TicketsCINCINNATI – The Cincinnati men’s basketball team travels to take on preseason No. 14 Arkansas in an exhibition contest at 8 p.m. ET Friday at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. The matchup is the final exhibition for the Bearcats, who topped No. 7 Michigan, 100-98, last Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The game is part of a broader, mission-aligned initiative sponsored by CareSource, a nonprofit managed care organization. The CareSource Invitational aims to normalize the mental health conversation nationwide, break the stigma and promote the overall well-being of children and teens.
Fans can stream the contest on SEC Network+ as part of their ESPN+ subscription.
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Bearcat Bits
- The 2025-26 campaign marks the 125th season of competition for Cincinnati men’s basketball, and the Bearcats will commemorate the milestone with a year-long celebration honoring the program’s rich history, iconic players and cultural legacy. Cincinnati men’s basketball, which was named a top-10 program in college basketball history by the Associated Press, boasts 44 All-Americans, 41 conference titles, six Final Four appearances and back-to-back national championships across its history, which dates back to the 1901-02 season.
- Cincinnati is coming off a 19-16 record a year ago, going 7-13 in Big 12 play.
- Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller enters his fifth season at the helm of the Bearcats and his 15th overall as a head coach. Miller has posted a 267-194 career record, including 82-59 at Cincinnati. His teams have won 20-plus games in seven of the last nine seasons.
- Graduate guard Day Day Thomas has averaged 10.3 points and three assists in 67 career games at UC. He’s coming off a season in which he averaged 10.2 points, 2.7 assists and 2.7 rebounds per contest.
- Cincinnati’s six scholarship transfers (Jalen Celestine, Sencire Harris, Jalen Haynes, Kerr Kriisa, Baba Miller and Moustapha Thiam) come to Cincinnati averaging 80 career games played at the college level. The Bearcats welcome a total of 12 newcomers to the roster in addition to three returners from a year ago.
- Cincinnati topped preseason No. 7 Michigan, 100-98, in an exhibition game Oct. 17 at Crisler Center. Shon Abaev, Kerr Kriisa and Moustapha Thiam led six Bearcats in double figures with 15, while Sencire Harris added 13, Day Day Thomas poured in 12 and Baba Miller scored 11.
- The Bearcats, who open the regular season against Western Carolina Nov. 3 at Fifth Third Arena, will face seven NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago in their non-conference schedule and seven more in their Big 12 Conference slate, including national runner-up Houston to open league play.