Tulane @ Wichita St. preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 9, 2019 ) Wichita St. 82, Tulane 79

Wichita State picked up a much-needed win at Central Florida this week to boost its ailing NCAA Tournament resume. The Shockers will try to carry the momentum home when they host last-place Tulane in another American Athletic Conference matchup.

Sophomore guard Erik Stevenson broke out of a long slump by scoring 27 points in Wichita State's 75-58 victory over the Knights on Thursday, which snapped a three-game slide and provided a nice statement just days after a 33-point loss at Houston. "This got us back on track, for sure," Stevenson told reporters. "We got to playing Shocker basketball." The Green Wave's losing streak hit eight in a row with a 72-68 loss to Temple on Wednesday. Tulane led by 11 with under seven minutes remaining before suffering their closest loss during the slide.

TIME: 2 p.m. ET. TV: CBS Sports Network

ABOUT TULANE (10-14, 2-10 AAC): Junior guard Teshaun Hightower enters the weekend ranked fourth in the AAC in scoring at 15.4 points per game after scoring 23 in the loss to Temple. The rest of the team combined to shoot 34 percent from the floor as the agonizing slide continued for a squad that began the season 7-1 and opened AAC play at 2-2. "The kids are devastated right now, and I'm devastated for them, but I told them that this is just a blip on the radar screen," coach Ron Hunter told reporters Wednesday. "Going through something like this is never easy, and it's never easy for the kids."

ABOUT WICHITA STATE (18-6, 6-5): Stevenson, who leads the Shockers in scoring (12.1), was 13-of-50 from the floor during the team's recent 2-5 swoon before going 11-of-21 in the win over UCF. "It wasn't like I was putting any pressure on myself, like it was an 'Erik-get-back-on-track' type of night," he told the media Thursday. "They were just kind of leaving me open and I was making shots. I did take the blame though on that skid we had. It's not a coincidence. There's a correlation between if I'm playing bad, then the team is losing. When I was playing good, the team was 15-1." No other Shocker scored in double figures in Thursday's win, although sophomore guard Dexter Dennis filled the box score with seven points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals in 29 turnover-free minutes.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Green Wave senior G Christion Thompson is averaging 20.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, five assists and three steals over his last two games.

2. Shockers senior C Jaime Echenique has 36 rebounds and 10 blocks over a four-game stretch.

3. Wichita State owns a 3-0 series advantage, sweeping a pair of meetings last season.

PREDICTION: Wichita State 77, Tulane 63