Houston @ Wichita St. preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 12, 2019 ) Wichita St. 70, Houston 79

Wichita State will be looking to get back in the win column Saturday when the 16th-ranked Shockers continue their American Athletic Conference schedule at home against Houston. Not only did their nine-game win streak end with a 65-53 loss to Temple on Wednesday, but the Shockers were dealt their first true road loss after eight straight victories - ending the second-longest active streak in the country.

Coming off an emotional double-overtime road victory over Connecticut, the Shockers seemed to be running on fumes against the Owls as they recorded a season low for points scored while leading scorer Erik Stevenson (13.2 points per game) and freshman standout Tyson Etienne (9.8) were both held scoreless. “We were outplayed and outcoached,” Shockers head coach Gregg Marshall told reporters after his team’s first true road defeat since Feb. 17, 2019. “We’ve been playing good basketball all season and tonight we didn’t. We looked mentally and physically tired.” Houston earned its sixth victory in seven games Thursday with a 71-62 triumph over SMU as the Cougars continued their domination on the glass – outrebounding every one of their opponents this season while leading the nation in rebound margin (11.5) and sitting second in offensive rebounds per game (15.29). “You can tell (SMU) made an effort to keep us off the board in the first half,” Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson told the media after his team posted a 45-34 rebounding advantage Thursday. “We are going to keep coming. We work too hard pursuing our missed shots. Good news is, we pursue them will great tenacity.”

TIME: 4 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN2

ABOUT HOUSTON (13-4, 3-1 AAC): Sophomore Nate Hinton committed a season-high four turnovers Thursday, but his coach was nevertheless impressed with the 6-5 guard whose 9.9 rebounds per game are second-best in the conference. “I didn’t think Nate had one of his better games, but he had nine rebounds,” Sampson told reporters. “If I told Nate to run through a brick wall, he would ask me if he could get a running start. Even on not a great night, he still impacts winning. A lot of guys put up numbers, but they don’t impact winning.” Junior forward Fabian White Jr. registered 17 points against SMU on 6-of-12 shooting while also grabbing 10 rebounds (six offensive) for his second double-double of the season.

ABOUT WICHITA STATE (15-2, 3-1): The Shockers managed to hit just 30.2 percent of their shots against the Owls while they suffered through their worst 3-point shooting effort of the season with a 3-for-21 showing – 0-for-10 in the second half. The team’s lone senior, center Jaime Echenique, tallied season highs of 20 points and 13 rebounds against Temple and with a pair of blocks raised his team-leading total to 15. Sophomore guard Jamarius Burton hit double-figures in scoring for the seventh consecutive game Wednesday as he finished with 16 points and is averaging 12.3 points per game since being inserted into the starting lineup 10 games ago.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Shockers have registered more assists than turnovers just once in their last seven games after accomplishing the feat eight times through their first 10 games.

2. Cougars C Chris Harris Jr. ranks second in the conference with 2.31 blocks per game and has at least three rejections in eight of his 16 games this season.

3. Marshall on Saturday will coach his 200th game at Charles Koch Arena, where he owns a 173-26 record in 13 seasons.

PREDICTION: Wichita State 75, Houston 65