SMU vs Cincinnati College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 3/12/21

The Cincinnati Bearcats and SMU Mustangs meet Friday in the college basketball AAC Quarterfinal at the Dickies Arena.

The Cincinnati Bearcats look for a win after splitting their last six games. The Cincinnati Bearcats are averaging 69.9 points on 43.1 percent shooting and allowing 71.9 points on 43.6 percent shooting. Keith Williams is averaging 15 points and 2.4 assists while Jeremiah Davenport is averaging 11.6 points and 4.9 rebounds. David DeJulius is the third double-digit scorer and Tari Eason is grabbing 5.6 rebounds. The Cincinnati Bearcats are shooting 31.1 percent from beyond the arc and 65.9 percent from the free throw line. The Cincinnati Bearcats are allowing 32.3 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 31.4 rebounds per game.

The SMU Mustangs look for a win after winning five of their last seven games. The SMU Mustangs are averaging 74.3 points on 45.7 percent shooting and allowing 66.6 points on 39.5 percent shooting. Kendric Davis is averaging 17.7 points and 4.1 rebounds while Feron Hunt is averaging 11.9 points and 0.6 assists. Emmanuel Bandoumel is the third double-digit scorer and Ethan Chargois is grabbing 5.1 rebounds. The SMU Mustangs are shooting 34 percent from beyond the arc and 73.8 percent from the free throw line. The SMU Mustangs are allowing 33.5 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 33.7 rebounds per game.

The Bearcats are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 neutral site games and 19-43 ATS in their last 62 games overall. The Mustangs are 3-8 ATS in their last 11 Friday games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall. The over is 13-3 in Bearcats last 16 overall. The under is 4-0 in Mustangs last 4 overall.

The Cincinnati Bearcats haven’t played great this season, but they’ve played some of their best ball toward the end of the season and they beat SMU in the only meeting this season. The SMU Mustangs are the better team here and win in the favorite role by an average of 12.9 points, but they haven’t played in over a month. You have to expect some rust with SMU. I’m leaning toward the Bearcats and the points because of the massive layoff with the Mustangs.