AAC front-runners Cincinnati, SMU meet again (Feb 12, 2017)
The top teams in the American Athletic Conference will clash for the second time in four weeks on Sunday when No. 11 Cincinnati faces No. 25 Southern Methodist at Moody Coliseum in University Park, Texas.
Cincinnati (22-2, 11-0 AAC) is riding a 15-game winning streak. The Bearcats are coming off a 60-50 victory over Central Florida.
SMU (21-4, 11-1) has won seven in a row since suffering a 66-64 loss to Cincinnati on Jan. 12. The Mustangs have won 17 of their last 18, including a 66-50 victory over Temple on Thursday.
Kyle Washington logged his seventh double-double of the season in Wednesday's victory over Central Florida, finishing with 14 points, 11 rebounds and four steals. Jacob Evans had 11 points, six assists and four steals for the Bearcats, who won despite shooting 35.4 percent from the field and making just 9 of 29 3-pointers.
"We won anyway despite our struggles from the field, and most of them were wide-open looks," Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said.
Cronin applauded his team's defensive intensity.
"I was really, really happy with our effort," Cronin said. "I thought we played extremely hard on defense. We had 47 deflections, 12 steals and we held a team to 50 points. You can't ask for much more than that from a defensive effort."
Semi Ojeleye had a career-high 30 points and 10 rebounds in SMU's victory over Temple on Thursday. The Mustangs shot 37.9 percent from the field and made just 4 of 17 from beyond the arc, but they amassed a huge 49-32 rebounding advantage and forced 16 turnovers.
"This was a scary game," SMU coach Tim Jankovich said. "I felt like our guys possibly played a little tight, but Semi carried us from the offensive end, which he's very capable of doing."
The victory came three days after SMU made its debut in the Top 25.
"It's great to get that recognition nationally," Ojeleye said. "We feel like we're a team that can win a national championship, but we have to stay focused on the bigger picture no matter what our ranking is."
This will not be the first time these teams have tangled this season. Cincinnati held on for a 66-64 win over SMU on Jan. 12 after leading by as many as 15 points. Troy Caupain scored 16 points and hit a clutch 3-pointer down the stretch for the Bearcats.
Cincinnati shot 46.3 percent from the field and made 12 of 26 from 3-point range in that game. SMU shot 40 percent from the field, made nine 3-pointers and outrebounded Cincinnati 37-27.
"They're a great team and we knew it would be hard to just blow them out," Caupain said. "They play hard basketball. They load the box heavy and it's hard to get easy baskets.
"When they got back in the game, we shot five jump shots and missed all of them. Coach got on us when we went into the locker room. We gave up two late-half buckets and he was like, 'This isn't a blowout. They're not just gonna lay down for us.'"
