Dec. 27, 1999

Box Score

CINCINNATI, Ohio - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men?s basketball team put up a solid fight against No. 3 Cincinnati, but were not able to overcome the solid Bearcat squad that averaged more than five inches taller than the Panthers, dropping the game 93-60 -- marking the Panthers? biggest loss margin of the year. The Panthers dropped to 6-4 overall, while the Bearcats upped their totals to 10-1 overall and 1-0 in C-USA play.

The Panthers shot 37 percent from the field and 35 percent from the three-point range. From the line, the Panthers were just 13-21. The Bearcats out-rebounded the Panthers, 43-to-27 and had 7 blocked shots while the Panthers had none. One large difference was points in the paint, where the Bearcats outscored the Panthers, 16-to-44. But the Panthers did, however, hold the Bearcats to only 4-for-11 and a .364 shooting percentage from behind the three-point arc, well the Bearcats' 43.5 percent shooting average coming into the game.

?I think Cincinnati was waiting to get back home,? said UW-Milwaukee head coach Bo Ryan. ?It was a sign of respect for us that Cincinnati played hard in every possession.?

The Panthers started out solid, keeping the Bearcats? lead to single-digits for the first nine minutes. But the Bearcats took control with an 18-6 spurt while UW-Milwaukee went 2-for-14 from the field during an eight-minute span, with the Panthers going into the locker room at half-time with a 16-point deficit.

?We played harder in the second half tonight than we have in other games, but we didn?t come out as strong as in the first half.? said Cincinnati head coach Bob Huggins. ?We don?t defend well enough. Our execution has got to get better."

Perhaps the most noticeable difference in the two teams as their height average. The Panthers are at a five-inch deficit on average to the Bearcats. Wisconsin-Milwaukee has only one starter taller than 6-foot-3 -- center Chad Angeli (C, Jr., Wausau, Wis.), who is 6-foot-9 and led the Panthers with 16 points and 5 rebounds. By contrast, Cincinnati has only one starter under 6-foot-6. The biggest mismatch of the night was between the 5-9 Ronnie Jones (G, Fr., Las Vegas, Nev.) and the 6-9 guard DerMarr Johnson. In spite of the difference, Jones was able to hold Johnson to 1-of-7 from the field and only five points. But the Panthers still managed to pose a major problem for Johnson, who was 1-of-7 from the field and finished with five points.

Besides Angeli, only two other Panthers scored in double digits. Freshman guard Jason Frederick (Waukesha, Wis.) had 14 points, hitting 3-for-6 from behind the arc and 4-for-11 overall. Senior Shaun Fountain (G, Columbus, Ohio) added another 10 points.

?Looking for positives from the game, we know our potential weaknesses that we?ve been able to hide so far this season,? said Ryan. ?This is the kind of game that exposes those weaknesses and we learn what we have to do in the future.?

Kenyon Martin, who scored a career-high 26 points along with 7 rebounds, led the Bearcats tonight. Pete Mickeal added another 16, while Kenny Satterfield and Leonard Stokes added 11 and 10 points respectively.

The Panthers travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, to take on the No. 24 Utah Utes on Thursday, Dec. 30, at 7:05 MST.