, who won their 11th consecutive game and 37th straight at home while completing a regular-season sweep of the Owls. Cincinnati is playing home games at BB&T Arena on the campus of Northern Kentucky University while its own building is renovated. It was the worst loss of the season for Temple (10-10, 2-6), which shot a season-low 28.6 percent and committed 20 turnovers. The Bearcats won the first meeting 55-53 on Jacob Evans III's jumper with a second left on Jan. 4 in Philadelphia. This one wasn't even close. The Owls scored the first five points of the game, then went scoreless for nearly five minutes. It was one of two Temple scoring droughts that approached five minutes in the first half. The Bearcats had runs of 7-0 and 10-0 and led 35-19 at halftime. Temple shot 2 of 12 from 3-point range in the first half and committed nine turnovers. Cincinnati kept rolling in the second half. Clark had a 3-pointer and a dunk to put the Bearcats ahead 60-30. Quinton Rose and Ernest Aflakpui each scored seven points for Temple. BIG PICTURETemple: The Owls trailed by as many as 34 points. The largest deficit the Owls previously had faced this season was 23 points, in an 84-66 loss on Dec. 22 at Georgia. Cincinnati: The Bearcats are 11-0 this season at BB&T Arena after going 18-0 last season at Fifth Third Arena, which is undergoing an $87 million upgrade. Temple was the last team to win at Cincinnati, a 77-70 victory on Dec. 29, 2015. UP NEXTTemple: The Owls host UConn on Sunday. Cincinnati: The Bearcats play at Memphis on Saturday. They defeated the Tigers 82-48 on Dec. 31 at BB&T Arena.---More college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/-Top25)
Time: 9:00 PM EST CINCINNATI -- When a reporter asked Mick Cronin on Monday to comment on his team being ranked in the top 10 of this week's Associated Press poll for the first time in three seasons, the Cincinnati Bearcats head coach was having none of it." Somebody texted it to me," Cronin said. "I was going to describe that person with an adjective. I'm trying to get over vomiting all day Sunday over our performance Saturday night." The ninth-ranked Bearcats are riding a 10-game winning streak into Wednesday night's game against the Temple Owls at BB&T Arena, and are looking to extend the nation's longest active home winning streak to 37 straight. Still, Cronin has plenty of ammo heading into Wednesday's game. Despite a seemingly comfortable 86-60 win over East Carolina on Saturday, the Bearcats (17-2, 6-0 American) did not play well for extended stretches, and even allowed the Pirates to shoot better than 55 percent in the first half. The final score was deceiving, and did little to mask another slow start, something that has been a pattern for Cincinnati the past three games." You can play well and lose because you miss shots against a good team, you can also not play well and win and that gets masked by the winning," Cronin said. "That's the danger of not having lost since Dec. 9." The Bearcats haven't lost since being beaten by Florida in Newark, New Jersey. The closest call they've had was at Temple, a 55-53 win on Jan. 4, won on Jacob Evans III's jumper with one second remaining." I don't think we've been playing great," said Cronin. "Saturday was our worst performance. We just did not execute well. It's hard to stay sharp, that's why they pay me." Cronin shouldn't have to work too hard to get his team's attention this week. The Owls have been a thorn in the Bearcats' side at times. Temple is the last team to beat the Bearcats at home, winning 77-70 in the league opener on Dec. 29, 2015. Cincinnati is playing its home games at Northern Kentucky University while on-campus Fifth Third Arena undergoes an $87 million renovation. Bearcats forward Gary Clark didn't have his best outing in the first meeting against Temple with 10 points and four rebounds and managed only four shot attempts. But, Clark is coming off a huge week with back-to-back double-doubles, averaging 15.5 points and 14.5 rebounds while shooting 48.3 percent to earn Co-American Athletic Conference player of the week honors. Unlike the first matchup against the Bearcats, Temple finished strong with a 12-0 run to close out a 60-51 win over Penn on Saturday. This was in contrast to several other games this season, including Cincinnati, where the Owls squandered leads late." We're equal opportunity on bad plays," said Temple coach Fran Dunphy of his team's struggles down the stretch. "We take bad shots, we throw it away ... we cover the gamut. But, to survive and move on to the next challenge, we're grateful for it." Cincinnati leads the all-time series with Temple 20-9, including three straight wins. The Bearcats own an 8-2 advantage over the Owls at home.
Looking for More Picks?
You can browse all the individual handicapper picks below.
Temple
Cincinnati
Pick Center
NCAAB
FINAL (1/24/2018)
EnterTheMatrix888
