Thursday, December 09, 1999No. 1 Bearcats offer clues about March
BY PAUL DAUGHERTY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CHICAGO — Cincinnati led North Carolina by 12 at halftime Wednesday, and the only second-half question was if the No.1 Bearcats would transfer their feet from Carolina's sternum to Carolina's throat. The Bearcats haven't been good at that yet, which has given Bob Huggins an early season reason to snort.
![[huggins]](/bearcats/img/photos/1999/12/120999huggins2.jpg)
Nice tie, Huggs.
(AP photo)
| ZOOM |(How do you know you're good? When your coach is worried about how you win, not if.)
North Carolina made a run, closing to within two with 12:11 left. Three minutes later, UC was back up by 10. The Bearcats went on to beat the seventh-ranked Tar Heels 77-68, putting another brick in their top-ranked wall.
It's tough to say what the No.1 team proves by beating No.7 on a neutral floor in December, if only because all proof in college basketball is offered in March.
But if the Bearcats wobbled against North Carolina, they didn't fall. They reeled. Then they rocked. The TV guys would say they “responded.”
The Bearcats did it in a way that is already starting to become familiar: fast-breaking on the wings, brawling inside and scoring from everywhere.
A lot of it is Kenyon Martin. Martin plays basketball like somebody just slapped his mother. He fits UC's jawing, flexing image like a set of brass knuckles.
In the first four minutes Wednesday night, Martin slapped a muscle-flexing statement on the Tar Heels big men, grabbing three rebounds and blocking two shots. Both blocks were ruled goaltends.
The second — a monstrous swoop-and-retrieve against UNC center Brendan Haywood, that Martin caught like a line drive to the center field wall — should have counted as a block on style alone.
Making a statement
“The one I grabbed, that was just a statement. If I could have swatted it into the stands, I would have,” Martin said.Five minutes into the second half, Martin still had more goaltending calls (three) than blocks (two).
But with the Tar Heels running up UC's back, it was Martin who swished a 10-foot baseline fadeaway to make it 62-56 with six minutes left. And it was Martin who fought through a cramp in his left thigh to draw a foul in the lane with 1:57 to play.
Martin had to leave the game. Steve Logan made the two free throws and UC led 69-61.
The early knock on the Bearcats is that they've played too much to the crowds and the cameras. When the footlights come up, they want to be dancing.
To start the game Wednesday, freshman DerMarr Johnson shot the ball almost as soon as he touched it, then airballed his next try, a 3-pointer from the wing. Johnson rushed some shots and took some that weren't smart. He also finished with 14 points. The thought occurs that UC might be good enough that its penchant for Showtime won't matter most nights.
If one guy is off, the Bearcats plug in somebody else. In the first half, Leonard Stokes stroked a 3-pointer from the right wing to make it 32-18. Donald Little followed with a jam three minutes later. Stokes and Little are UC's third and fourth options off the bench.
When North Carolina thought a zone might work, Kenny Satterfield popped it with a drive and a dish to Pete Mickeal for a slam.
How good are the Bearcats? We might have to wait until March for the answer. After Wednesday night, the schedule thins out: at Oklahoma Dec.22, a home game with Temple Feb.20. The rest is wilderness, mainly because Conference USA is down.
But there is no reason to doubt them now. If the Bearcats felt they had something to say about getting a good team down and keeping it down, they said it loudly enough Wednesday night.
“The good thing is, we can get so much better,” Huggins decided.
December isn't March. But it can offer some early clues.
Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments at 768-8454. Fair Game, a collection of his columns, is available at local bookstores.
![[huggins]](/bearcats/img/photos/1999/12/120999huggins.jpg)