Wichita St. @ Cincinnati preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 19, 2019 ) Cincinnati 66, Wichita St. 55

Cincinnati will look to bounce back after seeing its eight-game winning streak come to an end when it hosts Wichita State on Sunday. The Bearcats shot 27 percent from the floor in the second half and missed their last 11 field goals as they fell 65-58 to ninth-ranked Houston last Sunday.

“We came out on the short end of the stick,” Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin told reporters. “We didn’t finish getting the ball in the basket around the rim. Give (Houston’s) defense credit, we didn’t handle it the way we needed to handle it.” Outside of junior guard Jarron Cumberland, who finished with a team-high 27 points in the loss, the Bearcats struggled to find scoring against the Cougars as the rest of the team combined for 31 points on 13-for-41 shooting. The Shockers enter Sunday’s contest having won a season-high four games in a row after a 77-62 victory over Tulane last Saturday. The Bearcats are the first repeat opponent of the season for the Shockers as they begin a stretch of seven-straight rematches where they’ll look to become the first American Athletic Conference team to finish league play at-or-above .500 after starting 1-6.

TV: 1 p.m. ET, ESPN

ABOUT WICHITA STATE (12-11, 5-6 American): Forward Markis McDuffie’s team-high 25 points in last Saturday’s victory included a 4-for-7 effort from 3-point range that gave the senior the most career 3s by a non-guard in the program’s history (123). The Shockers matched a season high with eight steals against the Green Wave - turning 17 turnovers into 17 points - while dominating in the paint outscoring the visitors 30-12. Jamarius Burton and Jaime Echenique contributed nine points apiece with the latter chipping in seven rebounds and extending his streak of consecutive games with a block to seven.

ABOUT CINCINNATI (20-4, 9-2): Cane Broome was the only Bearcats player outside Cumberland to reach double figures against Houston as the senior finished with 10 points in 28 minutes off the bench. The Bearcats scored nine points off 13 Houston turnovers while committing a season-low four themselves. After last Sunday’s defeat, Cincinnati ranked 12th in the country in scoring defense (61.8) and 23rd in scoring margin (plus-12.3) - both marks good for second in the AAC behind Houston (60.8 and plus-14.2 respectively).

TIP-INS

1. The Bearcats are 30-1 in conference home games since the beginning of 2016 with their only loss coming against the Shockers last season.

2. Cincinnati G Justin Jenifer ranks in the top five nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.63-to-1).

3. Cumberland (18.96) sits just ahead of McDuffie (18.91) for the most points per game in the conference.

PREDICTION: Cincinnati 70, Wichita State 61