MEMPHIS – The University of Cincinnati Bearcats quest for a second straight American Athletic Conference tournament championship begins Friday evening at FedEx Forum with the SMU Mustangs. UC is looking to break a two-game skid after losing their final regular-season contests to then-No. 25 UCF and No. 12 Houston.
SMU advanced to Friday's quarterfinals with a 74-65 win over Tulsa Thursday night. Already, top seed Houston advanced to the semifinals with an 84-45 thrashing of Connecticut and the hometown Memphis Tigers took out No. 4 seed UCF 79-55. The Cougars and Tigers play in one semifinal tomorrow.
Should UC win their quarterfinal with SMU, they would play the winner of No.