There's buzz that this could be Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin's best team. The 23rd-ranked Bearcats looked like on Sunday.

Freshman guard Jarron Cumberland scored a career-high 19 points off the bench, and senior point guard Troy Caupain did a little bit of everything in the Bearcats' 92-56 rout of struggling Tulane at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Caupain, the American Athletic Conference preseason player of the year, finished with nine points, eight assists, five rebounds and two steals for the Bearcats (12-2, 2-0 AAC), who have won five in a row and 17 straight at home, dating back to last season.

"Real teams, they understand why they win," Cronin said. "We believe in our program that all these teams have talent, and the teams that win consistently, they play harder than the other teams."

The Bearcats hit 10 of their first 11 shots of the second half and put away the Green Wave with a 21-7 run. Cincinnati's lead ballooned to 60-34 on a 3-pointer from Jacob Evans with 16 minutes to play. Evans hit two 3-pointers in the first six minutes of the second half.

The Bearcats hit a season-high 13 3-pointers in the game, including a late trey by walk-on and crowd favorite Zack Tobler.

Junior guard Cameron Reynolds scored 17 points for Tulane (3-11, 0-2 AAC), which dropped its fourth straight game under first-year coach Mike Dunleavy Sr. Sophomore guard Kain Harris added 10 points off the bench for the Green Wave.

While Cincinnati wasn't tested by Tulane, stiffer competition is on the horizon for the Bearcats, who now turn their attention to Houston and SMU, two teams considered contenders in the American Athletic Conference. The Bearcats travel to Houston on Saturday and then host SMU on Jan. 12.

Cincinnati ran off 12 straight points early in the first half and led 22-8 with 10 minutes left. But the Bearcats went more than three minutes without a field goal and allowed the Green Wave to get back in the game.

Tulane cut the lead to 34-27 with 1:13 left in the first half on a dunk off of a rebound by sophomore guard Melvin Frazier. But the Bearcats answered with the last five points of the half on a dunk by Kyle Washington and a 3-pointer from Kevin Johnson that sent Cincinnati into the locker room with a 39-27 lead. Johnson finished with 15 points.

Cronin said he emphasized to his team at halftime the need to rebound. Tulane had 11 offensive rebounds in the first half.

"We force teams to miss a lot of shots," Cronin said. "We've got to a do a better job on the defensive backboard. We did that in the second half, and that was the key."

Tulane shot 27.4 percent from the field and finished with 17 offensive rebounds.

Cumberland hit ll four of his shots in the first half for 13 points. The freshman told reporters after his career performance that his confidence is growing and "I feel like I can do that any night."

"I think he's going to have a lot more (career nights) in his career," Cronin said. "He drew a lot of fouls tonight. He didn't live behind the 3-point line tonight, which I think early in the season he was doing too much. He's just feeling his way, but he's more aggressive off the dribble. That's why I put him in early tonight. I knew he was ready to play. I could see it in practice."

NOTES: Cincinnati entered Sunday's game ranked first in the American in scoring margin (+17.2), blocks (6.1) and steals (8.2 per game). ... Tulane had 11 turnovers in the first half. ... The Bearcats committed just three fouls in the first half. ... Cincinnati shot 56.9 percent from the floor. ... Tulane will have a week off before hosting Memphis.