Southern Methodist @ Cincinnati preview

Southern Methodist at Cincinnati

Last Meeting ( Mar 12, 2017 ) Cincinnati 56, Southern Methodist 71

After pulling out a last-second win at Temple on Thursday, No. 20 Cincinnati will have no time to rest when it hosts defending American Athletic Conference champion SMU on Sunday at BB&T Arena in Highland Heights, Ky. The Mustangs won their second league title in three seasons with a 71-56 victory over the Bearcats last season but are coming off their first conference loss in nearly a year.

Cincinnati trailed Temple throughout but rallied from seven points down with six minutes remaining and pulled out a 55-53 victory when Jacob Evans III drained a straightaway jumper from just inside the arc with four-tenths of a second left. "I just tried to use my size and get a shot up on the rim," Evans told reporters after the game. "Everybody's watching. It's a nationally televised game. That should be enough juice there. If people want to get to the next level, you've got to perform every night." The Mustangs, who posted a signature win over Arizona in the Bahamas back in November, pushed their overall winning streak to five games by opening conference play with home wins over Central Florida and South Florida, but their first road contest ended in a 73-70 loss to Tulane on Thursday in which they couldn’t hold a 12-point, second-half lead. The loss ended a streak of 18 straight wins against AAC opponents and six straight road wins in conference play.

TV: 6 p.m. ET, ESPN2

ABOUT SMU (12-4, 2-1 AAC): Shake Milton scored a game-high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting against Tulane, including 3-of-3 beyond the arc, and contributed six rebounds, while fellow junior Jarrey Foster dropped 16 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. The Mustangs are second in the conference in scoring defense at 59.8 (fifth in NCAA) and lead in 3-point shooting percentage (42.4, sixth nationally). All five starters are averaging at least 10 points with Milton pacing the team at 17.2 (fourth in AAC), while Ben Emelogu II (10.3 points) leads the AAC in 3-point percentage (60.3) with Ethan Chargois (12.6 points) at 43.9 percent (seventh in AAC) and Milton 41.1 percent (13th).

ABOUT CINCINNATI (13-2, 2-0): Kyle Washington scored 18 points and Evans finished with 14 against the Owls, the sixth straight triumph for the Bearcats. Evans (13.5) leads four players in double-figure scoring and also adds 4.5 rebounds to go along with 3.4 assists per game, while Gary Clark contributes 12.3 points and 8.4 rebounds. Reserve guard Cane Broome (9.8 points on 51.1 percent shooting, 3.1 assists in 20.4 minutes), a transfer from Sacred Heart who was the Northeast Conference Player of the Year in 2015-16 after averaging 23.1 points per game, did not play for a second straight game Thursday due to an ankle injury.

TIP-INS

1. Cincinnati leads the all-time series 7-5. Both teams were in the polls for all three meetings last season.

2. Milton has scored 10-plus points in 17 straight games and leads active AAC players in 3-pointers (173) and 3-point percentage (42.1), and is fourth in assists (314).

3. Evans, Milton and Foster are three of the seven players in the AAC who are averaging at least 13 points, four rebounds and three assists per game.

PREDICTION: Cincinnati 64, SMU 58