Alcorn St. @ Tulane preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 29, 2017 ) Alcorn St. 65, Tulane 81

After having its four-game winning streak snapped, new-look Tulane has a good chance to get back in the win column Monday when it hosts Alcorn State - a team that hasn't won a non-conference Division I contest since 2012 and is riding a 21-game road losing streak. The Green Wave will look to bounce back after allowing Saint Louis to make an astounding 60.7 percent of its three-point attempts after opponents had shot just 32 percent in the previous eight games.

“It was good because in the last week we’ve changed some things defensively to guard against that happening again. I think that will help us,” Tulane head coach Ron Hunter told the New Orleans Times-Picayune of how the team will apply the lessons learned to the matchup against the Braves. In his first year at the helm, Hunter brought along a group of four transfers from big programs that have been heavily relied upon, with Teshaun Hightower (Georgia), K.J. Lawson (Kansas), Christion Thompson (Rhode Island) and Jordan Walker (Seton Hall) accounting for nearly 73 percent of the team’s scoring. The Green Wave are undefeated at the Devlin Fieldhouse, outscoring opponents by 18.5 points while holding them to 26.6 percent three-point shooting and forcing 19 turnovers per game. Despite being picked to finish toward the bottom of the SWAC and struggling to score against Division I opponents, the Braves still lead the conference in three-pointers per game (nine), three-point percentage defense (28.2) and free-throw percentage (71.2).

TV: 8 p.m. ET, No TV

ABOUT ALCORN STATE (3-5): Preseason All-SWAC first-team pick Maurice Howard has played up to the honor, averaging 12.7 points, and the leading three-point shooter in school history is second in the conference with 2.7 made threes per game and turnover-assist ratio (2.0). But it is junior guard Troymain Crosby that leads the Braves with 13.1 points per game and was one rebound away from notching his first double-double of the season against Little Rock on Nov. 27. In addition to averaging double figures, senior swingman Deshaw Andrews (11.9) is the second best free-throw shooter in the SWAC - making 88.5 percent of his shots from the charity stripe.

ABOUT TULANE (7-2): Lawson played all but one game at Kansas in 2018-2019 and has once again been a workhorse while averaging 35.1 minutes overall and scoring 17.8 per contest the last four games - including a career-high 30 against Southern. Hightower, the team’s leading scorer (16.4), has struggled shooting a bit in the last two games (8-for-26 combined) - though he still managed double-digits in both contests. Graduate transfer guard Nic Thomas (Norfolk State), who had made just five 3-pointers in five games played, scored 16 on five made threes off the bench against Saint Louis.

TIP-INS

1. Tulane's turnover margin (plus-4.7) is the second-best in the American Athletic Conference.

2. The Green Wave are one of six teams in the country bringing back less than 21 percent of its scoring from 2018-2019.

3. Alcorn State's wins during the 2012-2013 season were vacated by the NCAA, and the previous victory over a Division I non-conference opponent came in 2003.

PREDICTION: Tulane 80, Alcorn State 56