Central Arkansas @ Tulsa preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 14, 2015 ) Central Arkansas 81, Tulsa 98

After finishing in fourth place in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Tournament at Myrtle Beach, S.C., Tulsa returns home to face Central Arkansas on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Hurricane posted an impressive victory over Western Michigan in the opening round of the tournament before losing to eventual champion Iowa State 80-78 and to Illinois State 84-68 in the consolation game.

Tulsa had five players score in double figures, led by 16 points from Junior Etou, against Illinois State. Etou leads the team at 17.6 points per game and scored 86 points in four contests last week. Central Arkansas has won two straight since nearly pulling off a shocking win at UCLA before eventually falling in overtime. The Bears have scored at least 99 points in four of their five games on the season.
TV: Noon, ET, No TV

ABOUT CENTRAL ARKANSAS (3-2): The Bears are coming off wins against Alcorn State and South Carolina State and are led by Jordan Howard, who is fourth in the nation in scoring through Wednesday's games at 26.8 points per contest while shooting 51.7 percent from the field. The Bears were picked to finish 12th out of 13 teams in the Southland Conference preseason poll, but have to feel they can do better after a tremendous showing at Pauley Pavilion, where they held a lead over UCLA with seconds to play. Howard has hit 21 of the team's 47 3-pointers on the season.
ABOUT TULSA (2-3): Sterling Taplin is second on the team in scoring at 14.6 points per game and is the only Tulsa player to score in double figures every game this season. Six Golden Hurricane players are shooting better than 50 percent from the field for and four of the squad's five starters (Taplin, Curran Scott, Jaleel Wheeler, DaQuan Jeffries, Etou) are shooting better than 45 percent. Tulsa is shooting 47.5 percent from the field, which ranks fifth in the American Athletic Conference, but shot a season-low 37.3 percent last game.

TIP-INS
1. Tulsa has won two previous meetings against the Bears in Tulsa, including 98-81 to open the 2015-16 season.
2. Jeffries is averaging 11.6 points and 5.4 rebounds.
3. Howard hit eight 3-pointers against UCLA, which was one short of the school record for a single game and matched his performance against Morehead State last season.



PREDICTION: Tulsa 88, Central Arkansas 76