CINCINNATI -- The first big test of the season is approaching for the Cincinnati Bearcats.

No. 21 Rhode Island is up next for Cincinnati, which routed Albany 74-51 Monday in Cincinnati to improve to 2-0.

Bearcats coach Mick Cronin will find out a lot about his team in Uncasville, Conn., for the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament, which features No. 1 Duke as a potential main event matchup against the URI-Cincinnati winner.

After blowing the doors off of Brown, 84-55, to open the season, the Bearcats were in a tight game into the second half Monday. Perimeter shots did not fall, and Cronin called for his go-to remedy -- physical defense and hard-nosed rebounding -- to spark a 13-4 run that propelled Cincinnati ahead to stay and toward the Mohegan Sun Casino date with sharp-shooting Rhode Island.

Albany coach Will Brown anticipates the No. 24-ranked Bearcats, who hit the Top 25 for the first time this season Monday, will be climbing.

"They have so many athletes. They didn't let us run any of our offense at all, nothing, and we were a step slow. They took the ball out of our hands," Brown said. "They got real physical with us. Their length, quickness and athleticism bothered us. I think our inexperience on the perimeter as a whole with our starting group showed a little bit today."

Jacob Evans scored 19 points, and Cincinnati pulled ahead to stay with 24 points off of 22 forced turnovers. Albany was 2 of 14 from 3-point range and had only nine field goals in the game. The Great Danes went more than four minutes without making a basket during Cincinnati's decisive run.

"They got us to play fast and then too fast at times, and then I think when we got down 14, 16, 18 and I think our guys were a little bit stunned," Brown said. "You can't turn the ball over against teams like this, and we turned it over. Some absolutely careless.

"You have got to credit Cincinnati. They are good, man. They are not top 25, they are probably top 10, top 12 because of their defense, their length, and their size. They are picked to win their league for a reason."

Cincinnati led 29-27 after a close back-and-forth first half in which the Bearcats barely shot 30 percent from the field and missed their first eight 3-point tries. The Bearcats turned up the pressure in the second half and tried to distance themselves from the scrappy Great Danes, who had upended Penn State in their opener.

Evans had back-to-back fastbreak buckets that pushed the lead to 41-33 with 14 minutes to play. He scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half.

"We didn't play well in the first half, and that is because Albany made us look bad," Cronin said. "That happens in basketball when you haven't seen that physical resistance, it shocks you at first. Now, if we had come out firing 3-pointers to start the game, that would have been a different story because they would not have been able to do that. I knew once we started missing some open shots and guys started hesitating to shoot the ball that it was going to be ugly."

Junior forward Kyle Washington added 13 points, and freshman guard Jarron Cumberland came off the bench to score 11 points for the Bearcats.

The Bearcats emerged from a competitive first half and got out on the fastbreak during the second half. Tre Scott dunked home a pass off the backboard from Justin Jenifer as the lead grew to 25 with a minute to play.

Cincinnati senior guard Troy Caupain, the preseason American Athletic Conference co-player of the year, finished with eight points, five assists and four rebounds. Caupain and the Bearcats are considered the favorites to win the American Athletic Conference.

Albany sophomore guard David Nichols had 13 points and six assists to lead the Great Danes (1-1), and sophomore guard Joe Cremo added 12 points.