Men's Basketball Battles Wichita State in Semifinals of AAC Championship

2021 AAC CHAMPIONSHIP // SEMIFINALS
NO. 5  CINCINNATI (11-10)
vs  NO. 1  WICHITA STATE  (16-4)
Dickies Arena // Fort Worth, Texas
Saturday, Mar. 13 // 3 p.m. ET
SERIES INFO: 38th meeting; Cincinnati leads 24-13 overall; Cincinnati leads 1-0 at neutral sites; 
Cincinnati leads 13-4 in Cincinnati; Cincinnati leads 10-9 in Wichita, Kan. 
STREAK: Wichita State - 1
LAST MEETING: Wichita State won 82-76 on Jan. 10 in Wichita, Kan.
COACHES: John Brannen - second season at Cincinnati (31-20); sixth season overall (113-72)
Isaac Brown - first season at Wichita State (16-4); first season overall (16-4)
AP/USA TODAY RANKINGS (MAR. 8): Cincinnati (--/--); Wichita State (rv/rv)
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 

• Fifth-seed Cincinnati (11-10) battles tournament top-seed Wichita State on Semifinals Saturday in the AAC Championship. Tipoff is 3 p.m. ET on ESPN2. 
• The Bearcats held off a rally from SMU for a 74-71 win in a quarterfinals matchup Friday. Four UC players scored in double figures led by Jeremiah Davenport, who tallied 19 points with a career-high five 3-pointers to go with seven rebounds and four steals. 
• Wichita State rallied for a 68-67 win over USF in the quarterfinals on Friday. Tyson Etienee led the Shockers with 20 points, four 3-pointers, five rebounds and three assists. 
• The winner will face the victor of the other semifinals contest between Houston and Memphis on Sunday. The championship game will tipoff at 3:15 p.m. ET on ESPN. 

SERIES VS. WICHITA STATE

• UC leads its series with Wichita State 24-13 overall, 1-0 at neutral sites, 13-4 in Cincinnati and 10-9 in Wichita, Kan., 
• Wichita State claimed an 82-76 win in Kansas on Jan. 27, snapping Cincinnati's six-game win streak in the series and three-game win streak at Charles Koch Arena. 
• UC defeated Wichita State 66-63 in the semifinals of the 2019 AAC Championship en route to winning the tournament title. 
• The Bearcats' most notable win at Wichita State since the Shockers joined the AAC came when No. 8 Cincinnati edged No. 11 Wichita State 62-61 on Mar. 4, 2018 to claim the 2018 AAC regular-season title outright. 
• During the 2018 campaign, then-No. 19 Wichita State snapped then-No. 5 Cincinnati's 39-game home win streak (longest in the nation at the time), posting a 76-72 on Feb. 18, 2018 at BB&T Arena in Highland Heights, Ky. 
• Cincinnati posted a 16-10 mark against Wichita State from 1957-58 through 1969-70 during the Bearcats' membership in the Missouri Valley Conference. 
• During its 13 seasons in the MVC, Cincinnati posted a 286-76 overall record, 128-52 conference mark, won seven league championships, advanced to five consecutive Final Fours (1959-63) and claimed two national titles (1961 and 1962).  

CINCINNATI HEADLINES

• Cincinnati enters the AAC Championship semifinals having won eight of 11 games since a 25-day layoff due to COVID-19 issues within the program following its 82-76 loss at Wichita State on Jan. 10.
• 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 11 games, while averaging a team-best 14.8 points and 3.2 assists. He is averaging 15.4 points and 4.4 assists over UC's last five games. 
• Eason, who has led UC in rebounds in 10 games this season, ranked among AAC leaders in blocks (sixth at 1.2), offensive rebounds (sixth at 2.1) and rebounds (11th at 5.6) entering the league tournament.
• Jeremiah Davenport is averaging a team-best 16.3 points with a team-best 22 3-pointers over the last seven games. He ranked 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) entering the postseason.
• Mika Adams-Woods has scored in double figures in each of the last five games, averaging 12.8 points while shooting 48.8 percent (20 of 41) from the floor with 19 assists.

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, Tenn., in 2019 and outlasting the Cougars, 56-55, at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla., 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, Conn. 
• 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.
• UPDATE: Cincinnati owns a 10-4 record all-time at the AAC Tournament, having won seven in a row and nine of the last 10. Bearcats opponents at the event have included UCF (1-0), UConn (1-3), Houston (2-0), Memphis (1-0), SMU (3-1), 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 SEVEN GAMES: Sophomore guard Jeremiah Davenport is averaging a team-best 16.3 points with a team-best 22 3-pointers over the last seven games. For the season, he ranks second on the team, averaging 12.0 points to go with 5.0 rebounds. He's shooting 47.2 percent (91 of 193) from the floor with a team-best 44 3-pointers. 
• Davenport entered the AAC tournament ranked 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 FIVE GAMES: UC sophomore guard Mika Adams-Woods has scored in double figures in each of the last five games, averaging 12.8 points while shooting 48.8 percent (20 of 41) from the floor with 19 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.