Tulsa @ Cincinnati preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 10, 2019 ) Cincinnati 70, Tulsa 65

Cincinnati responded to its first loss in American Athletic Conference play with four straight victories and looks to extend the winning streak to five when Tulsa visits Thursday night. The Bearcats started their run with a 70-65 overtime win at Tulsa on Jan. 10 and continued it Saturday with a 66-55 triumph at Wichita State as American Player of the Week Jarron Cumberland led the way with 18 points.

“Great win for our team,” Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin told reporters. “I thought we matched their energy. We’ve got a lot of guys going through this for the first time. … We continue to show growth as a team.” Cumberland is averaging 21.3 points in league games, tied for second with Connecticut’s Jalen Adams entering Wednesday, but the junior guard was held to 14 on 5-of-16 shooting (2-of-8 from 3-point range) with four turnovers against the Golden Hurricane earlier this month. Tulsa’s loss to Cincinnati was the first of three in the last four outings and the Golden Hurricane dropped to 1-4 in true road games with a heartbreaking 64-62 setback to Central Florida on Saturday in which they coughed up a double-digit lead. “We played hard,” Tulsa coach Frank Haith said in a postgame radio interview. “Our guys competed their butts off. We just didn’t make enough plays.”

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2

ABOUT TULSA (12-7, 2-4 American): The Golden Hurricane led by 15 at UCF late in the first half and by nine at intermission before making 7-of-20 from the field and allowing 50 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes. Senior guard DaQuan Jeffries had 15 points and nine rebounds Saturday to push his team-high marks to 13.5 and 5.6, respectively, while junior forward Martins Igbanu (12.1 points, 5.4 boards) is the only other player averaging double figures. Senior guard Sterling Taplin (9.9 points, team-high 4.4 assists) is scoring 11.7 per game in the past three.

ABOUT CINCINNATI (16-3, 5-1): Cumberland was named American Player of the Week for the third time this season after scoring 34 versus South Florida and connecting on 5-of-17 from the field while grabbing seven rebounds in the win at Wichita State. Cumberland leads the team in scoring (17.8) and sophomore guard Keith Williams is the only other player in double figures (11.4), shooting 50.9 percent from the floor. Senior guard Justin Jenifer (8.6 points, team-best 3.6 assists) scored 17 on 4-of-5 shooting at Wichita State and is averaging 13.3 the past three games.

TIP-INS

1. Tulsa sophomore F Jeriah Horne makes 41.9 percent of his 3-point attempts and scored a career-high 27 against UConn on Jan. 16.

2. Cincinnati junior C Nysier Brooks is shooting 61.7 percent from the field overall and averaged 11.7 points the last three contests.

3. The Bearcats have won five straight meetings and seven of the last eight with the only loss coming in overtime (2016).

PREDICTION: Cincinnati 74, Tulsa 64