GAME NOTES: Hoping to end a two-game losing streak, the UCF Knights return home to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats in an American Athletic Conference showdown at CFE Arena Sunday.

UCF has dropped two consecutive contests - both on the road - to Memphis (99-79) and Connecticut (67-60), falling to an even 9-9 record on the season. The Knights are just 2-5 in AAC play, but they own an 8-4 mark at CFE Arena.

Cincinnati has taken two straight victories at home over Temple (84-53) and Houston (67-54) to improve to 13-5 on the season. Although the Bearcats are 4-2 in conference action, they are just 1-3 on the road.

This is the fifth meeting between the two sides in their all-time series history. Cincinnati has taken all four of the previous matchups against UCF, which includes one game previously played in Orlando.

Not always known for its strong offensive attack, Cincinnati displayed a solid shooting touch against Houston on Wednesday as the Bearcats connected on 51.2 percent of their attempts from the floor in the 13-point victory. Troy Caupain scored a team-best 13 points with six assists in the win. Octavius Ellis chipped in with 11 points and five rebounds, and Shaq Thomas came off the bench to add 10 points. Cincinnati was a near-perfect 16-of-17 shooting from the free-throw line, and held a 31-15 advantage over the Cougars in points off turnovers.

Caupain is the closest of any Bearcat to double-digit scoring this season, netting 9.9 ppg on 43.8 percent shooting with a team-leading 69 assists. Cincinnati checks in at last in the AAC rankings in terms of scoring offense, averaging 63.2 ppg on 44.3 percent shooting from the field. Still, the Bearcats haven't been about offense this season, as the team has prided itself on a strong defensive effort that is holding opponents to a conference-best 55.0 ppg. The Bearcats are second in the AAC in terms of scoring margin (+8.2).

UCF didn't have the best shooting performance against UConn in the team's seven-point loss on Thursday. The Knights connected on just 36.8 percent of their attempts from the floor, and never led the Huskies at any points in the game. Freshman B.J. Taylor led UCF with 13 points in the defeat, while Justin McBride tallied a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds. Adonys Henriquez and Daiquan Walker each chipped in for the Knights with 10 points, but it wasn't enough to keep pace with UConn's 48.1 shooting percentage.

UCF's scoring defense has been abysmal this season, as the Knights are in last place in the conference rankings currently, allowing 73.0 ppg to opponents. The team's offense, which averages 69.7 ppg - tied for first in the AAC - hasn't been enough to keep pace with what the defense allows per outing. The freshman Taylor leads the team with 14.8 ppg this season, while Henriquez (11.4 ppg) and Brandon Goodwin (10.3 ppg) follow in tow. McBride leads the Knights in rebounding at 4.8 boards per outing, and Goodwin's 65 assists in the most in the category.

Even though UCF has the home advantage, the team may not be able to get the scoring it needs for a victory if Cincinnati's tough defense has anything to do with it.