Danny Fortson has no idea what Xavier is planning to do to slow him down, but he's sure that it will be something different that last year.
''They ain't going to let me get 40 points and 17 rebounds again,'' Fortson said.
Fortson's performance in UC's 99-90 victory was the best of his 68-game career at UC.
And Xavier didn't just use a man-to-man and 3-2 zone.
''We did try different things,'' XU coach Skip Prosser said. ''We threw the kitchen sink at him, and obviously it didn't work. He scored every conceivable way.''
Xavier used a triangle and one last year. Three players surrounded Fortson in the paint, while another chased Darnell Burton, who hit five-of-six from three-point range on the way to 19 points.
That opened things for Damon Flint, who scored 19.
That's Xavier dilemma: Help on Fortson and risk the wrath of UC's outside bombers.
''Whenever they're on from the outside,'' XU's T.J. Johnson said, ''they're a very tough team to beat.''
Said Fortson: ''If they double-team me, we've got enough other guys that someone is going to step up.''
But Xavier, like most teams, has no one to contend with the 6-
foot-7, 260-pound Fortson one-on-one. Johnson, XU's strongest inside player, got in foul trouble early trying that last year.
''When our big men got in foul trouble, there were times I had to guard him,'' XU's Darnell Williams said. ''That's not real good.''
No, that's not real fair: Williams is 6-4 and 200 pounds.
''He was scoring almost every time down,'' Williams said. ''He was just using his brute strength. He's smart. He knows he can use his wide body.''
The bad news for Xavier is Fortson looked quicker and stronger than ever in UC's opener against Western Carolina. He led the Bearcats with 29 points and 15 rebounds.
Prosser has kind of a what-can-you-do? attitude.
''We can't handle him any worse than we did last year,'' Prosser said. 'We're just going to try to play him as hard as we can.''
Published Nov. 26, 1996.
