Baskets at a premium in battle of top 10 defenses, as Wichita State heads to Memphis

So how does a team come down from the high of erasing a 24-point deficit in claiming the largest comeback victory in program history?

Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall allowed his players to celebrate the improbable win that kept the Shockers on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble on Sunday, but that was it. When the team returned to work on Tuesday, Marshall had prepared a tough film session. After all, he had to get to the root of the problems that put WSU in a 24-point hole to begin with.

So what was the biggest takeaway the coach had from watching WSU outscore SMU 40-12 in the final 14 minutes to pull off the 66-62 win?

“The difference that shot-making makes,” Marshall said. “The offense wasn’t any different. We did go away from the ball-screen stuff because we didn’t do a good job of getting the ball from one side of the court to the other and below the foul line against their zone. We did a much better job of that in the second half. We have two or three zone offenses and we finally found one that gave us a little better spacing. We were just making shots.

“When the shots go in, then the offense looks great. When the shots aren’t going in, ‘Man, that offense is terrible, what’s wrong with the coach?’ It’s as simple as that sometimes.”

Shot-making will be even more difficult than usual for the Shockers in their final road test of the regular season, a trip to Memphis for an 8 p.m. game at FedEx Forum broadcast on ESPN. The Tigers’ defense ranks No. 1 in the country in defensive field goal percentage, as the average opponent shoots just 36.2% from the field against Memphis.

That isn’t great news for a team that ranks No. 314 in shooting percentage at 40.7%. But Wichita State has a top 10 defense of its own and also the positive memories from a 76-67 victory over Memphis on Jan. 9 at Koch Arena in what was at the time a top 25 showdown between the two teams.

Both teams have had to overcome their own struggles this season, which both included a three-game losing slide. That has left both WSU (22-7, 10-6 AAC) and Memphis (20-9, 9-7 AAC) desperate for a win on Thursday to boost their NCAA Tournament hopes, as well as their chances at securing the fourth seed and a first-round bye at the American Athletic Conference Tournament next week in Fort Worth, Texas.

“They play up tempo, they take a lot of long threes and they are very talented,” Marshall said. “They’re young too. They’re probably younger than us and that’s hard. I kind of understand a little bit what (Memphis coach) Penny (Hardaway) is going through, especially losing some very good players. But that’s part of college basketball and that’s happened to us before. They’ve lost some tough ones, then they’ll win one they’re not supposed to win. They’ve had a really good year if you take away the expectations.”

Despite poor shooting numbers, WSU’s offense has found confidence in two impressive comebacks to save the team’s March Madness hopes.

The Shockers erased a seven-point deficit down the stretch to beat Temple 72-69 at Koch Arena last Thursday, then erased the 24-point deficit in the final 14 minutes of their 66-62 win at SMU on Sunday. Both games saw WSU sophomore Jamarius Burton step up for WSU, as he scored eight points in the final 2:14 of the Temple game and scored five crucial points in the final minutes of the SMU game as well.

“We were down at one point, but we kept believing in each other and we kept pushing one another,” Burton said. “I think these comebacks can be beneficial. It shows that when we’re down, anything is still possible. We stuck together and we did it together down the stretch.”

Positive energy is what Marshall is looking for the most from his players in this stretch run. Even after the incredible comeback on Sunday, Marshall was perturbed by the fact that he had to essentially use a six-man rotation to do it.

“Not just the body language, but the effort and the energy,” Marshall said. “To me, I can really see it but I don’t know it until I put them in the game. If you’re not going to bring that, then have the courtesy to tell me, ‘I don’t have it today, coach.’ And then I don’t have to embarrass myself and our program by putting you out there when you don’t have that.”

Marshall told his team before the SMU game that he sees the potential for this team to be as deep as any team that he’s had at WSU. But everyone has to be bought in to playing their role.

That’s something WSU will look to find Thursday on the road.

“We’ve had a lot of guys play really well at certain times this year, a lot of them have helped us win and been the star of the game,” Marshall said. “We’ve probably had 10 guys like that. Imagine what it would be like if we had those 10 not playing their perfect games, not their absolute best games, but playing just really well all at the same time.”

Wichita State at Memphis

Records: WSU 22-7, 10-6 AAC; Memphis 20-9, 9-7 AAC

When: 8 p.m. Thursday

Where: FedExForum (18,400), Memphis, Tennessee

TV: ESPN

Streaming: WatchESPN

Radio: KEYN, 103.7 FM

Series: Tied 12-12 (Memphis leads 8-3 at home)

Projected starters

Coach: Penny Hardaway, second season, 42-23

Coach: Gregg Marshall, 13th season, 330-120

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.