Men's Basketball Opens AAC Championship Play vs SMU

AAC CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTERFINALS
NO. 5  CINCINNATI (10-10, 8-6 AAC)
vs  NO. 4  SMU (11-4, 7-4 AAC)
Dickies Arena // Fort Worth, Texas
Friday, Mar. 12 // 3 p.m. ET
SERIES INFO: 21st meeting; Cincinnati leads 15-5 overall; Series is tied 2-2 neutral sites;
UC leads 4-3 in Dallas and UC and 9-0 in Cincinnati
STREAK: Cincinnati - 8
LAST MEETING: Cincinnati won 76-69 on Jan. 7 in Dallas
COACHES: John Brannen - second season at Cincinnati (30-20); sixth season overall (112-72)
Tim Jankovich - fifth season at SMU (101-53); 14th season overall (258-174)
AP/USA TODAY RANKINGS (MAR. 8): Cincinnati (--/--); SMU (--/--)
RADIO: 700 WLW; Dan Hoard provides play-by-play with color analyst Terry Nelson
TV: ESPN2; Kevin Brown provides play-by-play with color analyst Dan Dakich
JOIN THE CONVERSATION (TWITTER, FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM): @GoBearcatsMBB

GAME PREVIEW 

• Cincinnati (10-10, 8-6 American) has earned the No. 5 seed in the 2021 American Championship and will face No. 4 seed SMU (11-4, 7-4) in quarterfinals action Friday, Mar. 12, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. Tipoff is 3 p.m. ET on ESPN2. 
• UC is coming off an 82-69 road win at East Carolina on Sunday. Mason Madsen and Jeremiah Davenport scored 19 points each and Keith Williams added 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists. 
• SMU hasn't played since a 71-56 road win at East Carolina on Feb. 8 after its last eight games of the season were canceled due to COVID-19 issues within the Mustangs' program. Kendric Davis led SMU against the Pirates with 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting with eight assists. 

SERIES VS. SMU

• Friday's matchup will mark the 21st meeting between UC and SMU. UC owns a 15-5 lead overall but the series is tied 2-2 at neutral sites. The Bearcats pushed their win streak in the series to eight consecutive games by defeating the Mustangs 76-69 earlier this season in Dallas (Jan. 7). Five Bearcats scored in double figures at SMU led by Jeremiah Davenport's 18 points and 10 rebounds. The return game in Cincinnati, scheduled for Mar. 4, was canceled due to COVID-19 issues within SMU's program. 
• UC and SMU have faced off in each of the last three AAC Championship events with the victor going on the win the tournament crown. SMU topped UC in the championship game in 2017, 71-56, at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. UC claimed a pair of quarterfinal wins over SMU in 2018 (61-51 at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida) and in 2019 (82-74 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee).

CINCINNATI HEADLINES

• Cincinnati enters the AAC Championship having won seven of 10 games since a 25-day layoff due to COVID-19 issues within the program. 
• Keith Williams was named Second Team All-AAC while Tari Eason was tabbed to the AAC All-Freshman Team on Monday. 
• Williams has played a key role in UC's resurgence over the last 10 games, leading the team in scoring in five games while averaging a team-best 14.9 points and 2.9 assists. He is averaging 17.4 points and 4.4 assists over UC's last five games. 
• Eason, who has led UC in rebounds in nine games this season, ranks among AAC leaders in blocks (sixth at 1.2), offensive rebounds (sixth at 2.1) and rebounds (11th at 5.6) this season. 
• Jeremiah Davenport is averaging a team-best 15.8 points with a team-best 17 3-pointers over the last six games. He ranks among the AAC leaders in 3-pointers per game (8th at 2.0), field goal percentage (11th at .464), 3-point field goal percentage (15th at .364) and points (17th at 11.6) this season.
• Mika Adams-Woods has scored in double figures in each of the last four games, averaging 13.5 points while shooting 52.9 percent (18 of 34) from the floor with 15 assists. 

WILLIAMS NAMED SECOND-TEAM ALL-AAC

• Senior guard Keith Williams has been named to the American Athletic Conference Second Team according to the league's coaches. 
• The Brooklyn, New York, native becomes the 10th Bearcat to receive AAC First or Second Team recognition since the league formed prior to the 2013-14 campaign. 
• Williams, who averages 15.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.2 steals in 2020-21, has led the Bearcats in scoring in 11 games and has scored 10 or more points in 15 of UC's 20 contests. 

EASON NAMED TO AAC ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM

• Forward Tari Eason has been named to the American Athletic Conference All-Freshman Team according to the league's coaches.
• Eason becomes the third Bearcat named to the AAC's All-Freshman team since the league formed prior to 2013-14, joining Gary Clark (2015) and Jarron Cumberland (2017).
• Eason, who has led UC in rebounds in nine games this season, averages 7.2 points and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 49.2 percent (58 of 118) from the floor entering the postseason. 

GOING FOR THIRD TOURNEY TITLE IN A ROW, AGAIN 

• A year after the 2020 AAC Championship was canceled due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cincinnati continues to look to defend back-to-back AAC Tournament championships this weekend in Fort Worth, Texas. The Bearcats defeated Houston in the championship game at each of the last two events, posting a 69-57 victory at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2019 and outlasting the Cougars, 56-55, at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, to claim the event in 2018.  
• In fact, the Bearcats have played in the last three league tournament championship games, falling to SMU, 71-56, in 2017 at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut.
• In all, UC has won two AAC Tournament titles, played in three tournament championship games and advanced to the semifinals four times in the six-year history of the event.
•  Cincinnati owns a 9-4 record all-time at the AAC Tournament, having won six in a row. Bearcats opponents at the event have included UCF (1-0), UConn (1-3), Houston (2-0), Memphis (1-0), SMU (2-1), Tulsa (1-0) and Wichita State (1-0). 
• The school record for most consecutive league tournament titles is five when the Bearcats won the Great Midwest Conference tournament crown during all four years of the league (1992-95) before winning the 1996 Conference USA tournament title during their first year in the league. 
• UC has won 12 league tournament titles in its history: Metro Conference (two: 1976-77); Great Midwest Conference (four: 1992-95); Conference USA (four: 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004) and AAC (two: 2018-19).

BEARCATS TIP-INS

• DAVENPORT OVER LAST SIX GAMES: Sophomore guard Jeremiah Davenport is averaging a team-best 15.8 points with a team-best 17 3-pointers over the last six games. For the season, he ranks second on the team, averaging 11.6 points to go with 4.9 rebounds. He's shooting 46.4 percent (785 of 183) from the floor with a team-best 39 3-pointers. 
• Davenport ranks among the AAC leaders in 3-pointers per game (8th at 2.0), field goal percentage (11th at .464), 3-point field goal percentage (15th at .364) and points (17th at 11.6).
• He was named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll last week, averaging 16.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting 56.3 percent (18 of 32) from the field and 50 percent (9 of 18) from 3-point range. 
• He tallied a career-high 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting with four triples and five assists against Tulane (2/26) and posted 14 points with four threes and seven rebounds at Tulsa (2/24).
• In his first career start against SMU (1/7), Davenport posted his first career double-double with 18 points and a career-best 10 rebounds while hitting a trio of 3-pointers.
• ADAMS-WOODS' LAST FOUR GAMES: UC sophomore guard Mika Adams-Woods has scored in double figures in each of the last four games, averaging 13.5 points while shooting 52.9 percent (18 of 34) from the floor with 15 assists. He matched a career-high with 16 points against Tulane (2/26) and Vanderbilt (3/4). 
• He was named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll on Feb. 15. He averaged a team-best 12.5 points during the week 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 two weeks ago helping UC to a pair of wins.