Cincinnati vs Connecticut | Prediction & Pick

Big East rival clash in the capital city

Two rivals from the Big East tangle as the Cincinnati Bearcats square off against the UConn Huskies in a third round West Region contest on Friday in Washington D.C.

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#6 Cincinnati (26-8, 11-7 Big East) vs. #3 Connecticut (27-9, 9-9 Big East)

Date/Time: Saturday, March 19, 9:55 PM ET
Venue: Verizon Center in Washington, DC.
Broadcast: TBS

Money Line: Cincinnati +130, UConn -150
Spread: UConn -3
Over/Under: 129.5

The Huskies won the regular season meeting between the two teams as Kemba Walker scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half, en route to a 67-59 victory back in February at Cincinnati.

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UConn outshot the conference’s stingiest defense in that one, 50 to 44 percent including an uncharacteristic 33.5 percent long-range shooting performance.

The Bearcats are back in the tournament for the first time since 2005, and is off to a successful start as they took out the 11th seeded Missouri Tigers, 78-63 on Thursday. Dion Dixon added 16 points, and Cashmere Wright had 11 points and seven assists for the Bearcats, who shot 62 percent in the second half and 54 percent for the game. But once again, it was the Cincy defense that made the biggest difference, and at one point went nearly 11 minutes without giving up a field goal.

Cincinnati took the lead for good midway through the first half and literally shut down Missouri’s “Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball”.

For the Huskies, they advance to the round of 32 for the first time since advancing to the Final Four in 2009 as Walker decide to orchestrate rather than perpetrate and dished out a career-high 12 assists, scoring 18 points and grabbing eight rebounds to lead No. 3 seed Connecticut to an 81-52 victory over Bucknell on Thursday night.

It the most assists by a Connecticut player in an NCAA tournament game in school history and the most by a Big East player in the last 15 seasons.

Roscoe Smith scored 17 and Jeremy Lamb added 16 for the Huskies, who showed no signs of fatigue after winning five games in five days last week to claim the Big East title.

Cincinnati uses a balanced scoring attack. Yancy Gates leads the way averaging 11.8 points per contest. The 6’9” junior forward also paces the Bearcats on the glass averaging 6.8 rebounds per outing. The Bearcats are 8th best in the entire nation in scoring defense at just 59.2 points allowed per game.

UConn will counter with Walker, Lamb (10.3 PPG) and Alex Oriakhi (10.0 PPG), with Oriakhi contributing 8.5 rebounds per game – second best in the Big East. In fact, UConn tends to dominate opponents on the glass, averaging 39.6 boards per contest.

The odds makers have the UConn Huskies as a -3 point favorite with an over/under of 129.5.

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Prediction: The Bearcats may be a little winded after their tilt with the Tigers and that may just be enough to give UConn the edge in this one.

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