PITTSBURGH (AP) Duke vs. Winthrop might not have been the biggest
mismatch of the NCAA tournament after all. How about Steve Logan vs. Boston
University?
Logan put on a dazzling display of shooting and playmaking while
outscoring Boston U. by himself until well into the second half, leading
top-seeded Cincinnati to an oh-so-easy 90-52 victory Friday night in a
first-round West Regional game.
It was a typical No. 1 vs. No. 16 romp, with the only question being
whether Logan would score more points than the Terriers (22-10). He didn't,
settling for 27 before leaving with 7:27 remaining after scoring only four
in the second half.
It was Bearcats coach Bob Huggins' 500th career victory he is 500-171
at Walsh, Akron and Cincinnati and few were as easy as this one.
``I didn't know if I would last this long,'' said Huggins, the 95th
Division I coach to reach 500 victories. ``You didn't see how bad some of
those teams at Walsh were.''
Logan, the All-American guard, had been in a shooting slump, but all that
ended during a remarkable burst late in the first half that turned an
already one-sided Cincinnati advantage into an almost embarrassingly big
lead.
With the Bearcats (31-3) up 23-8, he began what might be called Logan's
run with a long 3-pointer, the first of seven consecutive shots he would
hit. Four were 3-pointers, each of them longer than the last.
``I've been shooting it well in practice, so when I got in the game, I
just had to focus,'' Logan said.
For a while, it seemed like he wouldn't miss and a frustrated BU coach
Dennis Wolff wondered what could possibly be done to throw Logan off.
``He was making some NBA 3-pointers and, on a number of them, he was
closely guarded,'' Wolff said. ``It wasn't like he was standing there wide
open.''
Logan, too quick and too strong to be guarded by a BU backcourt that
seemed to be playing in slow motion, went on to score 11 consecutive points
during a 24-3 Bearcats run. That streak ended when Logan threw a perfectly
timed over-the-rim pass to Immanuel McElroy for a dunk.
Still, Logan wasn't done, hitting three more long jumpers to make it
43-16 at the half. The more compelling halftime score, though, was Logan 23,
BU 16, and the Terriers didn't overtake Logan until there were 13{ minutes
remaining.
``He made a lot of long 3s, and you couldn't do anything about that,''
said Chaz Carr, who guarded Logan.
Cincinnati's excellent shooting it shot 53.1 percent despite playing
substitutes most of the final 10 minutes didn't surprise Huggins.
``We've been shooting well in practice, and I expected us to shoot well
during the game. We know what time it is that it's one and out,'' he said.
Logan, the No. 2 career scorer at Cincinnati to Oscar Robertson, seemed
ready to threaten his career high of 41 set Feb. 15 against Southern
Mississippi. But he settled into a playmaker's role in the second half as
the Bearcats did little more than work on their outside shooting for
Sunday's second-round game against UCLA.
It was just the start Logan wanted in NCAA play after shooting only
9-for-38 from 3-point range in his previous seven games. He went 10-of-15
overall and 4-of-9 on 3-pointers in 27 minutes.
But it certainly wasn't what BU wanted after winning nine in a row, only
to be dealt its most lopsided loss since a 73-42 defeat to Drexel in 1997.
The Terriers missed their first 13 shots while falling behind 14-2 and
didn't make a field goal until Rashad Bell's layup with 11:21 left in the
half. Bell finished with 16 points.
``It was very discouraging,'' Boston U.'s Billy Collins said. ``We wanted
to come out and play well. But we were rushing our shots and not setting up
plays, and that put us in a hole.''
Field Williams added 16 points, and McElroy had 11 for Cincinnati,
playing in its 11th consecutive NCAA tournament.
If Cincinnati didn't deserve a No. 1 seeding, as some argued last
weekend, Wolff doesn't want to see a team that does.
``They're difficult to defend, especially Logan,'' Wolff said, ``and
that's what's going to keep them alive in this tournament.''
