By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati's Eric Hicks gets over the top of Akron Jeremiah Wood during the second half. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

The University of Cincinnati Bearcats used a smothering defense in the first half, then turned to a rejuvenated Tony Bobbitt in the second.

The combination enabled the 18th-ranked Bearcats to cruise past Akron 88-66 in their season opener Saturday night before 11,134 fans at Fifth Third Arena, the 38th straight time UC has won its home opener.

The UC players wore patches on their uniforms with the letters "NRH" to remember Huggins' mother, Norma Rae, who died last May.

Junior Jamaal Lucas was a surprise starter in place of Armein Kirkland because Huggins was unhappy with Kirkland's effort in practice Friday. But Huggins used virtually everyone on the bench and they all responded, with 10 players scoring. Six scored nine points or more.

The win was an impressive way for the Bearcats (1-0) to start a promising season given that Akron (0-1) returns five starters from last season's 14-14 team and is expected to be one of the top teams in the Mid-American Conference.

With one of the deepest benches UC has had in long time, coach Bob Huggins can substitute freely. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

"We played a lot harder than we did in the exhibition games," Huggins said. "I thought we were very, very unselfish. I thought we did a lot of positive things, but we don't have that killer in us that we need to get."

Bobbitt's 21-point performance was reminiscent of his 29-point effort against Oregon last season. The senior guard scored in transition and out of the set offense, on 3-pointers and with clever finger rolls off drives to the basket.

Point guard Nick Williams scored 14 in his first UC game. Field Williams added 12 points, as UC shot 46.8 percent from the field.

Recruited for his long-range shooting ability, Bobbitt shot only 37 percent from the field last year.

If he can produce consistently the way he did Saturday, he could be a valuable weapon for the Bearcats off the bench, similar to what Darnell Burton did in the mid-90s.

"With me, it's just about being prepared all the time now," Bobbitt said. "Last year I had so many problems just worrying about what Coach Huggins was going to do to me instead of just going out and playing. Now I'm just playing through the mistakes and my game is getting better and better."

Trailing, 8-7, five minutes into the game, the Bearcat defense smothered Akron, as UC scored 17 straight points to take a 24-8 lead with 7:50 to go in the half.

During the span of nearly eight minutes, UC used its half-court trap to hold the Zips scoreless, forced six turnovers and contested nearly every shot Akron attempted.

"We haven't played that since '93," Huggins said. "So I'm sure they weren't as ready for it as they would have been if they had known we were going to play it, but we are going to play it."

UC held Akron to 25 percent shooting in the first half and forced 13 turnovers to take a 44-21 lead into the locker room.

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E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com

Akron	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Travis	16	0	1	0	1	2	0	3	1	0
A.Hipsher	27	2	2	1	1	4	0	2	4	6
Meyers	8	1	4	0	0	0	0	4	3	2
Tarver	34	4	14	11	14	3	3	3	1	20
Hollingsworth	28	2	5	1	5	4	2	5	0	5
B.Hipsher	8	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	4	0
McFadden	16	5	7	0	0	2	1	2	0	13
Joyce	21	3	4	3	3	3	3	2	1	10
Wood	8	1	2	2	2	5	0	2	4	4
Futch	22	2	6	2	3	3	0	4	2	6
Preston	12	0	4	0	0	2	0	1	0	0
Totals	200	20	49	20	29	36	9	28	20	66

Team rebounds - 3.

Cincinnati	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Maxiell	25	2	9	5	6	9	1	4	1	9
Whaley	24	4	7	1	4	5	1	1	1	9
F.Williams	30	5	10	0	0	1	2	1	0	12
N.Williams	26	3	8	8	8	0	3	3	1	14
Lucas	8	1	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	3
Moore	15	3	5	1	1	2	3	1	0	7
Meeker	5	1	1	0	2	2	0	0	0	2
Hicks	13	1	5	0	0	6	0	1	0	2
Bobbitt	20	7	11	5	5	4	1	3	0	21
Kirkland	17	2	4	5	6	4	2	5	0	9
Johnson	17	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	2	0
Totals	200	29	62	5	16	34	14	20	6	88

Team rebounds - 1.

Akron	21	45	-66
Cincinnati	44	44	-88

3-pointers - A 6-16 (A.Hipsher 1-1, Tarver 1-6, Hollingsworth 0-1, McFadden 3-4, Joyce 1-2, Preston 0-2), UC 5-16 (F.Williams 2-6, N.Williams 0-3, Lucas 1-1, Bobbitt 2-6). Officials - Hillary, McDonald, Mayborg. Attendance - 11,134.