Wichita St. @ Tulane preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 9, 2019 ) Tulane 62, Wichita St. 77

After a disappointing 1-6 start to American Athletic Conference play, Wichita State has reeled off eight wins in 10 games - including three in a row after recording a 72-55 victory over East Carolina on Tuesday. The Shockers will go on the road to play their regular-season finale on Saturday against a Tulane squad that is in the midst of a 19-game losing streak – tied for the longest active slide in the country.

The Shockers' only two seniors, Markis McDuffie and Samajae Haynes-Jones, played their last collegiate game in front of their home fans on Tuesday and, despite their combined 6-of-22 shooting performance, coach Gregg Marshall credited the pair for steadying the ship during a turbulent start to conference play. “(McDuffie and Haynes-Jones) have done a wonderful job of not losing faith and not being antagonistic or angry with the younger players as they learned to play at this level,” Marshall told reporters. “When some of us were a little testy or a little unhappy with how we were playing, they handled it as beautifully as you can as a leader.” Caleb Daniels scored a team-high 20 points – the 14th time the sophomore has led his team in scoring – but it wasn’t enough to give the Green Wave their first conference victory since Feb. 28, 2018 as they dropped a 75-70 decision on Wednesday to South Florida. A silver lining to Tulane’s winless conference record (0-17) has been the play of Daniels, who leads the team in scoring (16.1 points) but registered a career-high seven assists and team-best six boards during his ninth 20-point effort of the season on Wednesday.

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network

ABOUT WICHITA STATE (16-13, 9-8 American): McDuffie’s team-high 18 points per game (tied for fourth in the conference) is up from the 8.5 he netted as a junior while Haynes-Jones jumped from 5.3 last season to 12.1 as a senior. Sophomore Asbjorn Midtgaard set a career high with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting against ECU and has recorded 12 of his 19 blocks in his last six games – including three in Tuesday’s victory. The Shockers sit fifth in the conference in 3-pointers made (7.6) but are 11th in field-goal percentage from behind-the-arc (31.5 percent).

ABOUT TULANE (4-25, 0-17): The Green Wave have lost their conference games by an average of 13.6 points as they look to avoid becoming the first team in the AAC's six-year history to finish 0-18 during league play. Tulane’s issues have not been confined to one end of the floor as its offense scores a league-low 66.7 points per contest while its defense allows a conference-high 77.2. Freshman Connor Crabtree has posted two of his most productive games of the season over his last four contests as he finished with 19 points against USF after setting his career high of 23 versus ECU on Feb. 23.

TIP-INS

1. Going back to the 2013-14 season, Wichita State’s 77.6 winning percentage on the road (52-15) is second-best in the country behind only Gonzaga.

2. Tulane F Blake Paul recorded his 100th career block on Wednesday as the senior moved into sole possession of eighth place on the program’s all-time list.

3. Haynes-Jones is averaging 32.6 minutes in 29 games this season – up from 11 in 24 contests during his junior campaign.

PREDICTION: Wichita State 77, Tulane 65