Tulsa @ Wichita St. preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 28, 2018 ) Tulsa 71, Wichita St. 90

Two teams that just ended three-game losing streaks will battle Saturday, when Tulsa visits Wichita State for the first Havoc in the Heartland contest of the season. The most important of Shockers guard Samajae Haynes-Jones’ team-high 17 points on Wednesday were his last two, as they came with less than one second remaining in regulation and lifted the team to an 85-83 triumph over SMU.

“The biggest thing I need to do as a coach is get more guys playing toward their potential, whatever their ceiling is,” Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said on his radio show prior to Wednesday’s victory. “I need to get a handful on a given night, and the most important ones like Markis McDuffie and Samajae Haynes-Jones.” The only two seniors on the Shockers’ roster heeded the call of their coach as Haynes-Jones finished 7-for-12 from the floor Wednesday - his highest shooting percentage of the season (58.3) – while McDuffie scored 15 points and nailed three of his six 3-point attempts after going 3-for-15 from beyond the arc over his previous two games. Tulsa’s performance Wednesday was exactly what coach Frank Haith had been waiting for as the team posted a dominant 95-79 victory over Memphis and set season highs for points, field goals (30), field-goal percentage (54.5) and assists (24). “We were sharp. We executed very well on both ends. Our defense was sharp,” Haith told reporters after his team recorded its largest margin of victory since Nov. 10. “We prepared hard. We knew what we wanted to look for, so all those things as a coach we were very pleased with – the execution and how we carried ourselves.”

TV: 2 p.m. ET, ESPNU

ABOUT TULSA (13-9, 3-6 American): DaQuan Jeffries helped the Golden Hurricane get back in the win column by scoring a career-high 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting while also recording eight boards and three blocks – both team highs. Curran Scott entered Wednesday’s contest averaging 6.8 points during conference play, but the junior erupted for a season-high 20 against the Tigers by converting both of his 3-point attempts and going 8-for-9 from the free-throw line. The Hurricane were outrebounded 43-34 by Memphis and fell to last place in the AAC in rebounds allowed per game (38) while also owning the conference’s worst margin on the boards (minus-4).

ABOUT WICHITA STATE (9-11, 2-6): The Shockers were a team struggling from the 3-point line as they were 6-for-34 over their last two games before sinking 10 3s on Wednesday on 47.6 percent shooting – their second-highest percentage this season. Erik Stevenson busted out of his slump as the freshman was averaging four points during league play – on a combined 4-for-18 shooting from beyond the arc - but nailed a trio of 3s en route to matching Haynes-Jones with a team-high 17 points. Marshall’s distribution of playing time between Jaime Echenique and Asbjorn Midtgaard (20 minutes apiece) worked out wonderfully as the former recorded 12 points and a season-high five blocks while the latter scored a career-high 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting.

TIP-INS

1. Wichita State G Jamarius Burton followed a career-high 16-point performance in the loss to UConn last Saturday by dishing out a career-high seven assists in the win over SMU.

2. Tulsa has lost 10 of its last 11 meetings with Wichita State and trails in the all-time series 59-58.

3. This is the second year of Havoc in the Heartland, a rivalry competition series created by Tulsa and Wichita State that spans 13 varsity sports.

PREDICTION: Wichita State 88, Tulsa 76