Men's Basketball Travels to No. 6 Houston on Sunday

CINCINNATI (7-7, 5-4 AAC)
at  6/5  HOUSTON (17-3, 11-3 AAC)
Sunday, Feb. 21 // 1 p.m. ET
Fertitta Center // Houston, Texas
SERIES INFO: 40th meeting; Cincinnati leads 33-6 overall; Cincinnati leads 14-5 in Houston; 
Cincinnati leads 17-1 in Cincinnati; Cincinnati leads 2-0 at neutral sites 
STREAK: Houston - 1
LAST SEASON'S MEETINGS: Cincinnati won 64-62 on Feb. 1, 2020 at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati;
Houston won 68-55 on Mar. 1, 2020 at the Fertitta Center in Houston
COACHES: John Brannen - second season at Cincinnati (27-17); sixth season overall (109-69)
Kelvin Sampson - seventh season at Houston (156-63); 32nd season overall (656-333)
AP/USA TODAY RANKINGS (FEB. 15): Cincinnati (--/--); Houston (6/5)
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 Jon Crispin
JOIN THE CONVERSATION (TWITTER, FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM): @GoBearcatsMBB

GAME PREVIEW 

• Cincinnati (7-7, 5-4 American) visits No. 6 Houston (17-3, 11-3) on Sunday at the Fertitta Center.  Tipoff is 1 p.m. ET on ESPN.
• The Bearcats won their fourth in a row on Sunday, Feb. 14, holding off UCF, 69-68. Keith Williams and David DeJulius scored 14 points each while Mika Adams-Woods hit a trio of 3-pointers. Chris Vogt added 11 points and seven rebounds. 
• Houston (17-3, 11-3) suffered a 68-63 setback at Wichita State on Thursday.  DeJon Jarreau led the Cougars with 16 points and a trio of threes. 
• Cincinnati and Houston split a pair of meetings last season. The Bearcats lead the series 33-6 overall. 
• UP NEXT: UC plays at Tulsa on Wednesday, Feb. 24. Tipoff is 9 pm. ET on ESPNU. 

CINCINNATI HEADLINES

• Cincinnati has won four games in a row since coming off a 25-day pause for COVID-19 issues on Feb. 4, winning those contests by a combined nine points. In fact, eight of UC's 14 games this season have been decided by five points or less. 
• David DeJulius leads UC in scoring since the Bearcats return to play from COVID-19 protocols (2/4). The Michigan transfer is averaging 15.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists during the four-game stretch. He poured in a career-high 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting with four 3-pointers and three steals at Temple (2/4). 
• Mika Adams-Woods was named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll on Monday, averaging a team-best 12.5 points while shooting 50 percent from both the field (8 of 16) and 3-point range (5 of 10) and averaging 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals last week. 
• Keith Williams has led the Bearcats in scoring in seven of 13 games this season. He ranks among AAC leaders in scoring (7th at 14.7) and blocked shots (T12th at 0.7).
• In November, CBS Sports named Cincinnati the 10th greatest college basketball program since the advent of the NCAA Tournament in 1939. 

BEARCATS TIP-INS

• CLOSE CALLS THE NORM: Cincinnati has won four games in-a-row since coming off a 25-day pause for COVID-19 issues on Feb. 4, winning those contests by a combined nine points. In fact, eight of UC's 14 games this season have been decided by five points or less. Despite having seven losses this season, UC has played its opponents closely in nearly every contest. The Bearcats have been within three points or less in the final 100 seconds of five of their seven losses this season. UC trailed Xavier (70-67 with 1:04 left) and then-No. 12 Tennessee (59-56 with 1:36 left) by three points, USF (73-71 with 41 seconds left) by two points, UCF (71-70 with 1:04 left) by one point and was tied with Tulsa (63-63 with 1:30 left). 
• ADAMS-WOODS NAMED TO AAC WEEKLY HONOR ROLL: UC sophomore guard Mika Adams-Woods helped push UC's win streak to four games with a pair of home victories this past week. He averaged a team-best 12.5 points while shooting 50 percent from both the field (8 of 16) and 3-point range (5 of 10) and averaging 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals. 
• The Syracuse, New York, native tallied 13 points with a trio of threes to go with five rebounds in UC's 69-68 win over UCF on Sunday. He posted 12 points with a pair of 3-pointers, five rebounds, and two steals in UC's 71-69 victory over Temple on Friday. Adams-Woods averages 8.0 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists this season. Since the start of AAC play, he ranks ninth in the league, shooting 40 percent from 3-point range (12 of 30). 
• DEJULIUS TOPS UC IN SCORING SINCE BREAK: Junior transfer David DeJulius leads UC in scoring since the Bearcats return to play from COVID-19 protocols (2/4). 
• The Michigan transfer is averaging 15.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists during the four-game stretch. 
• He poured in a career-high 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting with four 3-pointers and three steals at Temple (2/4) and contributed 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists at Tulane (2/7) en route to earning AAC Weekly Honor Roll (2/8) accolades. He also was named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll on Dec. 14 after posting 11 points and seven assists at then-No. 12 Tennessee.
• DeJulius entered Wednesday ranked among AAC leaders in assists (2nd at 4.7), assist-to-turnover ratio (4th at 2.2-to-1), defensive rebounds (10th at 4.6), minutes played (12th at 31.6) and scoring (17th at 10.5) for the season. 
• He nearly recorded a double-double at SMU (1/7), grabbing a career-high nine rebounds and handing out a career-high 12 assists with three turnovers. The 12 assists were the most by a Bearcat since Steve Logan dished out a school-record 16 assists vs. Coppin State during the 2001-02 campaign. DeJulius becomes only the sixth Bearcat in school history to record 12 or more assists in a game. 
• WILLIAMS JOINS 1,000-POINT CLUB: Preseason AAC First Team honoree Keith Williams became the 54th member of UC's 1,000-point club at Tulane (2/7) with a game-high 20 points against the Green Wave.  
• He entered Wednesday ranked among AAC leaders in scoring (7th at 14.7) and blocked shots (T12th at 0.7).
• Williams has led the Bearcats in scoring in seven of 13 games this season. He scored a game-high 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting with five rebounds against Furman (12/9) and accounted for a team-high 18 points with six rebounds against city-rival Xavier (12/6). 

SCOUTING HOUSTON

• Sixth-ranked Houston entered Friday ranked first in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.367) and offensive rebounds per game (15.2).
• Four Cougars average double figures in scoring led by Quentin Grimes (16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.7 3-pointers), Marcus Sasser (14.8 points, 2.9 3-pointers) and DeJon Jarreau (10.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists).