Memphis and Cincinnati are playing a college basketball game on Thursday night and the two teams meet at Fifth Third Arena and each are ranked in the top 25 and the Bearcats are looking to stay close with Louisville in the AAC standings and the Tigers are trying to finish the season on a high note and the game is streaming at 7 pm on the WatchESPN website.
The matchup comes after a win against Louisville and the Cardinals are obviously national champions from last season and the Tigers are looking to make a run in the conference and in the overall NCAA tournament. The former Big East teams in the conference have been playing very strong and this has five teams in the conference that are ranked in the top 25 and now Louisville is looking to lock up another regular season title for Rick Pitino. The team has a half game lead on the Bearcats and that makes this game against Memphis even more important.
The Cardinals have the lead over Cincy in the standings in the conference heading into the final games on the schedule and behind then are UConn and SMU and they have been playing very well under Larry Brown, while the Tigers are next in the standings. Memphis comes into the game as one of the best offensive teams in the nation and they are 22-7 overall and 11-5 in the conference. This season they are ranked in the top 30 in scoring with nearly 80 points per game, while they are third in assists and are in the top 20 in shooting percentage with nearly 49 percent from the floor.
The defense hasn't been as great overall, but the Tigers are still ranked eighth in the nation in steals and are allowing less than 70 points per game and that will need to be up to task on Thursday against the Bearcats. The team won over Louisville and now the Tigers have Cincinnati and SMU to finish the season and that makes it three games against ranked teams in a row heading into the conference tourney and that could be some momentum and experience for the postseason.
Cincy comes into the game after a tough loss against Connecticut, as they scored just 45 points in the game and that was a tough one to swallow and they are only averaging 68 points per game and that makes the matchup against Memphis a tough one. The team has the game at home and they next will play Rutgers on the road and this comes as they are allowing the third best points allowed in the nation with just 57 per game and that will have to be up to snuff against Memphis. The team is ranked in the top 30 in blocks and they are averaging over eight steals per game as well. The two teams are battling in the AAC and are hoping for good runs in the conference tourney and in March Madness.
Check here for the Memphis and Cincinnati live coverage from ESPN.
https://espn.go.com/watchespn/index