	28	63	12	20	33	16	19	17	75

Team rebounds - 2.

Cincinnati	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Kirkland	16	1	5	2	2	3	1	1	3	4
Maxiell	25	5	7	2	3	10	1	5	1	12
Whaley	25	10	18	1	3	7	3	1	1	21
F.Williams	35	7	14	4	4	4	2	3	1	25
N.Williams	18	2	3	0	0	1	6	1	0	5
Moore	25	1	5	1	2	1	4	1	1	3
Meeker	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Lucas	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Hicks	6	3	5	0	0	1	0	1	0	6
Bobbitt	17	4	8	0	0	4	1	2	2	10
Johnson	19	3	5	0	0	5	0	1	2	6
Totas	200	36	70	10	14	37	19	17	11	92

Team rebounds - 1.

EA Sports	36	39	-75
Cincinnati	40	52	-92

3-pointers - EAS 7-20 (Shirley 0-3, Price 0-1, Grays 5-10, Faux 2-4, Buckley 0-2), UC 10-23 (Kirkland 0-2, F.Williams 7-12, N.Williams 1-2, Moore 0-1, Hicks 0-1, Bobbitt 2-5). Technicals - None. Officials - Hightower, Sanzera, Sanders. Attendance - 8,380.