By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLUMBUS - The Cincinnati Bearcats got a lot of mileage this season out of the perimeter shooting of guards Tony Bobbitt and Field Williams, but the Bearcats have struggled to find a guard who can break down a defense.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos from UC game

That shortcoming hurt them badly Sunday in their loss to Illinois, where the three Illinois guards combined for 51 points, 24 assists and only two turnovers.

"Guard play hurt us all year," said UC coach Bob Huggins. "We tried to make Nick (Williams) a point guard, but that didn't work out as well as we wanted it to. We still had Chadd (Moore), but then Chadd had a bad back and couldn't practice sometimes."

Eventually, Huggins had to turn to 6-6 James White and 6-8 Armein Kirkland to play the point and while the mismatches they created with their size sometimes paid off, neither was especially adept at handling pressure or getting the Bearcats into their offense consistently against good teams.

MORE TALK: Illinois coach Bruce Weber said the UC players hit a "hot button" with his players with their talking before the game.

"I think it played to our advantage," Weber said. "Our guys came in. They were so fired up. And once we got going, our guys got that killer instinct and got that look in their eye and went after the jugular."

The UC players, who denied trash talking to the Illini on Friday, again said they did nothing to provoke Illinois.

"So you don't think they were talking to us either, right?" said UC's Tony Bobbitt. "You don't play basketball with your mouth. I'm pretty sure each team was trying to get fired up and they were the better team today."

Illinois forward James Augustine said the Bearcats knocked over the Illinois sign outside the locker room after the teams' initial warm-ups. "That's just disrespectful," Augustine said. "Running in they were telling us we're soft, telling us we're no good. But they do what they do and we're going to Atlanta."

UC coach Bob Huggins said all the talk about talk was overblown.

"I haven't seen anybody win a game with their mouth. ... All that stuff is fun for you guys, but it's overblown."

LIGHTS OUT: Illinois' 63.7 percent shooting was the highest percentage against a UC team since Stanford shot 62.8 percent against the Bearcats in the 2001 Sweet 16. "They shot it as well as anybody has shot it against us in a long time," Huggins said. "But we helped them. I tell our guys all the time you can't let people get into a rhythm and we let them get into a rhythm."

Two-and-out

The Bearcats lost on the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time in the past eight seasons. A look:

2003-04

• UC 80, E. Tennessee St. 77

• Illinois 92, UC 68

2002-03

• Gonzaga 74, UC 69

2001-02

• UC 90, Boston U. 52

• UCLA 105, UC 101, 2 OT

2000-01

• UC 84, Brigham Young 59

• UC 66, Kent State 43

Sweet 16

• Stanford 78, UC 65

1999-00

• UC 64, UNC-Wilmington 47

• Tulsa 69, UC 61

1998-99

• UC 72, George Mason 48

• Temple 64, UC 54

1997-98

• UC 65, Northern Arizona 62

• West Virginia 75, UC 74

1996-97

• UC 86, Butler 69

• Iowa State 67, UC 66

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E-mail koch@enquirer.com