Tulsa @ Tulane preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 8, 2018 ) Tulane 89, Tulsa 91

One losing streak will come to an end on Thursday as Tulsa looks for its first American Athletic Conference road win of the season (0-5) against host Tulane, which has dropped 12 in a row overall. The Golden Hurricane are riding high after recording their largest margin of victory since Nov. 10 as they held Temple to a season-low 30.6 percent shooting in Saturday's 76-58 triumph.

Tulsa played one of its most complete games of the campaign as it surrendered a season-low 15 field goals while five players scored in double digits to help the squad set season highs in field goals made (31) and field-goal percentage (55.4). “I think Temple is a great team and the American is a tough conference, so you have to be prepared to battle every single night,” Tulsa guard Sterling Taplin told reporters after scoring a game-high 14 points. “I could see it in practice, every rep we did, we went hard to make sure we were ready for this game. Now we go on to the next game and have the same focus.” Tulane is hoping the comforts of home will help it register its first AAC victory of the season as the team plays five of its next eight games on its own court after having eight of its last 12 on the road. Freshman Connor Crabtree went a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point range on his way to a career-high 17 points on Saturday against Wichita State, but it wasn’t enough as the Green Wave suffered a 77-62 defeat.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPNU

ABOUT TULSA (14-10, 4-7 American): Jeriah Horne recorded 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds against Temple and leads the AAC in scoring (9.4 points) among players who exclusively have come off the bench. DaQuan Jeffries ranks sixth in the conference with a 53.3 field-goal percentage and leads the Golden Hurricane in points (13.9), rebounds (5.6) and blocks (1.2). Tulsa has shown in improvement from 3-point range since conference play began as it shot 32.5 percent from beyond the arc over its first 13 contests and now sits first in the AAC with a 39.8 percent success rate in its league games.
ABOUT TULANE (4-18, 0-10): Samir Sehic, who ranks third in the conference in rebounding (11.4), is the only player to start all 22 games this season for the Green Wave. Caleb Daniels matched Crabtree with a team-high 17 points against Wichita State, but the team’s leading scorer (15.7 points) went 5-for-14 from the floor while committing a team-high five turnovers. Moses Wood has been an important part of Tulane’s bench as the freshman swingman is shooting 68 percent over his last six games and has hit six of his last seven attempts from 3-point range.

TIP-INS

1. Taplin needs nine assists to reach 389 for his career and pass Tulsa assistant coach Shea Seals for fifth place on the school’s all-time list.

2. The Green Wave are 11th in the 12-team conference in scoring offense (66.7 points) and scoring defense (75.4).

3. Tulane leads the all-time series 20-6, including an 8-1 record since joining the AAC.

PREDICTION: Tulsa 76, Tulane 64