Men’s Basketball schedule:
Per GoBearcats:
The University of Cincinnati men’s basketball team released a 25-game schedule for the 2020-21 season Friday, including five non-league games and 20 American Athletic Conference contests.
Tip times and broadcast information will be announced at a later date. All game dates are subject to change.
The Bearcats open their season at Fifth Third Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 2 against Lipscomb. The date marks UC’s latest season opener since the 1978-79 campaign (Dec. 2, 1978).
Two other nonconference home games on the schedule include the annual Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout with Xavier (Dec. 6) and a matchup with Furman (Dec. 9). Non-league road games will see trips to No. 12 Tennessee (Dec. 12) and Georgia (Dec. 19).
“Going from 13 nonconference games like we were planning to schedule to five has certainly been a pretty large change,” UC head coach John Brannen said. “The level of competition in these games has not changed, however. Playing Xavier and Furman at home, both potential Top 25 teams, and Tennessee, the SEC favorite, along with Georgia on the road should prepare us for AAC play.”
Picked to finish fourth in the AAC according to a preseason vote of the league’s coaches, Cincinnati plays host USF (Dec. 16) in the Bearcats’ earliest league opener in the eight-year history of the league.
The Bearcats will face every AAC team at home and on the road in 2020-21.
UC plays league favorite Houston in the Bayou City on Jan. 23 before welcoming to Cougars to Cincinnati on Feb. 21.
UC plays Memphis twice in February. The Tigers were picked to finish second in the league in the preseason. The Bearcats face Memphis in the Bluff City on Feb. 11 before a battle inside Fifth Third Arena on Feb. 28.
Other league home games: Tulsa (Jan. 2), East Carolina (Jan. 13), Tulane (Jan. 16), Wichita State (Jan. 27), Temple (Feb. 4), UCF (Feb. 14) and SMU (Mar. 4).
Other AAC road contests: at UCF (Dec. 22) at SMU (Jan. 6), at Wichita State (Jan. 9), at Temple (Jan. 20), at USF (Jan. 30), at Tulane (Feb. 7), at Tulsa (Feb. 24) and at East Carolina (Mar. 7) in the regular-season finale.
The AAC Championship is scheduled for Mar. 11-14 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Bearcats posted a 20-10 overall record and 13-5 league mark last season, sharing the AAC regular-season crown with Houston. The conference tournament and additional postseason possibilities were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since formation of the league in 2013-14, Cincinnati has claimed three AAC regular-season crowns (2014, 2018, 2020) and two AAC Tournament titles (2018, 2019) while winning an AAC-best 99 conference games.
Last season, Brannen became the first UC coach since Tay Baker (Missouri Valley Conference) in 1966 to guide the Bearcats to a regular-season league crown in his first season at the helm.
