#1 ranked Houston has run away with the AAC this year with a 15-1 record. That makes Sunday’s Cincinnati at Memphis betting matchup not necessarily crucial for the regular season conference standings, but to boost each team’s tournament resume and to get better seeding for the AAC tournament.
Even though neither team is currently ranked, both Cincinnati (19-10) and Memphis (21-7) have to be considered bubble teams for the NCAA Tournament. Obviously the loser of Sunday’s meeting suffers a big blow to their postseason chances which is why the high stakes of this game favors a Tigers team that is 12-1 in front of their home fans this season.
Why Cincinnati Can Cover +5.5 Points
The Bearcats have gone 16-7 ATS over their last 23 games while the road team has gone 4-0-1 in the last five head to head matchups between Cincinnati and Memphis. Those trends give Wes Miller’s team at least a little bit of optimism heading into Sunday’s meeting at FedEx Forum, a very hard place for opponents to get a win this season.
Cincinnati is the #3 scoring team in the AAC (77.4 ppg) so they have the tools to hypothetically stay in a shootout with the #2 scoring team Memphis (80.0). Landers Nolley II has gone for 18+ points in three straight games for the Bearcats while David DeJulius just had 20 on Wednesday in a win over Temple while Viktor Lakhin had 22 points in the 75-68 loss to Memphis on January 22nd.
If Sunday’s Cincinnati at Memphis betting matchup is pretty even offensively, then the defensive edge might go to the Bearcats. Cincinnati ranks 4th in the AAC in scoring defense while Memphis is 8th
Why Memphis Can Cover -5.5 Points
The biggest thing that sticks out about Sunday’s game is just the Tigers being at home where they are 12-1 on the season. Memphis’ only loss at FedEx Forum this season was a 90-89 defeat to Tulane in OT, so the Tigers are just two points away from being undefeated on their own court on the year.
Of course another big reason to like Memphis in this matchup is because they did already get a 75-68 win at Cincinnati even as +2.5 underdogs last month. The Tigers rolled out to a 10-point lead at the half and the Bearcats didn’t have any answer for Deandre Williams (26) or Kendric Davis (21) who combined for nearly 2/3 of Memphis’ points.
Over their last 13 games Memphis has two OT losses and also fell to the #1 team in the country Houston to go along with 10 wins. They still didn’t get any votes for the AP Top 25, so it’s safe to say the Tigers are very underrated.
Free Cincinnati at Memphis Betting Pick
A slight 56% of the betting public like Memphis giving the points in this spot. The Tigers were pretty dominant in Cincinnati last month, and have won four in a row in the series all by at least six points. No reason to buck away from that trend here.
Free Pick: Memphis -5.5
