The Cincinnati Bearcats and Connecticut Huskies are very familiar with each other. After both advancing in the first round of the AAC tournament, they meet for the third time this year in the semifinals of the tournament. Sean Kilpatrick and Shabazz Napier will battle it out in the matchup as both players were crucial in the first set of wins.
Kilpatrick leads the AAC in scoring with 20.9 points per game, helping the Bearcats earn the top seed. Napier earned conference player of the year honors while sitting second in the league with 17.6 points per game. When one player is held in check, the other team wins. That was certainly the case in the regular season as both teams split the series.
Kilpatrick had 26 points and 12 rebounds in Cincinnati's win in February. Napier only had 16 points while going 5-of-19 in the loss. However, he followed that up with 18 points and 11 rebounds when the Huskies won the March 1 matchup. Kilpatrick only had 16 points in the loss and was the only Bearcats player to get into double digits in points. He also finished with a career-worst seven turnovers.
Cincinnati might have won their first tournament game, but they certainly did not play well against UCF. Kilpatrick had 21 points, but did not get much help elsewhere was Justin Jackson and Kevin Johnson struggled to add points. Connecticut did not play well either when they beat Memphis. The Tigers spent the entire game targeting Napier, leaving other players to step up. Niels Giffey made six 3-point shots, making up for the fact that Napier had just 11 points.
The winner of the Cincinnati and Connecticut game will face either Louisville or Houston in Saturday's championship game before heading on to the NCAA tournament next week.
