The Cincinnati Bearcats defeated the SMU Mustangs 52-49 to sweep the season series.
The Bearcats won the first meeting between the teams earlier this season in a nail biter that ended 73-68 at Fifth Third Arena. Now that the Bearcats are currently ranked 23rd in the nation and 2nd in the American Conference behind Houston, they could not afford to lose any ground. SMU came to the game at 13-13 with 10 of those wins Coming at home , they played another tough game against the Bearcats but fell to 13-14 on the season. It wasn’t the prettiest or most convincing win for the Bearcats but a win is a win. Jaron Cumberland led the way in scoring with only 12 points but UC played physical defense while winning the rebound battle. Nysier Brooks grabbed 12 rebounds while Tre Scott snatched up 10 boards to help Cincinnati earn the W.
Jahmal McMurray had a great game for the Mustangs in the 1st match up against the Bearcats this season, scoring 21 points on 5/11 from Deep. This time around he put up 27 points while shooting 6/14 from 3 point range, but it was not enough to take down the Bearcats as the rest of the team only scored 22 points all together. The next highest scorer was Isiaha Mike with 7 points while also grabbing 7 rebounds. SMU now falls under .500 after losing another nail biter to Cincinnati this season. They will now move on to play Wichita State as they hope to get back to .500.
The Cincinnati Bearcats will play the Memphis Tigers at Fifth Third Arena and look to continue their winning streak to 5 wins in a row. They defeated the Memphis Tigers earlier this season on the road 69 to 64 thanks to 3 Bearcats scoring double figures. The Tigers also had 3 players in double digits and i expect another great game where we see great scoring.