Darnell Williams doesn't remember the details. The Xavier sophomore isn't sure who guarded him, and he wasn't aware of how many points he had.
When last year's Crosstown Shootout against Cincinnati was over, all Williams knew was that the Bearcats had beaten the Musketeers 99-90.
''I was just upset we didn't play as well as we should have,'' Williams says. ''I didn't really care about the points. I just wanted to win the game.''
Williams led Xavier with 24 points that night, hitting 11 of 15 field-goal attempts.
Junior Ruben Patterson will likely start out guarding Williams tonight.
''Keith (Gregor) had a bad ankle last year, so he had trouble with him,'' UC coach Bob Huggins says. ''(Williams) was playing the (power forward) 4 spot at the end of the game. We were guarding him with (center) Art (Long). We should have been able to take advantage of that. But they were fouling a lot, and I didn't want to put Art on the line.''
Williams was one of six Musketeers scoring in double figures, but Williams had 10 points more than anyone else.
''He was slashing to the basket; he was hitting open shots; he just played a good overall game,'' says teammate Gary Lumpkin, who scored 14 against UC.
Says Williams: ''I played all right. I was just trying to play hard, keep the team together and keep us in the game so we had a chance to win. They were playing
straight-up man-to-man (defense), and I was just hitting shots.''
It was not quite his best outing. Williams set a school freshman record by scoring 35 points against Duquesne.
Williams, who scored 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting in Saturday's victory over Western Kentucky,
doesn't expect the Bearcats to focus too much on him tonight just because of his performance in last year's game.
''I don't think they'll try to do anything different,'' he says. ''I don't think any team will change their game plan because of one person.''
Published Nov. 26, 1996.
