Houston (28-2) at Cincinnati (25-5)
When: Sunday, March 10th, 2019
Where: Fifth Third Arena,
Cincinnati, Ohio
Time: 12:00 ET | TV: CBS
Opening Odds: Cincinnati -1.5/126
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The Cincinnati Bearcats can not gain the No. 1 seed in next week’s American Athletic Conference Tournament, but they can share the regular season title with a win over the first-place Houston Cougars on Sunday. Houston will be looking to win the conference crown for themselves and have already earned at least a share of a regular season title for the first time since they were in the Southwest Conference in 1991-92. Houston clinched the top seed in next week’s league tournament with a 90-79 win over SMU, along with Cincinnati’s loss at Central Florida on Thursday, while tying the program record of 28 wins in the regular season (1967-68). The Bearcats are 16-0 at home all time against the Cougars and have won 13 of their last 15 games overall, losing only to Houston 65-58 on Feb. 10 and 58-55 at UCF. You can view the brackets and free picks for all conference tournaments taking place by clicking here.
Junior guard Armoni Brooks (13.7 points, team-high 6.5 rebounds) led the way on Thursday by recording his first double-double of the season (20 points, 10 boards) and drained 6-of-10 from beyond the arc. Senior guard Corey Davis has been on fire offensively, averaging 20.6 points while hitting 24-of-47 from 3-point territory over the last five games and leads the Cougars in scoring (16.2). Senior forward Breaon Brady broke out of a scoring slump versus SMU by scoring 16 points to up his season average to 6.4. Guard Galen Robinson Jr. will make his 130th appearance on Sunday – second all-time in school history.
Junior forward Tre Scott, who is averaging just 8.9 points a game, broke out with 20 points along with nine rebounds and three assists in the loss to UCF. Junior guard Jarron Cumberland has made just 2-of-17 from 3-point land over his last five games, but is still third in the league in scoring (18.3) and tops the team in assists (3.6). Sophomore guard Keith Williams chips in 10.6 points a game, while senior guard Justin Jenifer has an impressive 3.82 assist-turnover ratio.
I’m not sure how motivated the Cougars will be in this one with the No. 1 seed already wrapped-up. They’ve also never won at Cincinnati and the Bearcats have been playing well despite their poor shooting effort on Thursday. I’ll lay the short number.
Pick: Cincinnati -2
Cougars are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 Sunday games.
Cougars are 10-2 ATS in their last 12 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.
Cougars are 14-3 ATS in their last 17 road games.
Cougars are 13-3 ATS in their last 16 road games vs. a team with a winning home record.
Cougars are 10-4 ATS in their last 14 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
Cougars are 20-8-1 ATS in their last 29 vs. American Athletic Conference.
Cougars are 9-4 ATS in their last 13 games overall.
Cougars are 33-16-2 ATS in their last 51 games following a straight up win.
Bearcats are 21-46 ATS in their last 67 Sunday games.
Bearcats are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of greater than .600.
Bearcats are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
Bearcats are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
Bearcats are 0-7 ATS in their last 7 games overall.
Bearcats are 0-7 ATS in their last 7 vs. American Athletic Conference.
Under is 9-1 in Cougars last 10 vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
Under is 6-1 in Cougars last 7 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
Under is 5-1 in Cougars last 6 games following a straight up win.
Under is 5-2 in Cougars last 7 overall.
Under is 5-2 in Cougars last 7 vs. American Athletic Conference.
Under is 7-3 in Cougars last 10 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.
Under is 5-0 in Bearcats last 5 overall.
Under is 4-0 in Bearcats last 4 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
Under is 5-0 in Bearcats last 5 vs. American Athletic Conference.
Under is 5-0 in Bearcats last 5 games following a ATS loss.
Under is 8-1 in Bearcats last 9 vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
Under is 39-12 in Bearcats last 51 home games vs. a team with a winning road record.
Over is 6-2 in Bearcats last 8 home games.
Under is 39-15 in Bearcats last 54 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of greater than .600.
Under is 9-1 in the last 10 meetings.
Under is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings in Cincinnati.
Home team is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings.
