Like the women’s basketball team last week, the men enter Wednesday’s C-USA tournament looking to avenge a recent defeat. The men will not, however, have many of the advantages their female counterparts had.

SMU (12-15, 4-10 C-USA) comes in to the tournament ranked as the No. 10 seed. It has lost eight of its last 10 games and does not have home court advantage, playing at Memphis’ FedEx Forum. The Mustangs’ leading shot-blocker, freshman Bamba Fall, will sit out the tournament with a back injury. SMU has lost six of its last seven games against Rice, its first round opponent.

But it may yet be too early for SMU fans to give up hope.

Six of SMU’s last eight losses have been by five points or less, including Saturday’s loss to Rice, in which SMU fell only a basket short. Freshman forward Brian Morris, who returned from a knee injury Saturday, will play Wednesday.

Coach Jimmy Tubbs is also hopeful the win-or-go-home nature of the tournament will fire up his team.

“Its tournament time, and your kids get excited, and anything can happen,” Tubbs said.

If SMU can manage a win Wednesday they will face No. 2 seed UAB in the second round.

Memphis (27-3, 13-1), ranked fifth nationally, is the heavy favorite to win the tournament. The Tigers won the C-USA regular season title handily, but showed vulnerability by suffering their only conference loss this weekend against UAB.