Central Florida @ Wichita St. preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 16, 2019 ) Central Florida 67, Wichita St. 75

Wichita State will look to continue its American Athletic Conference dominance over Central Florida Saturday when the 22nd-ranked Shockers host the Knights. The Shockers have won all three meetings between the schools since joining the AAC in 2017-18 and will look to slow down a UCF squad that has won two straight following its five-game losing streak.

The Knights scored the final six points of regulation to stave off South Florida last Saturday as redshirt senior Dazon Ingram hit a pair of free throws with 13 seconds remaining to seal the 55-54 victory. “We are starting to get our groove back,” UCF junior Collin Smith told the media after scoring nine points against the Bulls. “We’re learning how to win again, and just taking our habits from the last game and taking them to the next.” The Shockers snapped a two-game slide by using a dominant defensive performance Tuesday against USF in a 56-43 victory - the fewest points scored by an opponent since the 2016-17 season opener. Wichita State sophomore Dexter Dennis, who started 25-of-35 games during his AAC All-Freshman Team season, had come off the bench for eight straight contests before Tuesday but returned to the starting unit and poured in four triples en route to 12 points - just his second double-figure scoring effort in his last 14 games.

TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: ESPNU

ABOUT CENTRAL FLORIDA (11-7, 2-4 AAC): Ingram is leading the team with 29.1 minutes per game and scored 11 points on a perfect 3-of-3 shooting performance against USF while also totaling six rebounds, five assists and two blocks. In his first season with the Knights after transferring from Alabama, Ingram is ranked sixth in the conference in rebounds (7.7) and assists (4.0) while sitting tied for fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.71). Redshirt senior Matt Milon was shooting 25.6 percent from 3-point range during the team’s first 14 games of the season, but has connected on 12-of-26 over his last four games and finished Saturday’s contest against the Bulls with nine points on 3-of-7 shooting from downtown.

ABOUT WICHITA STATE (16-3, 4-2): The Shockers lone senior, center Jaime Echenique, scored eight of his nine points in the second half Tuesday and is averaging 10.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and has rejected a team-high 17 shots. Freshman Tyson Etienne had a team-high 13 points against USF on 3-of-6 shooting from 3-point range and sits fourth in the conference with 2.21 triples made per game. The Shockers outrebounded the Bulls 36-29 Tuesday - the first time they’ve won the battle on the glass during six AAC contests after doing so in 12 of 13 non-conference games.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. UCF is 5-0 when knocking down eight or more 3-pointers, but 6-7 when it failed to hit that mark.

2. The Shockers are one victory away from matching their regular season win total from last season when they were 17-13.

3. With Tuesday's win, Wichita State snapped a 14-game losing streak when scoring fewer than 60 points. The Shockers earned a 56-50 victory on Dec 9, 2015 against UNLV.

PREDICTION: Wichita State 69, UCF 59