CINCINNATI - Armein Kirkland suggested a way to crack one of the nation's stingiest defenses, then made the shot that made it happen.
Kirkland worked free against a smaller defender and made a short bank shot with 16.9 seconds left, giving No.13 Cincinnati a 64-62 victory over Louisville on Thursday night.
Taquan Dean missed a rushed 3-pointer at the buzzer, a second straight dramatic finish this season for the longtime rivals.
Cincinnati (22-6) lost by 27 at Louisville in January, ending its season-opening winning streak at 13. The Bearcats needed overtime to beat the Cardinals on their homecourt.
Playing in a downtown arena near campus, the Bearcats overcame Francisco Garcia's career-high 28 points and one of the nation's stingiest defenses. It came down to one play suggested by Kirkland.
During a timeout to set up Cincinnati's last shot, the 6-foot-8 forward told coach Bob Huggins that he was being guarded by Dean, a 6-foot-3 point guard who has a groin injury.
The idea: Get Kirkland in position under the basket for a pass.
"It's just a play we have in practice," Kirkland said. "We didn't run it at all in the game. I said, "Coach, I've got a mismatch,' and we've only run that play a couple of times in 20-odd games."
Louisville (20-9) surrounded power forward Jason Maxiell when he got the ball near the free-throw line, leaving Kirkland open to catch a pass and make an easy shot that snapped the seventh tie.
Cincinnati shot 48.9 percent, the best for any of Louisville's opponents this season.
Louisville didn't call a timeout after Kirkland's basket, hoping to get Garcia open in transition. But he was double-teamed.
BUS CATCHES FIRE: The charter bus for Louisville's pep band caught fire outside the arena during the game. No one was aboard the parked bus when the fire started about 8 p.m. and no one was injured, said District Fire Chief Steven Phillips of the Cincinnati Fire Department. Phillips said the fire apparently was sparked by an electrical short in the engine.
SAINT LOUIS 72, NO. 23 MEMPHIS 61: Izik Ohanon led a late 16-2 run for the Billikens (18-11), whose slowdown pace had the Tigers (21-7) out of synch.
Memphis point guard Antonio Burks, the conference's player of the year, went 2-for-11 for a season-low six points. Freshman forward Sean Banks, who had averaged 25.5 points in the last six games, was 5-of-15 for 17 points.
Memphis turned the ball over on three straight possessions in the last two minutes.
Saint Louis pulled out to a 26-12 lead by patiently working for open shots and hitting 10 of its first 14. Memphis tried to force matters and wound up making them worse.
Memphis' Rodney Carney tried to make an emphatic, flying dunk to break the spell, but smacked the ball off the back of the rim.
DePAUL 89, TCU 65: Andre Brown scored 21 and Delonte Holland added 19 for the top-seeded Blue Demons (20-8).
DePaul has won 10 of its past 11, reaching 20 wins for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. The Frogs (12-17) ended their season by losing three of four.
Drake Diener scored 13 of his 15 in the second half for DePaul.
UAB 77, CHARLOTTE 66: Morris Finley scored 28 for the Blazers (20-8) in a game between two of the five teams that shared the regular-season championship.
Finley opened the second half with consecutive 3-pointers that wiped out a 37-35 halftime deficit and sparked a 16-2 run that gave UAB a 51-39 lead with 13:56 remaining. The 49ers (21-8) got no closer than six points after that.
Brendan Plavich led Charlotte with 21 points, all on 3-pointers.
