Game Preview: Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Tulane Green Wave

The Bearcats, who have had consistent problems with closing out games this year, finally did that in their latest contest. Cincinnati was able to walk away with a victory on their home floor against Memphis, as they defeated the Tigers by four points. Today, UC is hoping to move to 15-6 on the season as conference-mate Tulane comes to town.

Meet The Opponent

Making the trip up to the 513 from Louisiana will be the Green Wave, who stand at 8-12 on the campaign and are currently 9th in the American Athletic Conference. Tulane will be hoping to end a current two-game skid with their most recent defeat coming at the hands of Connecticut. It hasn't been a pleasant go around for the Green Wave as of late, as they have only won one of their last seven contests.

The scorer for Tulane comes in the form of senior guard Louis Dabney. The 6'3, 210-pounder comes into the day with a 13.1 scoring average and adds 3.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists to go with it. Senior guard Malik Morgan and sophomore forward Dylan Osetkowski are the other main options for the New Orleans-based program. Morgan pitches in with an 11.1 scoring average, while tallying five rebounds and 2.5 assists as well. For Osetkowski, he will have to not only help put points up, but he will be expected to do the heavy lifting on the backboards for the Green Wave as well. Osetkowski is a double figure scorer at 10.5 and he is the team's top rebounder at 6.9 per contest.

Numbers To Know

64.7

Like mentioned above, Tulane does have three players that score over 10 points per game on average. However, they don't get much help elsewhere. The Green Wave come into Fifth Third Arena slotted at 327th in the country in the points per game column, as they only score a bit under 65 points per match-up. That's not a great sign for head coach Ed Conroy because the Bearcats are tied for 11th in points allowed. The visitors will need some help from some of the other guys if they want to pick up the victory on the road.

198

In the latest Ken Pomeroy rankings which were updated last night, you will run into Tulane barely inside the Top 200. Simply put, this is a game that Cincinnati cannot lose. The Bearcats are attempting to boost their resume before March rolls around and while winning won't do much to help, it sure would do plenty of damage if they come out on the losing side today.

0.2

These teams are neck and neck in the rebounding department. Tulane finds themselves just two spots below Cincinnati at 64th in rebounds per game. The difference between the two programs on the glass is that the Bearcats have a slight 0.2 edge per contest. Neither of the teams have a double figure rebounder but they both feature one who is flirting with the mark. It'll be interesting to see if it's Gary Clark (8.6) or Tulane's Osetkowski (8.9), both teams leading rebounders, who pulls down more today.

How To Watch

Game Time: 12:00 PM EST

Channel: ESPNU