Tulane @ Southern Methodist preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 4, 2019 ) Southern Methodist 74, Tulane 65

Tulane remains winless in the American Athletic Conference as it approaches the midway point of the league's season and the prospects of ending that drought do not appear bright entering Saturday night's matchup at Southern Methodist. The host Mustangs already beat the Green Wave 74-65 in New Orleans three weeks ago and have not lost at home to Tulane since December 1991.

SMU has dropped three of four since beating the Green Wave, including an 83-61 loss at Memphis in which it was without senior Jarry Foster, who has been ruled out for a second straight game. "That's a hard pill to swallow," Mustangs coach Tim Jankovich said. "It's been a pretty tough week in that way." Like SMU, Tulane fell into a big early hole last time out versus visiting Central Florida in a 75-50 drubbing to tumble to its eighth straight defeat. "We just have to keep playing hard and trying to play hard," coach Mike Dunleavy Sr. said after his team's fourth double-digit loss in six conference games.

TV: 6 p.m. ET, ESPNU

ABOUT TULANE (4-14, 0-6 AAC): Junior forward Samir Sehic had a big game in the previous matchup versus SMU, scoring 20 points and grabbing a career-high 15 rebounds, but he has been in a shooting slump and is just 11-for-32 from the floor in the past three games. Leading scorer Caleb Daniels has committed four turnovers in each of the last three games -- "We have to value the basketball," Dunleavy said -- but senior forward Blake Paul is coming on strong. After posting 12 points and 11 boards combined in an eight-game stretch, Paul has averaged 12.0 points and 10.3 boards in the last three.

SMU (11-7, 3-3): The Mustangs turned their season around once Foster returned to the lineup after missing the first six games, winning eight of 10 before he sprained his knee after playing only four minutes against Houston on Jan. 16. "We were in a good groove, as you know. Things were going great," Jankovich said of Foster, a preseason all-conference selection. "We got in a nice rotation and everything was looking really good and now we're going to have to adjust." Jahmal McMurray was 5-for-26 shooting the past two games but he scored 25 and knocked down five 3-pointers last time versus Tulane.

TIP-INS

1. SMU has won seven of the last eight meetings overall.

2. Tulane G Jordan Cornish has scored 19 points over the past four games after notching 17 against SMU.

3. The Mustangs are second in the ACC with an average of 13.6 offensive rebounds.

PREDICTION: SMU 77, Tulane 70