For WSU to beat Cincinnati, Gregg Marshall will have to out-maneuver a former player
When Wichita State hosts Cincinnati at 6 p.m. Thursday in Koch Arena, it will be the first time the teams of Gregg Marshall and John Brannen have played on a basketball court.
But their relationship actually dates back more than two decades to 1996 in Huntington, West Virginia, where Marshall was a first-year assistant on Greg White’s staff at Marshall and Brannen was the team’s star player. Brannen averaged 20.9 points that season, leading Marshall to a Southern Conference division title and an overtime loss in the tournament championship game away from reaching the NCAA Tournament.
When Marshall watches film on Cincinnati, he sees a lot of the same gritty characteristics that he remembers in Brannen as a player.
“Hard worker, great kid, intense,” Marshall rattled off when recalling Brannen’s game. “The sum of his game was greater than his individual talent when you add it up because he worked so hard and he just had a knack for putting the ball in the basket. He didn’t have a picture-perfect jump shot, but he worked on it and he had it down.
“We’ve maintained a relationship all these years and I was glad to see him get the opportunity at Cincinnati, but I also know on the other hand that it’s going to be very difficult because he’s a great coach.”
Brannen is in his first season at Cincinnati after a quick rebuild at Northern Kentucky, where he led the program to 72 wins and two NCAA Tournaments in a three-year span. Marshall actually saw Brannen’s team in action at the 2017 NCAA Tournament when the No. 15 seed Norse challenged Kentucky in a 79-70 loss, two days before WSU would eventually fall to Kentucky in a 65-62 loss.
“I watched that game and said, ‘He’s going to be a very successful head coach,’” Marshall said.
There was an adjustment period to Brannen for Cincinnati in the opening months of the season, but currently the Bearcats are playing like the perennial NCAA Tournament team they’ve been known as in the American Athletic Conference.
Cincinnati (14-7, 7-2 American) is riding a four-game winning streak and playing its best basketball of the season, something that Wichita State (17-4, 5-3 American) cannot say. Since its 15-1 start, WSU has lost three of its last four games and has scored 56 or fewer points in four of those games.
But Brannen is well-versed in Marshall’s coaching history and he knows the Shockers will be prepared Thursday.
“Anytime you have a program with the success that they’ve had, you do what you do each and every year,” Brannen told reporters in Cincinnati. “Their physicality and defense, the way they rebound the ball, the way they defend on a consistent basis, how great they are with positioning ... it’s tried and true throughout (Marshall’s) career. This team is no different.”
Cincinnati has had more success at Koch Arena than any other team in the American, sweeping both games in Wichita since the Shockers joined the conference. The players have confidence knowing that they can win there, but they also know how raucous the environment can be.
“It’s a very tough environment to play in,” Cincinnati junior Keith Williams said. “You have to start preparing during the week because the fans... it gets real crazy in there. We just have to be prepared.”
Two games back of Tulsa now, WSU cannot afford another home loss in order to stay in contention for the conference championship. The Shockers also have a NCAA Tournament at-large resume to protect. A win over Cincinnati would be another quality win.
Marshall said the key for WSU will be to match Cincinnati’s intensity level.
“I don’t think I need to do anything scouting-wise except show them the Houston-Cincinnati game from Saturday,” said Marshall, referring to Cincinnati’s 64-62 win. “Two teams playing really hard basketball and making plays and making shots.
“The degree with which you have to compete and the intensity with which you have to compete with (Cincinnati) is really, really good.”
Cincinnati at Wichita State
Records: UC 14-7, 7-2 AAC; WSU 17-4, 5-3 AAC
When: 6 p.m. Thursday
Where: Koch Arena (10,506), Wichita
TV: ESPN
Streaming: WatchESPN
Radio: KEYN, 103.7 FM
Series: UC leads 22-12 (UC leads 9-8 in Wichita)
Projected starters
| No. | Cincinnati | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Gr. | Pts. | Reb. | Ast. |
| 3 | Mika Adams-Woods | G | 6-3 | 185 | Fr. | 4.6 | 2.1 | 1.6 |
| 2 | Keith Williams | G | 6-5 | 210 | Jr. | 12.0 | 5.1 | 1.7 |
| 34 | Jarron Cumberland | G | 6-5 | 205 | Sr. | 15.0 | 3.7 | 4.3 |
| 13 | Tre Scott | F | 6-8 | 225 | Sr. | 9.3 | 9.3 | 2.3 |
| 33 | Chris Vogt | C | 7-1 | 240 | Jr. | 12.8 | 6.2 | 0.8 |
Coach: John Brannen, first season, 14-7
| No. | Wichita State | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Gr. | Pts. | Reb. | Ast. |
| 2 | Jamarius Burton | G | 6-4 | 200 | So. | 10.3 | 3.7 | 3.4 |
| 1 | Tyson Etienne | G | 6-1 | 192 | Fr. | 9.8 | 2.1 | 1.4 |
| 0 | Dexter Dennis | G | 6-5 | 208 | So. | 7.7 | 4.7 | 0.9 |
| 5 | Trey Wade | F | 6-6 | 219 | Jr. | 7.8 | 6.1 | 1.6 |
| 21 | Jaime Echenique | C | 6-11 | 258 | Sr. | 11.1 | 6.1 | 0.4 |
Coach: Gregg Marshall, 13th season, 325-117
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