WICHITA, Kan. (Wichita State Athletics) – Wichita State continues to be the hottest team in the American as they racked up a 78-67 win over Tulane Sunday afternoon in Charles Koch Arena.

Wichita State (17-10, 7-7) has now won six straight games, matching the longest of the Paul Mills era. The six-game win streak is the longest since the Shockers won eight straight in 2021.

Wichita State shot 66.7 percent (16-for-24) in the second half after a sub-40 percent first half to finish at 50 percent for the game.

Xavier Bell notched his second straight game with 20+ points and seventh of the season behind a game-high 23 points. He was 7-for-15 from the field, 3-for-7 from three-point range and a perfect 6-of-6 at the stripe.

After having his double figure streak snapped at Florida Atlantic, Corey Washington bounced back with a 19-point, 8-rebound afternoon on 7-of-11 field goals. Quincy Ballard added 11 points and nine rebounds and Harlond Beverly grabbed a season-high nine rebounds to go with 10 points.

Bijan Cortes was solid again, dishing out nine assists to go with seven points.

Wichita State blitzed the Green Wave out of the gates, scoring the first eight points of the game to force a Tulane timeout just 4:43 in. After settling in, Tulane grabbed its first lead at the 7:55 mark behind a 7-0 spurt and nearly a 3:00 minute scoring drought for the Shockers.

The lead would change sides six different times over the final 7:55 until Tulane captured it back with 1:56 remaining until halftime. The Green Wave had its largest lead of five with 41 seconds left until a Harlond Beverly three-point play cut it to 31-29.

Tulane would take that two-point lead into the locker room behind 46.7 percent shooting after a slow start to begin the game. Wichita State fired 14 three-pointers in the first half and converted only two of those.

After dominating the glass each of the last five games, Tulane outrebounded Wichita State by two over the first 20 minutes.

Behind a personal 8-0 run from Bell to open the second half, Wichita State jumped back on top, 37-31. Bell splashed in back-to-back triples and then dropped in a floater to give his team the lead back.

That opening punch proved to be too much for Tulane as the lead would balloon to as many as 13 in the second half. The margin wouldn’t shrink below five the rest of the game.

Wichita State’s first double digit lead came at the 15:02 mark only to see Tulane fight back to within 48-43.

With 9:28 to go Wichita State extended the lead back to 10 on back-to-back Ballard scores at the rim. The two teams would essentially trade baskets over the next several minutes until the 2:36 mark when the lead reached 11. Free throws kept Tulane at bay in the final minute.

Wichita State and UAB meet for the only time in the regular season Thursday night in Charles Koch Arena at 8 p.m. on ESPNU.