Wichita St

[Queens_NYC]

Thursday, January 5th, 2023
9:00 PM
Charles Koch Arena
ESPNU

The Bearcats (9-5, [1-1 AAC], KP #76, NET #106) travel to Wichita (7-7, [0-2 AAC], KP #104, NET #133) in a match-up where both teams are looking for positive momentum after suffering recent losses by double-digit point deficits.

The Shockers blew an early 8-point 2nd half lead and lost to ECU at home last Saturday 79-69. Wichita had several bench players out due to injury/concussion protocol in that game and only got 18 minutes and 2 points out of leading scorer 6'2 guard Craig Porter (11.9 ppg) who was recovering from an ankle injury. The Shockers are expected to be without their second-leading scorer 6'7 forward Jaykwon Walton (11.7 ppg) tonight who hasn't been practicing this week due to an ankle injury as well.

So far this season, the Shockers have displayed great defense but equally bad offense. They've limited opponents to 36.9% shooting from the field and 28.4% shooting from 3, but only shoot 42.3% from the field and 29.2% from deep themselves.

The Bearcats have won 9 of their last 10 match-ups against Wichita and are 2-point favorites going into this evening.

 

[TheLivingLegend]

The lack of interest in this team is at an all time low for me.

 

[Queens_NYC]

The lack of interest in this team is at an all time low for me.

Five years ago this was a marquee match-up with sellouts in both cities and exciting, top level basketball.

Several coaching changes later, and it's a forgettable midtier AAC match-up.

The team needs to show some improvement (e.g. beat good teams at home, not be an autowin for any team on the road with a pulse, don't get blown out period by teams like Houston) and have something meaningful to play for as the season continues - whether it be a bye in the conference tournament or a NIT at-large bid.

A win tonight would go a long way towards steering the ship in the right direction.

 

[sedziobs]

We could get our first quality win of the season, though Wichita St is barely hanging on to Q2 at #133.

Wichita is like some of the old Cronin teams. Elite 2pt defense without fouling, bad shooting, and very slow pace. But unlike those teams, WSU is also bad on the offensive glass.

The season is lost, so I want to see the young guys.

 

[sedziobs]

Currently the worst Big 12 team is ranked #37 in Kenpom. And they're leaving the conference. Basically every game is Q1 for everybody. Quite the difference from our league.

 

[Queens_NYC]

1-7 from 2 so far.

5-8 from 3.

 

[sedziobs]

Some positive signs from Miller tonight. Gave Ody the start and Davenport is doing a nice job off the bench. Also tried zone against a poor shooting team. I actually wish they would have stuck with it longer, but they abandoned it after one made three. Skillings and Reed are getting good first half minutes too.

 

[Queens_NYC]

Great to see us have a breakthrough half considering how poorly we've played away from home.

We're defending as well as any other game this season and are taking care of business on the boards.

 

[Bcatfollower]

AAC refs never cease to amaze me. So terrible.

 

[sedziobs]

Crazy game. Davenport was on fire. DDJ couldn't shoot or hang on to the ball. MAW had some mental lapses but was hitting threes. Nolley had a lot of good passes and crashed the boards, but seems allergic to the rim. Ody didn't score but was great on defense. Reed showed his versatility with rebounding, shooting, and ballhandling. Skillings really needs to work on his shot. Lakhin with another solid productive game.

 

[Queens_NYC]

Shortening the bench has been one of the best coaching moves of the Wes era so far.

Despite the calamitous final few minutes and the one-sided whistles, that was a great team performance.

Hopefully we can find some sanctuaries in the Big 12 like Koch Arena where we continuously win no matter how good or bad we're playing at the moment.

 

[sirthought]

I'm happy to see the freshmen getting more playing time.

This team to going to need their best in every game this season. But the sooner we can get them experience in live games and help them figure things out, the better off we'll be next year.

Loved that Davenport came off the bench. I feel like that's the better spot right now.