Game Preview: Cincinnati vs Morgan State

It was a devastating defeat for Mick Cronin and the Bearcats in their latest outing on Wednesday night when they fell to Butler courtesy of a Roosevelt Jones last second bucket. However, Cincinnati will look to put that in the rear view mirror today and get back on the right track when they square off against Morgan State.

Meet The Opponent

Morgan State, a program coming out of the Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference, is currently 2-5 on the short season and will come into the Queen City with a two-game losing streak on their plate. The Bears will face their second toughest opponent on the year today, with their most difficult contest thus far being against the now No. 6 ranked Virginia Cavaliers back on opening night. Much like UC, Morgan State will also be looking to bounce back after a rough loss in their most recent game. The Bears were on the wrong end of 62-61 finish against Wagner on the road.

The two standouts for Morgan State on the year are junior forward Kyle Thomas and sophomore forward Phillip Carr. Thomas, a Maryland native, is the go-to scorer for the Bears on the year as he averages a team high 13.3 points per night while adding 4.6 rebounds as well. As for Carr, he is another who is averaging over double figures in the scoring column for Morgan State with 10.3 per game. On the glass, Carr is also putting together a solid 8.9 rebounds per contest. Freshman guard Martez Cameron and senior guard Donte Pretlow are the leading assist men for the blue and orange as both drop a hair over three dimes per game.

Numbers to Know

59.6

The Bears will come into the showdown against Cincinnati with an average of just 59.6 points per game. Not an ideal number for Morgan State, especially when the Bearcats are well-known for the problems they can cause on the defensive end of the floor. In case you were wondering, the scoring average for Morgan State ranks at an unimpressive 343rd in the country. Also, just for comparison, UC is tied with Connecticut for 65th in the nation with 81.4 points per game.

284

This is how many spots apart the two universities are in the latest Ken Pomeroy rankings which were updated yesterday. The Bearcats find themselves in the top 20, sitting at No. 19. As for Morgan State, you can find them all the way near the bottom of the list at 303. From the looks of things, this one should be a nice opportunity for Cincinnati to build up some confidence before the annual rivalry tilt with No. 12 Xavier.

3

The number of Bearcat players averaging over 10 points per game. Those three would be Troy Caupain, Farad Cobb, and Octavius Ellis. With Morgan State being a bottom half defensive team, one should bank on the three reaching the mark today.

How to watch

Game Time: 5:30 P.M. EST

Stream: ESPN3