The Cincinnati Bearcats have conference championship dreams on their mind. The No. 11 Bearcats are poised to take the regular-season title for the American Athletic Conference if they can get past a few more opponents, mainly the Connecticut Huskies and Shabazz Napier.
Cincinnati is currently tied for the top spot with No. 7 Louisville as both teams head into the final three games of the year. The Bearcats have taken a step back in the race, splitting the past four games while having their 19-game win streak at home broken by Louisville in the final seconds of the game. Cincinnati will aim to bounce back, but facing the Huskies will not be an easy task.
The Bearcats got the first win over Connecticut after Napier was held to just 16 points on 5 of 19 shooting. He went 2 of 12 from beyond the arc in that loss. However, the Huskies get the Bearcats at home, a place where Napier has put up 20.9 points in seven conference games. He put up 27 points when the two met at UCONN last year.
Cincinnati will work to their strengths which is defense. The unit ranks fourth in the nation, allowing just 57.4 points per game. Offensively, Sean Kilpatrick is leading the way as he sits on top of the conference with 20.5 points per game. The senior has averaged 25.3 points in the last eight games.
Kilpatrick seems to thrive against the Huskies. The guard has averaged 21.3 points and 8.0 rebounds in three meeting with the conference rivals. A win for the Huskies gets them back into the Top 25 poll. They dropped out after loosing to SMU, but bounced back against South Florida. Expect the Huskies to be focused on getting back into ranked territory when facing Cincinnati.