2017 March Madness: Cincinnati advances after defeating Kansas State
A strong shooting night set the tone for the Cincinnati Bearcats as they held off the Kansas State Wildcats.
The Cincinnati Bearcats had no issues with making it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Cincinnati defeated the Kansas State Wildcats 75-61 in the first round of the South regional Friday night in Sacramento.
The Bearcats jumped ahead early thanks to a hot-shooting first half. They went into halftime with a 39-28 lead.
During the first half, Cincinnati shot 65 percent from the field, led by Troy Caupain’s 5-for-5 with 14 points.
Caupain, a senior guard, would go on to finish as Cincinnati’s leading scorer with 23 points on 7-for-10 shooting.
Cincinnati continued to shoot the ball well in the second half even when Kansas State appeared to close the gap.
Wesley Iwundu led the way for Kansas State by scoring 19 points.
The rally wouldn’t be enough for the Wildcats as it appeared that the Bearcats didn’t want to suffer the same fate as fellow AAC conference member SMU.
Cincinnati finished the game shooting 62 percent from the field, including 45 percent from three point range.
Kyle Washington (16 points) and Gary Clark (15) both finished the game in double-figures for the Bearcats.
Cincinnati has shot consistently well for most of the season coming into the tournament. They were second in the conference in field goal percentage.
However, they needed to start shooting the ball better than they have been as of late. They shot 38 percent against UConn and 31 percent in the AAC championship game versus SMU.
Friday night was the second best shooting night of the season for the Bearcats. They shot 64 percent against Fairleigh Dickinson in December.
Next: 5 teams that could win the South region
The Bearcats will take on the winner of UCLA and Kent State in the second round on Sunday.
A win on Sunday will put Cincinnati back in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2012.