After promising starts for Cincinnati and Arizona State, conference play has not been kind to two of the newer members of the Big 12.

Cincinnati Bearcats basketball hosts Arizona State Saturday afternoon. Here are three keys for UC to beat the Sun Devils from reporter Scott Springer

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The Bearcats are betting favorites again on Saturday. UC is currently an 8.5-point favorite as of this writing, with the point total set at 133.5 against Arizona State. It's Cincinnati's biggest spread as a favorite since not covering the eight points against Xavier in that 68-65 win.

Arizona State men's basketball is 1-4 in the Big 12 Conference. Ahead are road games at Cincinnati and West Virginia.

CINCINNATI — The big hole gets deeper for Cincinnati. Wes Miller's Bearcats fell 72-67 to Arizona at home on Saturday afternoon amidst another horrific offensive showing against a high-major team. UC turned the ball over 11 times to just 10 assists and was held under 70 points for the sixth outing in the past seven games.

Arizona State takes on the Cincinnati Bearcats after BJ Freeman scored 26 points in the Sun Devils' 95-89 loss to the UCF Knights.

Welcome to the Big 12, Arizona. The Wildcats (8-5, 2-0) stunned No. 16 Cincinnati 72-67 on the road Saturday to stay unbeaten in their new conference. Cincinna

Arizona Wildcats basketball (8-5, 2-0) beat the No. 16 Cincinnati Bearcats (10-3, 0-2) in their first road Big 12 matchup this season.

Jaden Bradley had 15 points, including two free throws that helped Arizona clinch a 72-67 win over No. 16 Cincinnati on Saturday.

The visitors withstood the Bearcats' second-half run, and Bryant cut behind his defender for a thundering two-handed dunk and a 64-57 Arizona lead. But Jizzle James' jumper pulled Cincinnati back to 64-61 with just over three minutes left to play.

In what mathematically may have been the biggest game so far for University of Cincinnati men's basketball, the Bearcats picked the wrong day to be statistically inaccurate, losing to Arizona 72-67.