TicketsNo. 19/18 WICHITA STATE (20-5, 10-3) at No. 5/5 CINCINNATI (23-3, 12-1)
SERIES INFO: 30th meeting; Cincinnati leads 18-11 overall; Cincinnati leads 11-3 at home
Wichita State leads 8-7 at Wichita State
LAST MEETING: Wichita State won 87-67 on Dec. 5, 1981 at Levitt Arena (now Koch Arena) in Wichita, Kan.
STREAK: Wichita State - 1
COACHES: Mick Cronin is in his 12th season at Cincinnati (260-138); 15th season overall (329-162)
Gregg Marshall is in his 11th season at Wichita State (281-95); 20th season overall (475-178)
AP/USA TODAY RANKINGS (FEB. 12): Cincinnati (5/5); Wichita State (19/18)
RADIO: 700 WLW; Dan Hoard provides play-by-play with color analyst Terry Nelson
TV: ESPN; Kevin Brown provides play-by-play with color analyst Fran Fraschilla
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By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
CINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati's newest conference basketball rival is a familiar foe from the distant past.
No. 5 UC and No. 19 Wichita State were both in the Missouri Valley Conference from 1958 to 1970. Oscar Robertson, one of the greatest players in the history of the game, played for the Bearcats for the first two of those seasons and led the nation in scoring for three straight years.
After the Big O left, UC won back-to-back national titles in 1961 and 1962. In 1963, with the top-ranked Bearcats vying to become the first school in NCAA history to win three straight titles, the Shockers handed them their only loss of the regular season.
UC and Wichita State, which last played each other on Dec. 5, 1981, will renew their long-ago rivalry at 4 p.m. Sunday at BB&T Arena in a crucial game for both teams. The Bearcats are 23-3 overall, 12-1 in the American Athletic Conference. The Shockers are 20-5, 10-3.
UC's co-ownership of the nation's longest winning streak, which it shared with Rhode Island at 16 games, came to an end Thursday night when the Bearcats were upset, 67-62, in Houston after they had built a 13-point lead early in the first half.
The Cougars came back with a 43-point outburst in the second half and basically beat UC at its own game – by dominating the glass and being physically tougher. The UC players have only two days to shake off the defeat, their first since they lost to then-No. 5 Florida on Dec. 9. That was the last time the Bearcats faced a ranked opponent.
Still intact for UC are the nation's longest home-court winning streak at 39 games and more important, its quest for the school's first regular-season conference championship since it shared the inaugural AAC title in 2014 with Louisville.
The Bearcats haven't won an outright league championship since 2004 when they were champions of Conference USA. Even after Thursday's loss, they remain in the driver's seat in the AAC. They own a two-game lead over both Houston and No. 19 Wichita State, with five league games remaining.
Sunday's game will feature Wichita State's league-leading offense (84.3 points per game) vs. UC's league-leading defense (56.3 ppg). The Shockers lead the league in field goal percentage at 48.1 percent; the Bearcats lead in field goal percentage defense at 36.5 percent. Wichita State leads in rebounding margin (+10.7); UC is second (+8.3).
Guard Landry Shamet is the Shockers' leading scorer with a 14.6-point average. He leads the league in assists with 5.2 per game and shoots 45.1 percent from long range. His teammate, Austin Reaves, shoots 46.9 percent from three.
The Shockers, in their first year as a member of the American after 72 years in the MVC, began the season with a No. 7 national ranking after they had won the last four MVC regular-season titles and five of the last six. Their losses this season have been to Houston, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, SMU and Temple.
UC and Wichita State, in that order, were picked as the league's top two teams in a pre-season poll of the league's coaches. The Bearcats received seven first-place votes to five for the Shockers. So far, those projections have been on the money, with Houston sneaking in to join them as championship challengers.
After the Bearcats lost to Xavier and Florida, they regrouped to knock off then-unbeaten Mississippi State at home and UCLA on the road as they embarked on the winning streak that ended Thursday. UC coach Mick Cronin said recently those two losses were beneficial because they got the players' attention during practice.
Two months later, the Bearcats will look for a similar result after a loss as they prepare to face Wichita State in an old-school rivalry updated for the 21st century.
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January 2015.