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The Cincinnati Bearcats followed a heart-breaking loss to a good Iowa State with a shocking loss at home to the upset-minded Temple Owls.
The Owls came out strong and did not seem to stop. In a game that seemed like the Bearcats just could not get anything to fall, the Owls capitalized, shooting 40 percent from behind the arc.
Cincinnati came out sluggish and seemed like the long holiday break had gotten to them. A big struggle for coaches these days is keeping your team focused through breaks such as these.
A Cincinnati team that has proven time and time again that they are one step away from being an elite team lost to their first unranked opponent this season.
This Bearcats team has chosen to live by their offense and has struggled on defense recently. When faced with similar, slow starts, Cincinnati has been able pull themselves ahead relying on hot shooting in the later parts of games. In the one, Cincinnati simply couldn't flip the switch.
This time the Bearcats struggled to get the ball through the net or find any good looks for that matter. This Temple team came out looking for an upset and were able to lock down Cincinnati on offense.
Cincinnati's offense has struggled mightily this season when games get close late and this game proved again that there is no one true team leader to take control late in the game.
The game was close the entire time and was very back and forth with no team taking full control until Temple put together an 11-5 run late and hit three free throws to put it away.
Troy Caupain lead Cincinnati with 19 points and seven assists while Octavius Ellis lead the team with seven rebounds.
Their defense forced a season-low eight turnovers while their offense turned it over eight times.
The Bearcats dropped their first game of the AAC play and will not play next until the New Year on January 2 in Fifth Third Arena against the Golden Hurricane of Tulsa.