In its first game in 11 days, the University of Cincinnati men's basketball team fell behind 26 points to Tulane and dropped its first game of the new year and its American Athletic Conference opener, 68-60.
Following the Bearcats' loss on New Year's Day, first-year Cincinnati coach Wes Miller said he was "disappointed" in and "frustrated" by his team's effort against the Green Wave (5-6, 2-0 AAC).
"We didn’t play hard. We didn’t play with energy," Miller said. "I thought we had a great week of practice and maybe one of the best weeks of practice we’ve had since games started. Sometimes, it doesn’t carry over right away."
After displaying effort Miller deemed "unacceptable," Cincinnati (10-4, 0-1) has an opportunity to regroup and grab its first conference win of the season Thursday in a nationally televised game at home against SMU (11-3, 2-0).
Tipoff: 9:30 p.m. on Thursday at Fifth Third Arena
TV/Radio: ESPN/WLW-AM (700)
Series info: Cincinnati is 16-5 all time against SMU, including a 14-4 mark since both teams were members of the AAC. UC owns a nine-game win streak against the Mustangs, with the last meeting ending in a 74-71 victory in the first round of last year's AAC tournament.
