Men's Basketball Travels to Queen City for Showdown with Cincinnati

CINCINNATI - Arguably two of the American Athletic Conference's top teams will take the court at Fifth Third Arena Saturday as the Temple Owls and Cincinnati Bearcats both look to end two-game losing streaks. The game, which tips off at 7:30 p.m., will be televised live by ESPU and broadcast on 1210 AM WPHT.

The Owls (12-6, 3-2 American) had won six straight prior to their two-game skid at home this past week. The two losses came at the hands of conference leader Tulsa (63-56) and SMU (60-55), currently in second place in the standings.

Junior guard Quenton DeCosey, who has reached double figures in scoring in 16 of 18 games, tops the Owls' trio of double-digit scorers with a 13.9 average. Senior guard Will Cummings (12.9 ppg), who strained a muscle in his left leg against Tulsa and came off the bench in the SMU loss, is among the conference's top five in assists, steals and minutes per game. Senior Jesse Morgan (12.6 ppg) rebounded from a tough shooting night against Tulsa with a team-high 15 points against SMU.

Junior forward Jaylen Bond (8.5 ppg), who leads the conference with 8.5 rebounds per game, recently notched three consecutive double-doubles. He has recorded a double-double in four of the last six games, including a 16-point, 14-rebound effort vs. Tulsa.

Cincinnati (11-5, 2-2 American), which shared the regular season conference championship last year (15-3 American), sports a balanced offense with four players averaging between 7.3 and 9.8 points per game. The Bearcats are coming road losses to Memphis (63-50) and UConn (62-56).

Sophomore guard Troy Caupain leads the Bearcats with 9.8 ppg, while freshman forward Gary Clark is the team's rebounding leader, averaging 7.7 rpg.

The Bearcats boast the lowest scoring defense in The American, having held opponents to just 55.2 ppg. UC has not allowed an opponent to score 70 or more points in 20 straight games.

Offensively, Cincinnati is averaging a conference-low 61.7 ppg.

Cincinnati won both meetings last season against Temple (69-58 on Jan. 14 in Cincinnati and 80-76 on Jan. 26 in Philadelphia). The Bearcats lead the series 16-6 overall.

Ninth-year associate head coach Larry Davis has served as the UC's interim head coach since Dec. 20, taking over for Bearcat coach Mick Cronin. Cronin will continue to oversee the men's basketball program in an advisory role for the remainder of the 2014-15 Bearcats season while dealing with a non-life threatening vascular condition known as arterial dissection.

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Men's Basketball Travels to Queen City for Showdown with Cincinnati

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Players Mentioned

Jaylen Bond

Will Cummings

Quenton DeCosey

Jesse Morgan

Temple University Athletics