A big test tonight between two floundering programs. Both teams are in desperate need for a win. Vermont will need to show they can put some cohesive offensive schemes together, while the Bearcats can't afford drop another match to a Midmajor in what's been an underwhelming start for a program that was expected to compete with Memphis for an American Athletic Conference championship.
Cincy has the edge in Vegas as a consensus -7.0 point favorite. The Bearcats are coming off a pre-Thanksgiving loss to Bowling Green of the MAC and have recently struggled against other midmajors, eking out a recent overtime over #159 UNLV and a single-point win over #200 Illinois State (66-65), who sit in the basement of the Missouri Valley Conference.
The Vermont Catamounts come into tonight as a club that was largely able to solve Virginia's esteemed "Pack Line" defense (and the only team this season to put up more than 50 against the Cavaliers), but have more recently struggled to move the ball, taking 52 3pt shots in their last two games but only connecting at an abysmal 22.6% clip. With only five non-conference games left on Vermont's schedule after tonight the Catamounts are running out of time to put together a strong March Madness resume for their presumed auto-bid out of the America East Conference and will be eager to find that offensive identity that has eluded John Becker's squad so far.
Cincy has the edge in Vegas as a consensus -7.0 point favorite. The Bearcats are coming off a pre-Thanksgiving loss to Bowling Green of the MAC and have recently struggled against other midmajors, eking out a recent overtime over #159 UNLV and a single-point win over #200 Illinois State (66-65), who sit in the basement of the Missouri Valley Conference.
The Vermont Catamounts come into tonight as a club that was largely able to solve Virginia's esteemed "Pack Line" defense (and the only team this season to put up more than 50 against the Cavaliers), but have more recently struggled to move the ball, taking 52 3pt shots in their last two games but only connecting at an abysmal 22.6% clip. With only five non-conference games left on Vermont's schedule after tonight the Catamounts are running out of time to put together a strong March Madness resume for their presumed auto-bid out of the America East Conference and will be eager to find that offensive identity that has eluded John Becker's squad so far.