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University of Louisville
Cincinnati
Men's Basketball Knocks Off Cincinnati, 63-54
January 24, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 24, 2001
By JOE KAY
AP Sports Writer
CINCINNATI (AP) - Denny Crum's future is still uncertain, but his team's outlook is a whole lot better.
Louisville played its best game of the season on the eve of an important meeting involving its Hall of Fame coach, beating fading Cincinnati 63-54 Wednesday night.
Crum, struggling through one of his worst seasons at Louisville, plans to meet athletic director Tom Jurich on Thursday to talk about his future. Jurich said last week that there's no guarantee Crum will be back for a 31st season.
Crum, who is 670-288 at Louisville, was noncommittal when asked whether he had hoped for such an impressive victory on the eve of the meeting.
"It wouldn't have mattered," he said. "It doesn't change anything.
"I'm just going to talk to him and see where he stands and where I stand so I can plan my future. I have no idea what to expect. I don't expect anything."
None of the 13,176 fans expected Louisville (7-12, 3-3 Conference USA) to play so well on the Bearcats' home court. Cincinnati had won its last 34 home conference games and had laughed its way to a 20-point victory in Freedom Hall only 11 days earlier.
"They just ran over us in the second half (in Louisville)," said Erik Brown, who scored 16 points. "Kenny Satterfield and other players were laughing at some of the stuff we did."
This time, Louisville controlled the game with a balanced attack and a tight defense that left mostly grim faces on the Cincinnati bench.
Cincinnati (12-6, 3-3) lost for the fourth time in seven games because of recurring problems - sloppy play, weak rebounding and an offense too dependent upon its guards.
The Bearcats couldn't even get their fouls right. Coach Bob Huggins was on the court, hopping mad, screaming for someone to foul a Louisville player to stop the clock in the final minutes.
Afterward, Huggins blistered his players for their lack of effort.
"It appeared to me that they felt they'd won by 20 at Freedom Hall and they'd just show up and eventually (Louisville) would say, 'I give,"' Huggins said in a barely audible voice. "I never thought I'd see a team not play hard like that."
Crum was buoyed by his team's most complete game of the season. The Cardinals have been playing well for a half, but hadn't put together a complete game until Wednesday.
"We've always prided ourselves on our team being better at the year end than at the beginning, and this team is not going to be any exception," Crum said. "If anybody tells me we've not gotten better in the last week or two, they've got their head in the sand."
Marques Maybin led Louisville with 19 points and Rashad Brooks added 10 as the Cardinals shot 50 percent from the field and hit half of their 14 3-point tries.
Steve Logan led Cincinnati with 17 points, but Satterfield was held to two points on 1-of-6 shooting.
Louisville's tight man-to-man defense clamped down on Cincinnati's guard-driven offense at the outset, and Maybin hit two 3s and a pull-up jumper for a 15-6 lead. Louisville never trailed again.
After leading 30-28 at halftime, Louisville surged ahead by 10 points - its biggest lead - by taking advantage of Cincinnati's sloppy ball handling. Brown's fastbreak dunk made it 44-34 with 14:08 to go.
Logan scored twice off drives and off a long 3-pointer that completed a 12-2 run and tied it at 46. It turned out to be Cincinnati's final threat.
Brown had two baskets in a six-point run that put Louisville back in control. Cincinnati never got closer than three points the rest of the way.
