Wichita St. @ Tulsa preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 20, 2019 ) Wichita St. 81, Tulsa 60

Tulsa has caught fire since the American Athletic Conference portion of its schedule began as it will look to extend its win streak to six games Saturday when it plays host to No. 22 Wichita State. The Golden Hurricane are coming off a pair of memorable victories last week as they doubled up then-No. 20 Memphis 80-40 at home before earning a 79-75 overtime triumph on the road Sunday against Connecticut.

The Hurricane could have easily gotten down on themselves after UConn forward Christian Vital knocked down three free throws to send Sunday’s game to overtime, but instead they hit all five field goal attempts and went 8-for-10 from the charity stripe in the extra frame to narrowly escape victorious. “We knew this was going to be a game that we had to play extremely well to win,” Tulsa head coach Frank Haith told reporters. “Our team did a great job of handling the adversity that comes with playing on the road. We rebounded the ball well and did a good job in execution, particularly in overtime.” With an 87-79 victory over Central Florida Saturday, the Shockers claimed their 17th win of the regular season – matching their total from a season ago – while head coach Gregg Marshall thinks there is still more progress to be made. “We weren’t pretty good at this time last year,” Marshall told the media. “We’re pretty good and we have to decide if that’s good enough. Are we satisfied with pretty good? Because we have some things that we need to clean up and I’ve got to do a better job coaching and we’ve got to do a better job of absorbing coaching and making it a priority to improve.”

TIME: 6 p.m. ET. TV: ESPNU

ABOUT WICHITA STATE (17-3, 5-2 AAC): The Shockers had one of their best all-around performances against UCF as they assisted on 20-of-24 made baskets, outrebounded the Knights 45-28, and grabbed nine offensive boards leading to a 19-3 disparity in second-chance points. Sophomore guard Dexter Dennis scored 16 of his team-high 18 points in the second half and pulled down 11 rebounds to record his first double-double of the season. Freshman point guard Grant Sherfield came off the bench to tally 14 points and a career high-tying six assists while the team’s only senior, center Jaime Echenique, added 14 points and seven rebounds.

ABOUT TULSA (14-6, 6-1): The second unit played a decisive role in Sunday’s win against the Huskies as they accounted for 46 of the team’s 79 points – including a career-best 28 from senior Martins Igbanu. Igbanu was 9-for-14 from the floor and added 10 rebounds - his first double-double of the season – while junior guard Darien Jackson in 30 minutes off the bench produced 14 points on 50 percent shooting. Junior Elijah Joiner flirted with a triple-double as the guard finished with seven points, seven boards and eight helpers – the 10th time this season he’s led the team in assists.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Tulsa has held its opponents under 40 percent shooting in each of its 14 wins but owns a combined field-goal percentage defense of 47.6 in its six losses.

2. Shockers G Erik Stevenson leads the team in scoring with 12.4 points per game but has averaged just 5.8 over his last four.

3. Wichita State’s 10.9-point scoring margin is tops in the AAC while its 74.6 points per game is second to SMU’s 74.9.

PREDICTION: Wichita State 77, Tulsa 71