The Cincinnati Bearcats take on the Baylor Bears. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Cincinnati Baylor prediction and pick. Find how to watch Cincinnati Baylor.
The new Big 12 is a very interesting place. UCF just beat Kansas. Houston is a top-10 team. Cincinnati and BYU played each other last Saturday in a game which took a lot of twists and turns. Cincinnati barely lost to Texas this past week in a thriller. BYU battled Baylor in a tough game but faded late in a loss. These new teams — UCF, Cincy, BYU, and Houston — are all vigorously competitive. None of them look like pushovers, adding to the Big 12 basketball brand in this unique season before Texas and Oklahoma head to the SEC next season. Cincinnati-Baylor is a highly intriguing matchup, a reality borne out by the not-very-large point spread you can see below.
Here are the Cincinnati-Baylor College Basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
College Basketball Odds: Cincinnati-Baylor Odds
Cincinnati Bearcats: +5.5 (-102)
Baylor Bears: -5.5 (-120)
Over: 154.5 (-110)
Under: 154.5 (-110)
How To Watch Cincinnati vs Baylor
Time: 8:00 pm ET / 5:00 pm PT
TV: ESPN
Stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why Cincinnati Could Cover the Spread
The Bearcats look like a tough out in Big 12 play. They have fared better than expected under coach Wes Miller. They were dominant in the second half of their win at BYU last Saturday. Provo is not an easy place to win, but Cincinnati completely dominated a good BYU team. That BYU team then lost to Baylor a few days ago. The BYU-Cincinnati game played in Utah and the BYU-Baylor game played on Baylor's home floor in Waco were equally competitive, more or less. If one game was slightly more competitive, it was BYU-Baylor. Cincinnati had a little more game control against BYU than Baylor did, and Cincinnati was playing BYU on the road, not at home. Comparing how well these two teams — Cincy and Baylor — played against BYU, a common opponent, reflects well on the Bearcats and offers a favorable comparison for them.
Cincinnati will be motivated to bounce back from a one-point loss to Texas this past week. The Bearcats looked good against a quality opponent, so against Baylor, one should expect a similar dogfight. If Cincinnati loses by five points, it will still cover the spread. That's a meaningful margin of error for them and for anyone who wants to bet on them.
Why Baylor Could Cover the Spread
The Bears were the clearly superior team in the final 10 minutes against BYU earlier this week. If you did not notice this story, we'll share it with you now: Baylor, which has played for decades in the old Ferrell Center, just did open its new on-campus facility, the Foster Pavilion. Baylor is 2-0 in the new arena and is developing a brand-new home-court advantage. Each time Baylor defends its new gym and accumulates wins, the Bears grow in belief and comfort. It will be very hard for Cincinnati to topple Baylor in this game, and moreover, after UC's draining contest against Texas — decided in the final 10 seconds — the Bearcats might be both physically and mentally drained. They might not be ready to make the upward push needed to overtake Baylor in the final five to 10 minutes of regulation time.
Final Cincinnati-Baylor Prediction & Pick
This game should be competitive, but one can also imagine Cincinnati running out of gas late. All in all, it's a game you should stay away from. There are better bets to be had in college hoops on Saturday.
Final Cincinnati-Baylor Prediction & Pick: Cincinnati +5.5
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