Cincinnati Bearcats basketball tangles with Texas in Big 12 home opener Tuesday

The building behind Oscar Robertson's statue has hosted men's basketball games in the Great Midwest, Conference USA, the Big East and the American Athletic Conference. Tuesday night, Fifth Third Arena adds a Big 12 opener.

The University of Cincinnati basketball team opened their Big 12 slate with an upset on the road of No. 12 BYU, 71-60 Saturday night.

Riding that momentum, the venue should be at capacity as UC squares off with the Texas Longhorns for the first time on their home floor. The schools have previously met only in the NCAA tournament with the Bearcats winning in 1963 and again in 2012.

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The Longhorns lost their Big 12 opener at home to Texas Tech 78-67 Saturday night.

For Tuesday, UC's sports marketing efforts include striping Fifth Third Arena in red and black depending on the section of your seats.

Rodney Terry is in his second season directing Texas, first taking over as interim head coach for Chris Beard (now at Ole Miss). Terry was officially given the job March 27 after leading the Longhorns to a 22-8 record after Beard had started 8-1.

This season two of their losses have come to Top 10 teams in Connecticut (81-71 at Madison Square Garden Nov. 20) and Marquette (86-65 in Milwaukee).

3 keys to getting a home Big 12 win

1. Hold serve

Austin's Moody Center seats 10,763 for basketball, a bit less than Fifth Third Arena's capacity of 12,012. UC's biggest crowd thus far has been 11,756 for the Georgia Tech win.

As UC has experienced at BYU's Marriott Center, road atmospheres can be daunting even though the Bearcats answered the bell in Provo. The Bearcats play nine Big 12 games at home and nine on the road. While no game is a given, nine wins would be impressive in this league's minefield of a schedule.

Considering fans came out for Georgia Tech of the ACC, a packed house would be welcome for Big 12 games. Also not to be discounted is the number of opposing fans who will find tickets. The league is made up largely of college towns with very loyal and well-traveled fan bases.

UC's road games, except for West Virginia, offer Quadrant 1 win opportunities for a victory vs. a team ranked No. 1-75 in the NCAA NET. Saturday's BYU road triumph was their first of the Quad 1 variety.

2. Keep the Longhorns below 70

Sure, you could write this for nearly every game but the odds are in your favor if the opposition is not scoring at will. Marquette held Texas to 65 points and UConn stopped Texas at 71 in their two losses. Their high game was 96 in Houston vs. LSU in a neutral site holiday affair. Coming off a game where they held BYU and its 90-point average to 60, the Bearcats should have some confidence in their ability to guard.

3. Grab it off of the glass

UC has outrebounded its opponents each game so more often than not, it's been a good indicator.

In two of its three losses, Texas was outrebounded by UConn 40-29 and Marquette 37-30. UC's top four rebounders are Aziz Bandaogo, Viktor Lakhin, Dan Skillings Jr. and Jamille Reynolds.

Between the 7-footer Bandaogo, 6-foot-11 Lakhin and 6-foot-11 Reynolds that's an average of about 23 per game. The Bearcats have typically out-boarded their opponents by 14. They outrebounded BYU 44-37.

Cincinnati vs. Texas

Tip: Tuesday, Jan. 9, 7 p.m. at Fifth Third Arena (12,012)

TV/Radio: Big 12 Now/ESPN+/700WLW

Series: UC leads 2-0 (UC last won in the NCAA tournament March 6, 2012 65-59)

Texas Longhorns scouting report

Record: 11-3 (0-1 Big 12)

Coach: Rodney Terry (first full season, record as interim 22-8, 11-3 this season)

Offense: 78.3 ppg

Defense: 65.3 ppg

Projected lineup

(Position, Height, Stats)

Max Abmas (G, 6', 17.2 ppg)

Kadin Shedrick (F, 6'11", 11.0 ppg)

Ithiel Horton (G, 6'5", 8.1 ppg)

Dillon Mitchell (F, 6'8", 11.4 ppg)

Brock Cunningham (F, 6'6", 5.7 ppg)

Cincinnati Bearcats scouting report

Record: 12-2 (1-0 Big 12)

Coach: Wes Miller (third season, 53-30, 238-165 overall)

Offense: 81.3 ppg

Defense: 65.4 ppg

Projected lineup

(Position, Height, Stats)

Viktor Lakhin (F, 6'11", 13.9 ppg)

Day Day Thomas (G, 6', 10.9 ppg)

Aziz Bandaogo (C, 7', 9.6 ppg)

John Newman III (F, 6'5", 9.3 ppg)

Simas Lukošius (G, 6'8", 8.8 ppg)

Players to watch

Oral Roberts transfer Max Abmas is the leading scorer for the Longhorns at over 17 points per game and has a high game of 26 against Texas State. In the Summit League last year he was the Player of the Year. Three times this season he's dished out seven assists.

For UC, Jizzle James continues to have non-freshman moments. At BYU he had 12 points off the bench, including the eventual go-ahead basket in the second half. He did all of his scoring in a little over 13 minutes.

Aziz Bandaogo also looked more like himself at BYU with 12 points and 10 rebounds for his third Bearcat double-double.

"He didn't say 'I feel good,' he said, 'I feel great' and that made me feel great," UC coach Wes Miller said of Bandaogo's return after missing three games. "I felt like his impact on the game was tremendous and that's what we've come to expect until he had the back injury."

Rankings

NCAA NET: Cincinnati is No. 24, Texas is No. 60

KenPom.com: Cincinnati is No. 27, Texas is No. 39

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Big 12 home opener for Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Texas Longhorns Tuesday