Memphis @ Tulane preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 30, 2019 ) Tulane 73, Memphis 84

Memphis is in the process of falling off the NCAA Tournament bubble and can't afford a road loss to the last-place team in the American Athletic Conference. The Tigers will try to avoid that fate and turn the momentum around as the regular season winds down when they visit Tulane on Saturday.

Memphis began the season in the top 15 but could not carry their early-season momentum into conference play and hit a low point with a 58-53 loss at SMU on Tuesday that marked its fourth setback in six games. "I felt like as a team we just expected to come in and this would be an easy win," Tigers freshman Lester Quinones told reporters, "and, it definitely (wasn't). Just going on the road in this type of environment, I felt like we just didn't come ready to play." The Green Wave sit in the AAC basement but are trying to finish the season strong and snapped a nine-game slide with wins over SMU and UCF before falling 62-57 at Tulsa on Tuesday. Tulane failed to reach 70 points during its nine-game slide and went back to the low-scoring ways on Tuesday, shooting 39.3 percent from the floor.

TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: CBS Sports Network

ABOUT MEMPHIS (19-9, 8-7 AAC): The Tigers beat Houston at home last weekend and will visit the Cougars in the season finale but likely need to win each of its final three regular season games and put together a solid run in the AAC tournament to earn an at-large bid. Memphis freshman forward Precious Achiuwa leads the team in scoring (15.3 points) and rebounds (10) but logged only 19 minutes at SMU after picking up two fouls early in the first half. Achiuwa averaged 36.8 minutes over the previous four games and recorded three double-doubles in that span.

ABOUT TULANE (12-16, 4-12): Junior guard Teshaun Hightower leads the team in scoring at an average of 15.8 points and pushed that average to 21 points over the last three contests. Hightower was not at his best when the Green Wave opened AAC play with an 84-73 loss at Memphis on Dec. 30, when he struggled to seven points on 2-of-12 shooting. Guards K.J. Lawson (13.5) and Christion Thompson (13.3) join Hightower in double figures but the pair was held to a total of 17 points on 7-of-22 shooting in Tuesday's setback.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Tulane G Jordan Walker is 4-of-7 from 3-point range over the last three games.

2. Quinones is 7-of-33 from the floor over the last four games.

3. The Tigers own a nine-game winning streak in the series.

PREDICTION: Memphis 71, Tulane 62