Cincinnati Bearcats (20-13) vs. Baylor Bears (22-9)
March 14, 2024 9:30 pm EDT
The Line: Baylor Bears -3.5; Over/Under: -141
(Get latest betting odds)
The Cincinnati Bearcats and the Baylor Bears meet Thursday in the college basketball Big 12 Tournament Quarterfinals at the T-Mobile Center. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Cincinnati vs. Baylor prediction.
Cincinnati Team Preview
The Cincinnati Bearcats come into this game fresh off of another win, this one in the form of a 72-52 win over Kansas last time out. Dan Skillings Jr. leads the Bearcats in scoring with 12.2 PPG and 6.3 RPG while Day Day Thomas has 10.8 PPG and a team-high 3.2 APG to lead the Bearcats in assists. Simas Lukosius has 10.9 PPG with 3.1 RPG and 3 APG to round out the trio of double-digit scorers for Cincinnati up to this point in the year. Viktor Lakhin has 9.8 PPG with 6.4 RPG and Aziz Bandaogo has a team-high 7.8 RPG while John Newman III has 9.5 PPG with 5 RPG. As a team, Cincinnati is averaging 75.3 PPG on 44.5% shooting from the field, 32.6% from three and 69% from the foul line this season.
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Baylor Team Preview
The Baylor Bears come into the conference tournament as the 3-seed, finishing the year 22-9 overall including an 11-7 mark in Big 12 conference play. Ja’Kobe Walter leads the Bears in scoring with 14.7 PPG along with 4.5 RPG while Jalen Bridges has 11.6 PPG with 5.4 RPG. RayJ Dennis has 13.5 PPG with a team-high 6.7 APG to lead the Bears in the assist department as well as logging 3.8 RPG while Langston Love has 11 PPG. Yves Missi has 10.9 PPG with 5.6 RPG to lead the Bears on the glass while Jayden Nunn has 10.8 PPG as well, rounding out the group of double-digit scorers for Baylor up to this point in the year. As a team, Baylor is averaging 81.5 PPG on 48.9% shooting from the field, 39.8% from three and 73.5% from the foul line this season.
Cincinnati vs. Baylor Prediction
I’m on Baylor here. Cincinnati’s already got a couple of games underneath them and obviously there’s a concern that rest could equal rust for Baylor. However, the Bears are the better team with a lot more scoring depth, and while Cincinnati’s had a couple of games to get their feet going, that’s also a tough spot from a fatigue standpoint. Baylor has a bunch of different ways to hurt you on the scoreboard, and I think that Cincinnati’s in tough here. Give me the Baylor Bears.
