‘This is why you join’: Wichita State eagerly awaiting American showdown vs. Memphis

The college basketball world will turn its eyes to Koch Arena at 6 p.m. Thursday for a showdown between No. 21 Memphis (12-2) and No. 23 Wichita State (13-1) that will be nationally televised on ESPN2.

WSU is planning its first crowd blackout game in seven years for the first top 25 matchup in nearly two years at Koch Arena. Both teams enter with a chip on their shoulder, which should make for a compelling game that could determine the early pecking order in the American Athletic Conference.

“This is why you join that league and why the American Athletic Conference makes sense to us,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “It’s big-boy basketball in early January in a meaningful game and two great teams really going at it. I think it’s going to be a really, really entertaining game.

“Just in the scheme of the league, it’s going to be a big game. It’s going to set the tone for who’s looking up at whom. Hopefully it will be us on top.”

No other team in the American brings quite the same kind of buzz as Memphis with its No. 1 ranked recruiting class and its former NBA star head coach in Penny Hardaway. The Tigers not only embraced their preseason hype, they encouraged it.

And Memphis has done well to back it up this season, even without 7-foot-1 prized recruit James Wiseman, who was suspended by the NCAA for receiving improper benefits from Hardaway while in high school and left the program to begin preparing for the 2020 NBA Draft. Memphis won 10 straight games without Wiseman, a streak that ended last Saturday in a 65-62 home loss to Georgia.

Memphis, which was ranked No. 9 last week, plummeted in the latest Associated Press Top 25, which has become a rallying point for the Tigers this week.

“We were always the hunters coming into the season because we wanted to show people what we are made of, and like I said, we got no respect from the beginning,” Hardaway told Memphis reporters. “We earned that respect. They had to push us up because we were winning, and to drop us 12 spots, to me, is totally disrespectful. It gets the blood flowing.”

Even without Wiseman, Memphis is stocked with talent. Precious Achiuwa, another five-star talent, is a 6-foot-9 forward who is averaging 14.6 points and 10.2 rebounds. D.J. Jeffries, who missed the Georgia game but figures to be back Thursday, is a 6-7 forward who averages 12.0 points and 4.7 rebounds, while guards like Tyler Harris (8.8 points) and Boogie Ellis (7.8 points) are capable of scoring. Former WSU signee Alex Lomax has become Memphis’ glue guy.

According to Ken Pomeroy, the Tigers play at the ninth-fastest pace in the country. Their average offensive possession lasts less than 15 seconds. They love to create chaos on the defensive end and employ a run-and-jump defense that accentuates their speed, athleticism and length.

“We can’t simulate what Memphis does because they do it all the time and they do it very, very well,” Marshall said. “This is a higher level of athlete. They continually have you in a defensive transition type of mindset. So when you do that, you’re protecting and not being aggressive. You’re more like trying to protect the entry to your cave like a mama bear. They come at you and they always have you on your heels, so when they come at you, you’ve got to make basketball plays and maybe more importantly, basketball decisions.”

Playing against defenses like VCU and Oklahoma State should help WSU, but neither of those teams have the talent of Memphis. Sophomore guards like Jamarius Burton, Erik Stevenson and Dexter Dennis are somewhat familiar after playing Memphis last season, but this is essentially a revamped roster. True freshmen like Grant Sherfield, Tyson Etienne and Noah Fernandes must keep their poise and not be rattled by the onslaught of pressure.

This will also be the stiffest test for WSU’s group of big men since West Virginia pushed the Shockers around for a plus-17 rebounding advantage back in Cancun. In the seven games since, WSU has dominated six of those matchups and played the other even. How Jaime Echenique, Trey Wade, Morris Udeze, Asbjorn Midtgaard and Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler fare against Memphis could also go a long way in determining the game.

“Everyone who plays is going to be challenged,” Marshall said. “Everyone is going to have a guy capable of going and getting a bucket. If you’re on the floor, you’re going to have to be in a stance, be alert to our game plan and just be on point. But we’ve been doing that.”

It’s a matchup of two top-20 defenses that go about their business in entirely different ways. That clash of styles figures to make for an entertaining basketball game.

“You’re going to be seeing some pros coming into Koch Arena,” Marshall said. “Memphis has a great tradition, a proud program, a famous coach. And he’s probably going to have some players that are going to be famous real soon as far as playing at the highest level. And then our guys. We’ve got some pros as well. It’s a fun matchup.

“This is going to be one of the more entertaining basketball games in Koch Arena in a long time.”

No. 21 Memphis (12-2) at No. 23 Wichita State (13-1)

When: 6 p.m. Thursday

Where: Koch Arena (10,506), Wichita

TV: ESPN2 (Ch. 606 on AT&T, Ch. 33 on Cox, Ch. 209 on DirecTV, Ch. 143 on Dish)

Streaming: WatchESPN

Radio: KEYN, 103.7 FM

Series: Memphis leads 12-11 (WSU leads 7-4 in Wichita)

Projected starters

Coach: Penny Hardaway, second season, 34-16

Coach: Gregg Marshall, 13th season, 321-114

Memphis: The Tigers were picked as co-favorites to win the American along with Houston by the league’s coaches before the season, despite losing all five starters from last season’s 22-win team. ... Memphis was the last team to beat the Shockers at Koch Arena after claiming an 88-85 win over WSU last spring. WSU has since won 13 games in a row at home... Memphis ranks second nationally in field goal percentage defense (35.2%) and fourth in blocks (6.8), while the Tigers outscore opponents by an average of 17.0 points and outrebound them by an average of 7.1 boards per game... Memphis is averaging a league-best 79.3 points thanks to playing at one of the fastest tempos in the country.

Wichita State: The Shockers are 2-0 against ranked opponents this season after knocking off Oklahoma State and VCU, both of whom were ranked No. 25 in the coaches poll when WSU defeated them... It is the first AP ranked team to come to Koch Arena since the 2017-18 regular-season finale against No. 10 Cincinnati escaped with a 62-61 win over No. 11 WSU for the AAC title... The last time WSU knocked off an AP Top 25 team was February 18, 2018 at No. 5 Cincinnati. WSU is 6-2 at home against AP Top 25 teams under Gregg Marshall and 14-20 overall... Thursday’s game is just the sixth head-to-head matchup of top 25 teams with WSU hosting since 1955 with WSU entering with a 3-2 record in such games... Erik Stevenson was chosen AAC player of the week for the second time on Monday after scoring a career-high 29 points in last Saturday’s 74-54 win over Mississippi... As of Wednesday, WSU was one of just nine teams with one loss or fewer in the country... WSU has won seven games in a row, tied for its longest winning streak since joining the American... Stevenson has come up with 15 steals in the last four games, the most steals in a four-game stretch from a WSU player in Marshall’s 13 years. Stevenson’s average of 2.0 steals per game ranks top-50 nationally.

This story was originally published January 8, 2020 at 12:38 PM.

Taylor Eldridge

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6270

Wichita State athletics beat reporter. Bringing you closer to the Shockers you love and inside the sports you love to watch.