Bearcats Have Short Trip To Louisville For NCAA Tournament With Tickets Starting at $69

The No. 8 seeded Cincinnati Bearcats will take on the No. 9 seeded Purdue Boilermakers in what might prove to be a very defensive heavy matchup in the second round.  Both teams have a track record of making it to the NCAA Tournament, with the Bearcats making their 29th appearance in the tournament and the Boilermakers appearing for the 27th time in program history.  Despite the Bearcats losing to the Connecticut Huskies in the American Athletic Conference tournament, they have a strong defense that they will rely on to make it deep into the tournament.

This second round matchup between two evenly matched teams will take place on Thursday, March 19th in Louisville, KY.  The 7:10 tip-off will take place in the KFC Yum! Center, the average ticket price for this game is $171.43 with the get-in price of $69.

Cincinnati Bearcats fans can make the short trip by reserving a flight to Louisville using Hipmunk.com. One the Bearcats win, you’ll need to stay for two games. Hipmunk has hotels in Louisville from $64 so you can wake up and take in more Bearcats action during March Madness.

For Cincinnati, their star forward, junior Octavius Ellis, will be the key to their success in the postseason.  His 10 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per game lead the team in both categories during the regular season.  Ellis scored 19 points in their most recent conference win over Memphis and was instrumental to the five game winning streak that they ended conference play on.  Ellis will have to be a monster on the boards if they want to keep pace with the size and strength of Purdue.

Purdue big man, seven-footer A.J. Hammons, was dominant at the end of the season and proved to be a handful for some of the best big men in the country.  He averaged 12 points per game and three blocks.  As a whole, Purdue rebounds very well, which is something that Cincinnati has struggled to do effectively at times.  Purdue also will pose a challenge defensively on the perimeter.  Their junior guard, Raphael Davis, was the Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year.  Cincinnati has played good defense all year long and will need to continue to do that well, but most important is Octavius Ellis getting the offense going against a good Purdue defense.