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How to Watch: No. 15 Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Memphis Tigers

Its the penultimate game of February.

NCAA Basketball: Memphis at Cincinnati Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
  • Tipoff: 7 p.m. ET
  • Television: ESPN
  • Announcing crew: Adam Amin (play-by-play) and Len Elmore (analyst)
  • Radio: 700 WLW
  • Announcing crew: Dan Hoard (play-by-play) and Chuck Machock (analyst)
  • Gamblin’ info: UC opened as 13 point favorites with the over under set at 130
  • Series history: This is the first and only scheduled meeting between these two teams this season. UC has won 40 of 73 all-time matchups with the Tigers, who won the most recent clash 63-59 at home last February. The Bearcats took the other battle of last year’s campaign 76-72 at Fifth Third Arena and has won four of the last six against Memphis.

As we sprint toward the regular season’s conclusion, the No. 15 Cincinnati Bearcats will host the Memphis Tigers for the first and only time this year in the second-to-last game at Fifth Third Arena for the red and black this season.

Cincinnati has recovered from its 60-51 loss at SMU on Feb. 12 with wins in back-to-back games. They were pretty easy victories to achieve, as the Bearcats took out USF (68-54) and Tulsa (80-60). The win over Tulsa was the 300th of head coach Mick Cronin’s career and means there are only four games left this season.

Kyle Washington led the way against the Golden Hurricane, as he scored a team-high 18 points on 5-of-7 shooting. All five starters scored in double figures, and Troy Caupain got back to normal, scoring 11 to go with eight assists.

Washington, along with Gary Clark, who is averaging a double-double over the last four games, will have a tough task against Memphis, as they will be asked to slow down Memphis’ Dedric Lawson. The 6’9” sophomore is averaging 19.5 points and 10.1 rebounds per game, not to mention 3.3 assists and is a monster in the paint. Nysier Brooks, Tre Scott and Quadri Moore may be given a few more minutes than usual as Cronin throws bodies at Lawson in an attempt to keep him contained.

Despite Lawson’s efforts, Memphis has lost three of its last four games, falling to 18-9 overall and 8-6 in American Athletic Conference play. The Tigers are ranked 90th in the country according to KenPom, and they are much better defensively (99.2 adjusted defense) than offensively (107.1 adjusted offense).