The Merrimack Warriors and the Cincinnati Bearcats meet in college basketball action from the Fifth Third Arena on Tuesday night. Can Merrimack pull off the massive upset to hand Cincinnati their first home loss? Or will the Bearcats defend home court? Let’s take a look with our Merrimack vs. Cincinnati Prediction.

Merrimack Team Preview

The Merrimack Warriors come into this one looking to build on an 89-85 win over subdivision Felician last time out. Jordan Derkack leads the Warriors in scoring and rebounding with 16.9 PPG and 6.7 RPG along with 2.9 APG and 2.3 SPG while Adam Clark has 12.4 PPG with a team-high 3.4 APG and 2.9 SPG to lead the Warriors in assists and steals this season. Devon Savage has 11 PPG with 3.5 RPG and Samba Diallo has 10 PPG with 4.7 RPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Merrimack so far this year. As a team, Merrimack is averaging 71.4 PPG on 44.9% shooting from the field, 26.4% from three and 73.5% from the foul line this season.

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Cincinnati Team Preview

The Cincinnati Bearcats will look to rebound from their 82-68 loss at the hands of Dayton last time out. Viktor Lakhin leads the Bearcats in scoring and rebounding with 13.6 PPG and 8.6 RPG while Dan Skillins Jr. has 10.2 PPG with 6.8 RPG. Day Day Thomas has 11.4 PPG with 2.7 APG while John Newman III has 10.1 PPG this season. Jizzle James also has 10 PPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Cincinnati up to this point in the season. Simas Lukosius also has 8.3 PPG with a team-high 3.2 APG as well this season. As a team, Cincinnati is averaging 84.3 PPG on 46% shooting from the field, 34.4% from three and 68.8% from the foul line this season.

Merrimack vs. Cincinnati Prediction

I’m backing Cincinnati here. It’s a huge number for the Bearcats, but Cincinnati’s far and away the better team in this matchup and they’ve really had no issue beating up on lesser teams at home this season. I just don’t think that Merrimack has the chops to hang for a full 40 minutes and I think the Bearcats break it open in the second half. Give me Cincinnati here.