WSU scout: Can Landry Shamet snap out of his shooting slump vs. Tulsa?

Tulsa (11-9, 4-4 AAC) at No. 17 Wichita State (16-4, 6-2)

When: 5 p.m., Sunday

Where: Koch Arena, Wichita, Kan. (10,506)

TV: CBS Sports Network

Streaming: CBS Sports

Series: WSU leads 66-61 (37-23 in Wichita)

Radio: 103.7-FM and GoShockers.com

Live stats: GoShockers.com

KenPom Says

WSU ranking: No. 20

TU ranking: No. 134

Score prediction: Wichita State 80, Tulsa 66

WSU’s winning odds: 90%

Projected lineups

Coach: Frank Haith, fourth season, 69-49

Coach: Gregg Marshall, 11th season, 277-94

TU season-to-date

Tulsa struggled through its non-conference slate, posting a 7-5 record with losses to sub-150 KenPom teams in Lamar and Illinois State (twice). But the Golden Hurricane did claim a 61-54 win over Kansas State in Wichita, then start AAC play with three straight wins over East Carolina, Tulane, and Connecticut. That was followed by four straight losses — to Memphis, Houston, Wichita State, and Temple — before Tulsa rebounded last weekend with a 64-51 win over Memphis.

3 WSU Keys

1. Eliminate hope early

Wichita State barely survived, 72-69, in Tulsa after another slow start that saw the Golden Hurricane build a 30-20 lead in the first half in front of a raucous crowd. That slow start by WSU not only made the Shockers play uphill for the final 30 minutes, but also injected Tulsa with confidence — dangerous to do with an underdog.

Not only does WSU need to avoid another slow start (it has trailed at the 10-minute mark in 11 of 20 games this season) in general, but it needs to assert itself earlier in the game and eliminate any hope of an upset bid for Tulsa.

The Shockers didn’t deliver a knockout punch to UCF on Thursday, but they did lead 17-13 after 10 minutes. It wasn’t a crisp performance, but it was certainly enough to grind out nearly a 20-point win. That should be the goal today.

2. Defend the three-point line

How did Tulsa stick around for so long last time? Because it connected on 12 three-pointers and made 46.2 shots beyond the arc. Sterling Taplin scored a career-high 26 points and made six three-pointers (he had never made more than three in a game the past two years).

WSU’s defense is allowing opponents to take a three-pointer on 40 percent of their shots, which ranks No. 269 in the country. That number has come down significantly in conference play (partly to due with the other team’s playing style), but WSU can really help itself by running more teams off the three-point line.

Multiple WSU players said that will be the focus today is to make Tulsa uncomfortable behind the three-point line and to force them to drive into the teeth of WSU’s defense. Can the Shockers execute? The goal should be to hold Tulsa to under 35-percent shooting from the outside and six or fewer treys.

3. Get Landry Shamet going

As proven by Thursday’s 19-point win over UCF, Wichita State does not necessarily need Landry Shamet (four points on 2 of 9 shooting) scoring to win. But there’s no questioning the Shockers are near their best when their leading scorer is stroking it from the outside.

That hasn’t been the case the last two games, as Shamet is just 1 of 12 on three-pointers against UCF and Houston with just 11 points. For a player who was making more than half of his three-pointers on the season before this mini-slump, it’s been an unusual past week.

After missing all six of his three-pointers against UCF, Shamet was spotted on the Koch Arena floor a hour after the game getting into a shooting workout. “I’m a shooter and that’s what I do and what I’ve been doing forever,” Shamet told me. “Everybody has rough shooting nights and that was one of them for me. I just wanted to get extra shots up and control everything I can control.”

Studying his misses against UCF, Shamet noticed he was missing short and straight-on — an encouraging sign. He would be more concerned if he was missing wide left or right. He says the mini shooting slump hasn’t affected his confidence, so expect Shamet to come out gunning against Tulsa on Sunday.

He made four three-pointers against Tulsa last time around and I think he’ll match that today, as he will record his ninth game this season with at least four triples.

Taylor’s Prediction

Tulsa has been an up-and-down team in conference play so far this season. When the Golden Hurricane are playing well, they’re taking Wichita State down to the wire and beating teams like Connecticut and Memphis. But when they struggle, they’re giving up 104 points to Houston and losing by 33.

It was obvious in the first meeting Tulsa was bolstered by a strong start and hot outside shooting in front of an electric crowd. This time Tulsa won’t have half of the building on its side, so can it make enough three-pointers to stay relevant in the rematch in Koch Arena?

Judging by what Tulsa has done over the course of the season, the answer is probably not. Tulsa has made 10-or-more three-pointers in just four games and its 34.6 percent three-point shooting as a team ranks No. 189 in the country. It’s clear the Golden Hurricane will once again have to shoot at least 40 percent from three and make at least 10 three-pointers (like it did in Tulsa) to compete with Wichita State.

That just doesn’t sound likely against a WSU team fired up to get back to its winning ways and prepared to hassle Tulsa around the perimter this time around. Although, it is intriguing that Frank Haith has had an entire week to come up with a new game plan to attack Wichita State — the last time an AAC coach had that much time to prepare, SMU and Tim Jankovich snapped WSU’s winning streak at Koch Arena.

Unfortunately for Tulsa, it doesn’t have a Shake Milton.

I think Wichita State will continue to rotate bodies and apply pressure, which will result in a double-digit lead by halftime and a cruise control performance in the second half.

I’ll be more interested in how Landry Shamet responds to his mini shooting slump and if WSU can help Markis McDuffie find his offensive groove. Also, how will Shaquille Morris look after spraining his ankle on Thursday? There’s no doubt those are the three most talented players on WSU, so if the Shockers can get all three of them playing at a high level going into February then they are going to push their way back up the rankings soon enough.

Wichita State 84, Tulsa 66

This story was originally published January 28, 2018 at 2:14 PM with the headline "WSU scout: Can Landry Shamet snap out of his shooting slump vs. Tulsa?."