Fifth Third Arena – Cincinnati, OH
Tip-off: Friday, 9:00 p.m. ET
Line: Cincinnati -4, Total: 119.5

In what’s expected to be a low-scoring affair, Cincinnati will host sizzling-hot No. 15 Georgetown Friday night in a key Big East game.

The Hoyas have one of the slowest offenses (64.3 PPG) and stingiest defenses in the nation, holding opponents to 55.7 PPG (10th-lowest in D-I). The Bearcats defense isn’t far behind, holding opponents to 58.4 PPG (21st in nation). Georgetown enters this game on fire, as the winner of six in a row, both SU and ATS. Cincinnati, meanwhile, is coming off an 18-point stomping of Villanova to recover from two consecutive SU and ATS losses. The Bearcats have traditionally owned the Hoyas in Cincinnati, going 2-1 SU and 3-0 SU in the three meetings there since 1997. Overall, the Bearcats are 4-0 SU and ATS in the past four meetings between these two teams.

Can Georgetown pick up a big road win on Friday night? For the answer, connect to College Basketball Best Bets for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2012-13 season. The experts have been red-hot in college basketball Best Bets, as StatFox Scott is 62% ATS (8-5) since Feb. 8, while StatFox Gary is 61% ATS (11-7-2) in the past 11 days, improving to an impressive 56.3% ATS (81-63-3) Best Bets mark for the season. StatFox Dave is 53% ATS (31-28-1) since Jan. 28 to boost his season win percentage to 52.4% ATS (130-118-4). StatFox Brian is 60% ATS (6-4) in the past five days.

Georgetown lost both of the meetings between these two schools last season, but they were both exciting games, averaging a three-point margin of defeat between the two contests. The second of the two was a 72-70, double-overtime thriller in the Big East Tournament. The Hoyas are currently coming off a win against No. 18 Marquette in which PF Otto Porter dropped 21 points. Porter (15.3 PPG, 7.9 RPG) is a dynamic inside-outside threat, and the best pure scorer for either team in this game. G Markel Starks (12.4 PPG) has also been in top-notch form lately, averaging 16.2 PPG over the team’s past five contests, tallying 3.0 threes per game over that span. F Nate Lubick (7.5 PPG, 5.2 RPG) is hitting 61.7% of his FG this year, though he is just 1-for-7 in the team’s past two games. F Greg Whittington (12.1 PPG) remains out indefinitely with a suspension, though the Hoyas have clearly moved on without him, given their current hot streak.

In the first of the two wins last season, G Sean Kilpatrick (18.2 PPG, 5.4 RPG) had a dominating performance, hitting 10-of-16 field goals en route to 27 points and the narrow four-point Bearcat victory. He’s been a high-volume scorer this year, with 10 straight games with 10+ points. He takes 14.4 shots per game including a whopping 8.0 from beyond the arc, where he’s hitting at a 33.5% clip. And he’s been cold lately, making just 26% threes (7-for-27) in the team’s past three games. The real identity of this team is how everybody can rebound, giving them a grand total of 41.1 RPG, seventh best in Division-I. That comes without any dominant rebounder as 6-foot-7 F Titus Rubles leads the way with 5.9 RPG. Rubles is hardly a threat to score at 6.3 PPG, hitting a mere 32.2% of his field goals this season, but he is valuable for what he can do on the glass in his limited time on the floor. PG Cashmere Wright (13.4 PPG, 3.4 APG) joins Kilpatrick in the backcourt, also hoisting a lot from deep. Wright has struggled lately as well, averaging just 7.3 PPG over the team’s past three contests. Senior G JaQuon Parker (10.9 PPG, 4.8 RPG) rounds out the team’s double-digit scorers. He is coming off a 19-point performance against Villanova and is the best 3-point shooter in the Cincinnati backcourt (42.1% threes) even though he takes the fewest attempts of the trio.