By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Johnny Hollingsworth and Darryl Peterson grew up in Cincinnati following the University of Cincinnati basketball team and hoping that some day they would play for the Bearcats.

That didn't happen, but when Akron comes to town Saturday night to play UC in the season opener for both teams, both players will be members of the Zips, looking to top the team they once rooted for so fervently as kids.

"It was always a dream for me to play for UC," said Hollingsworth. "Now I finally get a chance to play against them."

Unfortunately for Peterson, he won't get the same chance. Peterson, a 6-5 junior forward, will not play Saturday as he recovers from a back injury he suffered during the first week of practice. He also underwent knee surgery during the summer.

"It's the worst," Peterson said of not being able to play against UC. "I really feel good enough to play now but the coaches don't want to throw me out there yet because I haven't had any contact. Coach doesn't want to take any chances with it."

Hollingsworth grew up in Madisonville and played for two years at Withrow before transferring to George Junior Republic High School in Pennsylvania at the urging of his grandmother, Margaret Daniels, to work on his academics.

A 6-1 senior point guard, Hollingsworth averaged 17.4 points per game last year. He was the only player in the Mid-American Conference to rank among the league's top 10 in scoring, steals and assists.

He also played for two years at Wabash Valley (Ind.) Junior College and was part of a national championship team in 2001.

"He does a little bit of everything," said Akron coach Dan Hipsher.

Peterson grew up in Bond Hill and played at Western Hills High School under coach Lannis Timmons, who then accompanied him to Akron as an assistant coach before leaving this year to return to Cincinnati as the head coach at Woodward. Peterson averaged 13.8 points and 4.4 rebounds last year and made the MAC's all-freshman team two years ago.

Both players are expecting sizeable contingents of friends and family at Fifth Third Arena on Saturday when they return to town as key members of an Akron team that's expected to contend for the MAC championship with perhaps the best team Hipsher has coached during his nine years at the school.

"Our big problems last year were defense and rebounding," Hipsher said. "If we can shore those areas up, we'll be a pretty nice team. We've shown the ability to take care of the ball and score."

E-mail: bkoch@enquirer.com