Basketball
CINCINNATI — Cincinnati basketball is a slight home betting underdog on Sunday afternoon against the UCF Knights in their final rivalry home-and-home of the 2025-26 season. Johnny Dawkins’ team is a 3.5-point betting underdog, and the point total is set at 146.5.
The Bearcats enter the game 11-12 on the season and 9-14 against the spread, while the Knights are 17-5 straight up and 11-11 ATS. UCF won the first matchup this campaign, 73-72, last month as 2.5-point favorites. UC is 9-3 this season as a moneyline favorite.
Cincinnati games have largely gone under the total. They hold a whopping 17-5-1 record at hitting unders this season, as they play great defense and post equally as bad offense on the other end. That could continue if Cincinnati doesn’t have Moustapha Thiam back in the frontcourt on Sunday.
He posted a season-high 24 points and five rebounds in the UCF loss last month.
“He tried to participate in shootaround, and he could not do it; he did not think he could play,” UC head coach Wes Miller said about Thiam’s ankle injury on Thursday. “He tried to practice a little bit the last couple of days, but he couldn’t really do it.”
Miller is doing all he can to keep this era of Cincinnati basketball alive, but time is running out.
“I want to apologize to our fans and all the people who support Cincinnati basketball,” Miller said after the 59-54 loss to West Virginia. “It’s not OK. I don’t want for one second for people to think that I think it’s OK. In this program, there’s a higher standard. There’s no excuse. None of the circumstances matters. We have to close games out.”
Check out the contest on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET airing on CBS Sports Network.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.
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