Wichita St. @ Central Florida preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 25, 2020 ) Central Florida 79, Wichita St. 87

Wichita State has picked an awful time to go into a slump and should have plenty of incentive heading into a visit to Central Florida for an American Athletic Conference matchup Thursday night. After opening 15-1 - 3-0 in league play - the Shockers have dropped five of seven and three straight - two last-possession setbacks and then an embarrassing 76-43 loss at No. 19 Houston on Sunday.

"That was one of the most thorough whippings we've had in my career," Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall told reporters. "It's disappointing. I don't know how to explain it at this point. I can't get anything from them, so the only thing I can point to is the two heartbreakers in a row. It deflates you, but you can't have that carry over, especially against a team like Houston." Marshall's team shot 26.4 percent from the floor and had its worst effort from 3-point range (8.3 percent) since an identical 2-for-24 showing nearly four years ago. The Knights are trending in the other direction with back-to-back victories, including an 83-75 triumph over third-place Tulsa on Sunday. Freshman Darin Green Jr. made 6-of-7 shots from 3-point range en route to a personal-best 26 points as UCF shot a season-high 55.6 percent.

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN2

ABOUT WICHITA STATE (17-6, 5-5 AAC): The Shockers' slump has coincided with a downturn for leading scorer Erik Stevenson (11.5 per game), who is averaging 5.3 points during the losing streak and has six single-digit efforts during the 2-5 slide. "I've suggested to Erik to just relax a little bit and move better without the ball, and try to get some good catch-and-shoot wide-open looks, and just not try to do too much," Marshall told the media. "He seems to just be forcing it now. ... Just relax. He's putting a lot of pressure on himself to get back to what he was doing earlier." Sophomore guard Dexter Dennis was the only player to reach double figures Sunday, finishing with 10 points to give him an average of 12.2 over the last five games.

ABOUT UCF (13-10, 4-7): Green was 7-of-9 overall and made 6-of-8 free throws in 26 minutes off the bench to lead Sunday's hot-shooting effort, which also included an 8-of-13 display by junior guard Ceasar DeJesus. "Some of the shots we made, they had hands in our faces. We made tough shots," coach Johnny Dawkins told reporters. "Darin was terrific of course. When you have nights like that where he's shooting it so well, there are not too many bad shots because he's hitting everything." One of the few players who failed to get involved was leading scorer Collin Smith (12.2), who was held without a basket for the first time this season while dealing with foul trouble.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Shockers senior C Jaime Echenique leads his team in rebounding (6.4) and blocks (1.3) after recording seven and one, respectively, against Houston.

2. Knights senior G Dazon Ingram hit both of his 3-point attempts Sunday after going 0-for-9 from long distance over his previous eight games.

3. Wichita State won the first four meetings between the teams, including an 87-79 triumph at home last month behind 18 points and 11 rebounds from Dennis.

PREDICTION: UCF 76, Wichita State 74