No. 17 Wichita State braces for rival Tulsa (Jan 28, 2018)

Tulsa was the first American Athletic Conference team to test league newcomer Wichita State but came up just short in a close home loss two weeks ago.

Now, the Golden Hurricane are hoping to finish the deal when they visit the No. 17 Shockers on Sunday at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kan.

The Shockers, in their inaugural season in the AAC, opened conference play with four double-digit wins before taking on Tulsa on the road Jan. 13. Wichita State escaped with a 72-69 victory behind 16 points apiece from guards Landry Shamet and Conner Frankamp.

"If they play like that, they are going to win a lot of games," Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said of Tulsa after the earlier win.

The Shockers (16-4, 6-2 AAC) have taken their lumps since that win over Tulsa, which, at the time, was their seventh in a row. They dropped their next two games to SMU and Houston before rebounding Thursday with an 81-62 rout of Central Florida.

"We were intimidated at Houston," Marshall said Thursday. "The guys did not respond after being punched in the mouth. That's disappointing, and we talked about the urgency of now. What are they waiting on? We have 11 regular-season games going into tonight. So it's about time to figure that out."

Tulsa (11-9, 4-4) had a week off to prepare for Wichita State. The Golden Hurricane haven't played since last Saturday's 64-51 victory over Memphis.

"I feel good about our team, particularly with how we played against Memphis," Golden Hurricane coach Frank Haith told the Tulsa World. "We played with confidence, toughness, resolve. We're growing; now we just have to build on it. It's that time of year when teams rise up or they teeter."

Wichita State dominated the backboards in their previous meeting, outrebounding Tulsa 42-30. Haith is expecting the Shockers to attack the glass again Sunday.

"This game is going to be a doozy," Haith told the Tulsa World. "We're going to get their very best effort. They're going to be trapping and pressing. They're going to try to crush us on the glass. If we don't keep them off the glass, we won't have a chance."

Shaquille Morris had 19 points and six rebounds in Wichita State's win over Central Florida. The Shockers outrebounded the Knights 48-38 and committed only six turnovers. They won despite an off night from Shamet, the team's leading scorer who had only four points.

Still, it was the Shockers' best all-around performance since the win over Tulsa.

"We just had to get back to who we were," Wichita State guard Austin Reaves said. "This last week of practice was hard. We competed first group against second group, and I felt like we went out tonight and competed really hard."

These programs are familiar with each other. Sunday's game will be the 128th meeting between the longtime Missouri Valley Conference rivals. The Shockers have won nine of the last 10 games against the Golden Hurricane.