Cincinnati will have one final opportunity at a top 50 RPI win in the regular season as the Houston Cougars come town. In doing so, UC will say goodbye to seniors Troy Caupain, Kevin Johnson, and Zack Tobler. Also, this will be the end of 5/3rd arena as we know it. "The Shoe" will go under a huge renovation next year and the Bearcats will play all their home games at BB&T arena.
First off, Houston is a pretty solid team sitting at 20-8 and 3rd in the AAC. The Cougars need to win this game if they are going to have any shot at the NCAA Tournament. In all these bracket projections Houston seems to fall somewhere in the First 8 Out of the tournament so this is huge game for them.
Houston's best player if Rob Gray Jr. He puts up over 20 points a game and can stroke the ball from deep. In the first meeting with UC, Gray was coming off the Flu and missed the previous game. He was still able to score 21 points, but UC got the win 67-58. Gray has scored at least 12 points in every game this season. He shoots the three ball at 39% and is also averaging 3 assists per game. He's their best player and UC will not let him beat them. In the game last year at 5/3rd, Gray scored just 6 points and was 3-11 from the field and 0-4 from three.
Another player for the Cougs is Damyean Dotson. He scores 18 a game plus he gets 7+ rebounds a game. Not to mention he is the teams best three point shooter at 45%. Houston came into the season knowing they needed someone besides Gray to step up and he has been that guy. Dotson is the hottest player on this team, the last 9 games he has scored at least 19 points and he has scored 30+ three times.
The x factor for Houston has been Galen Robinson Jr. He scored just 6 points a game, but he has 137 assists on the year and just 50 turnovers. He is pretty good defensive player as well considering he has collected 28 steals on the year.
No surprise that Kelvin Sampson's team gets it done with defense. The Cougars are 30th in scoring defense allowing just 64 points a game. The Cougars struggle getting rebounds though. They get just 35 a game. Bearcats were +4 on the glass in the first game and I expect them to be even better on Thursday night. Houston's only true big man is Kyle Meyer, other than that they rely heavily on guards crashing the boards.
I expect the Bearcats too come out hot simply because that is what they have been doing lately. Kyle Washington should lead the Bearcats in points. Washington scored 19 in the first meeting to lead the Bearcats. UC has been hot from three inside the shoe so I think the Bearcats will send 5/3rd arena out on a high note.
I expect the Bearcats too come out hot simply because that is what they have been doing lately. Kyle Washington should lead the Bearcats in points. Washington scored 19 in the first meeting to lead the Bearcats. UC has been hot from three inside the shoe so I think the Bearcats will send 5/3rd arena out on a high note.
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