Temple Owls
No. 9 Cincinnati looking to keep streak alive vs. Temple (Jan 24, 2018)
Temple Owls

No. 9 Cincinnati looking to keep streak alive vs. Temple (Jan 24, 2018)

Published Jan. 23, 2018 8:03 p.m. ET

CINCINNATI -- When a reporter asked Mick Cronin on Monday to comment on his team being ranked in the top 10 of this week's Associated Press poll for the first time in three seasons, the Cincinnati Bearcats head coach was having none of it.

"Somebody texted it to me," Cronin said. "I was going to describe that person with an adjective. I'm trying to get over vomiting all day Sunday over our performance Saturday night."

The ninth-ranked Bearcats are riding a 10-game winning streak into Wednesday night's game against the Temple Owls at BB&T Arena, and are looking to extend the nation's longest active home winning streak to 37 straight.

Still, Cronin has plenty of ammo heading into Wednesday's game.

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Despite a seemingly comfortable 86-60 win over East Carolina on Saturday, the Bearcats (17-2, 6-0 American) did not play well for extended stretches, and even allowed the Pirates to shoot better than 55 percent in the first half.

The final score was deceiving, and did little to mask another slow start, something that has been a pattern for Cincinnati the past three games.

"You can play well and lose because you miss shots against a good team, you can also not play well and win and that gets masked by the winning," Cronin said. "That's the danger of not having lost since Dec. 9."

The Bearcats haven't lost since being beaten by Florida in Newark, New Jersey. The closest call they've had was at Temple, a 55-53 win on Jan. 4, won on Jacob Evans III's jumper with one second remaining.

"I don't think we've been playing great," said Cronin. "Saturday was our worst performance. We just did not execute well. It's hard to stay sharp, that's why they pay me."

Cronin shouldn't have to work too hard to get his team's attention this week. The Owls have been a thorn in the Bearcats' side at times. Temple is the last team to beat the Bearcats at home, winning 77-70 in the league opener on Dec. 29, 2015.

Cincinnati is playing its home games at Northern Kentucky University while on-campus Fifth Third Arena undergoes an $87 million renovation.

Bearcats forward Gary Clark didn't have his best outing in the first meeting against Temple with 10 points and four rebounds and managed only four shot attempts. But, Clark is coming off a huge week with back-to-back double-doubles, averaging 15.5 points and 14.5 rebounds while shooting 48.3 percent to earn Co-American Athletic Conference player of the week honors.

Unlike the first matchup against the Bearcats, Temple finished strong with a 12-0 run to close out a 60-51 win over Penn on Saturday. This was in contrast to several other games this season, including Cincinnati, where the Owls squandered leads late.

"We're equal opportunity on bad plays," said Temple coach Fran Dunphy of his team's struggles down the stretch. "We take bad shots, we throw it away ... we cover the gamut. But, to survive and move on to the next challenge, we're grateful for it."

Cincinnati leads the all-time series with Temple 20-9, including three straight wins. The Bearcats own an 8-2 advantage over the Owls at home.

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