Suffice to say, the first year in the American Athletic Conference is not going the way it was supposed to for Wichita State.
When the Shockers left the Missouri Valley Conference for the AAC this summer, it was presented as a major upgrade for them, a coup for the conference, but also a chance for a WSU program to finally get the recognition it was allegedly denied in recent years.
A team that efficiency and margin of victory rankings had a steadfast love affair with the last couple years and returned nearly everyone was expected to be a top-10 team this season. And coupled with a bunch of experienced teams coming back in the American, this was supposed to be the season that the Shockers would challenge for a national title and would “finally” be recognized by the NCAA Tournament selection committee for their regular season greatness, with short memories apparently forgetting WSU was a 1 seed in the tourney just three years earlier and has been seeded fairly far more than not in its superb current run under Gregg Marshall.
The American has had a fairly underwhelming season as a whole, though, and Wichita State has faced its share of bumps, too, and is looking like a team that has lost its mojo. The Shockers lost for the third time in AAC play already on Thursday when Temple rallied for an 81-79 overtime victory, WSU’s third loss in its last five games.
Defense has been cited as the reason for the Shockers’ slippage, and indeed it’s been a problem, but not the only one. It must be noted Temple shot a middling 42.4% on Thursday, but Wichita State was even worse (41.2%). A look at both sides of the court shows a lot of areas WSU has just not been quite as good as it was last year, and especially the second half of last year, and it’s all adding up to unexpected vulnerability.
This season, Shocker opponents are shooting a little bit better from the field, Wichita State is a little less disruptive, and the defensive lapses have been obvious to the eye when watching. Marshall’s team is still pounding teams on the glass, though-its +10.5 margin ranked fourth in NCAA Division I entering the night, and the Shockers outrebounded Temple by 10.
The Shockers also have regressed slightly on offense, though, too. While the team’s overall shooting percentage is up slightly, WSU has not been as effective from long range as it was last year, and especially during MVC play when it was hitting 42.9% from deep in regularly decimating opponents.
Connor Frankamp-who along with Landry Shamet made Wichita State a deadly outside shooting team last year-is hitting 36.7% from three this season, down from 44% a year ago, and he scored just two points total against Temple. The rest of the team didn’t really pick up the three-point shooting slack though, either, combining to make just 8 of 26 from deep versus the Owls. To the eye as well, this team just has not been as devastating as it was down the stretch the last two years, when it seemingly could call up a big run on command. And that’s been the case much of the last two months, whether the opponent was SMU or Houston, Temple or Arkansas State.
The Shockers are also committing a few more turnovers, getting to the line a little less…in short, this is not the same team on offense either as it was the second half of last season. And while the AAC this year is still better than the MVC was last year, it’s not near enough difference to explain the differences.
The early season injury to Markis McDuffie has undoubtedly hurt Wichita State significantly, and McDuffie still hasn’t returned to form. At the same time, there just appears to be something missing with this year’s team.
Perhaps the increased travel and to unfamiliar places like Connecticut, East Carolina, Houston and Temple has taken something of a physical toll, or maybe Wichita State is just adjusting slowly to an almost all-new schedule. Maybe no longer having the comfort and familiarity of regular trips to Des Moines and Peoria has made it harder to get into the rhythm that the Shockers hit in recent years.
It may be as simple as confidence, swagger-whatever you want to call it. If so, it’s something Wichita State is going to have to get back if it is to fulfill lofty expectations.
Side Dishes:
- Creighton is an excellent offensive team, but Villanova is an outright machine-on both ends. The top-ranked Wildcats ran over the Bluejays 98-78, shooting 54.4% and canning 19 three-pointers, almost all of it coming from their starting five, who scored 82 of the team’s 98 points. What a show.
- Washington only continues to enhance its status as a very intriguing team, and Arizona State only continues to slide. The Huskies topped the Sun Devils 68-64 in Seattle, another disappointing loss for the ASU team that got off to such a smoking start to the season. About Washington, though, this young team’s execution down the stretch in games has been incredible, almost head-spinning, something no one could’ve predicted.
- Middle Tennessee State won at Old Dominion 66-59, and few will understand just how good of a win that is. Nick King is the star for MTSU, but Antwain Johnson is an X-factor who has proven very capable of playing well especially against good teams, and he scored 18 in this one. The Blue Raiders are now 9-1 in true road games this season, and that plus the fourth-ranked non-conference strength of schedule in the RPI ought to be two major chips in a possible NCAA tourney at-large candidacy.
- Not a good loss for SMU, which fell at Tulsa 76-67. The Mustangs played without the very valuable Shake Milton, but a bigger problem was allowing the Golden Hurricane to own the glass (42-35 advantage) and surrendering 46 points in the second half.
- College of Charleston won a showdown for first place in the CAA and finished a season sweep of Northeastern with a big 69-64 win in Boston. We love that the Cougars won with an inside game-it certainly wasn’t because of their 2-for-16 three-point shooting-and now share the top spot in the league with just William & Mary, which lost almost all of a 20-point second half lead but held off Elon 99-92 led by Justin Pierce with another standout showing-30 points. It was another humming offensive performance by the Tribe-57% shooting and 25 assists with just eight turnovers.
- Major surprise in the Horizon League, where last place and 6-18 Cleveland State knocked off league-leading Wright State 77-74. Big win for first-year coach Dennis Felton in his rebuilding job. The Raiders are very shorthanded right now and played just seven in this one, with the latest injury being valuable reserve Everett Winchester out with a head injury, per Jay Morrison of the Dayton Daily News.
- Chalk up another win for East Tennessee State, which shredded Samford 96-76. Desonta Bradford has been excellent for the Buccaneers all year and outstanding of late, and he had a career-best 31 points here as ETSU won its 14th straight, reached the 20-win mark and is 11-0 in the Southern Conference.
- Montana also remained undefeated in the Big Sky with a good road win, defeating Northern Colorado 88-79. The Grizzlies asserted control earl in the second half and shot 55.2%, withstanding 32 points from the Bears’ Andre Spight. What Montana is doing is more impressive than many will understand; the Big Sky is not a bad league this year.
- Belmont continues to set the pace in the Ohio Valley after a 98-63 destruction of Eastern Kentucky on the road. The Bruins shot 61.8%-again, on the road-and got 30 points from Amanze Egekeze, and Rick Byrd’s team has won seven straight.
- St. Francis (Pa.) was blown out by Wagner in a rare chance on national TV last week, but the Red Flash made the most of a second chance with a 74-60 win over Fairleigh Dickinson with a huge performance by Keith Braxton. The exceptionally versatile 6-foot-4 sophomore guard-who averages nearly a double-double-totaled 12 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the way.
- Radford edged Gardner-Webb 70-66 and remains tied for first in the Big South. The Highlanders now share that honor with just UNC Asheville, which won at Campbell 64-57 behind an incredible 36 points from MaCio Teague. Winthrop had been tied as well, but the Eagles were dumped by Liberty 77-61.
- South Dakota State remains alone in first in the Summit League after a convincing 82-63 win over North Dakota State. Mike Daum was terrific again-31 points and 13 rebounds-and David Jenkins also pitched in 20 points.
Tonight’s Menu:
- The night opens with Rams against Rams, with Rhode Island at VCU (7 p.m. Eastern, ESPN2). URI has looked a bit vulnerable of late, and VCU has quietly won three straight to move into a tie for second in the Atlantic 10. Very intriguing game.
- MAC bully Buffalo took its first conference loss on Tuesday but now returns home to face Thomas Wilder and Western Michigan (7 p.m., CBSSN).
- The night in the MAAC is led by Quinnipiac getting a TV appearance, on the road at Iona (7 p.m., ESPNU). The Bobcats have won three straight and are just a game behind the Gaels in the league standings.
- Friday night in the Ivy League is led by Yale at Princeton. The Bulldogs already have a pair of losses in league early and now have the very tough Princeton/Penn trip this weekend. Ouch.
- A Friday night Pac-12 game from the Rockies, with Utah at Colorado (9 p.m., FS1). This looks like too solid NIT teams, and that’s meant as a compliment.
- Finally, chic preseason pick Illinois-Chicago has seemed to find its stride in the Horizon, winning seven of its last eight. The only loss in that stretch was to Oakland, which now sits a game behind the Flames in the league standings but hosts them tonight (9 p.m., ESPNU).
Have a terrific Friday and an outstanding weekend.
