Cincinnati Basketball: UC Faces Tricky Road Test Against Tulsa Golden Hurricane

On Thursday night the Cincinnati Bearcats face yet another critical road opponent on Thursday night, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Last season UC made their first trip to Tulsa while in the AAC, who were 21-7 at the time with 14 conference wins.

But no one trusted that record. They were a paper hurricane, if you will (that’s terrible).

At the time Tulsa’s best wins were Memphis (twice) and Temple. They lost to pretty much every team ranked ahead of them in RPI and walloped on cupcakes throughout most of their non-conference schedule. So a 56-47 win for a surging Bearcats team wasn’t especially surprising.

Not this year, though. The Golden Hurricane not only beefed up their non-conference slate but are performing well against them. That Oregon State loss aside, they took down a Wichita State team that was ranked ninth at the time and are currently leading the Missouri Valley Conference and Oklahoma State, who at one point weren’t god awful. So while Cincinnati handled Tulsa fairly thoroughly in their last game, winning by 19, Thursday night will not be a walk in the park for the Bearcats.

KEY NUMBERS

They’re still a pretty average basketball team, ranking 149th in scoring offense, averaging 73.7 points per game, and 90th in scoring defense, allowing 68.6 points per game. Plus Tulsa is still a horrendous team on the boards, averaging just 8.7 offensive rebounds (215th) and 22.9 defensive rebounds (216th) each night. Essentially if the Bearcats dominate the glass like they did in their first match up, during which UC won the rebounding battle 39-31 with Gary Clark grabbing 14 of his own, Cincinnati will be in good shape Thursday night.

More from Cincy on the Prowl

• Cincinnati Football: Bearcats aim to get back on track against Oklahoma in Big 12 opener
• Cincinnati Football: Red zone concerns could be a recurring issue throughout season
• Cincinnati Football: Players of the game from the Bearcats recent loss to rival Miami
• Cincinnati Football: Defensive standouts from the disappointing Battle for the Victory Bell loss
• Cincinnati Football: Can the Bearcats bounce back from frustrating loss against Miami?

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Shaquille Harrison and James Woodard: The duo combined for 30 points in the last go around but 21 of them game from Harrison. Woodard went just 3-11 from the floor, including 1-7 from three. The goal for the Bearcats is simple; allow one of them to go off if they must but ensure the other is shut down. Either Harrison or Woodard will get their numbers but Cincinnati will be in a world of hurt if both are lighting UC up.

BEST MATCH UP

Cincinnati’s Zone v. Harrison/Woodard: As dangerous of scorers as they are, they have . Harrison is a rather pedestrian three-point shooter. He doesn’t take many, just 35 this season, but is hitting just one in five attempts. Woodard has a better all around game but was stymied by UC’s length a month ago. It will be interesting to see if the Bearcats’ zone repeats their performance on Thursday night. Harrison used it to attack on the inside and draw fouls. Woodard had little to no answer to it. At the very worst, we should hope for a similar result in round two.

FINAL THOUGHTS AND PREDICTIONS

Again, this could be a trap game of sorts for the Bearcats. Cincinnati hasn’t played particularly well on the road this season against above average opponents, especially in the AAC. Despite being fifth in the conference standings, Tulsa can be categorized as an above average team. Plus the Golden Hurricane get UC on their home court on a Thursday night. You can bet the crowd will be a major factor in this game.

Even so, and I don’t think it will be easy by any means, I still see the Bearcats winning this one. They’ll at least squeak by.

Cincinnati: 65

Tulsa: 61