The AAC lead is on the line, as WSU-Houston basketball game rescheduled for this week
The most important game to date for the Wichita State men’s basketball team has been moved up to this week following a schedule reshuffle thanks to more COVID-19 postponements around the American Athletic Conference.
First place in the AAC will be on the line at 6 p.m. Thursday when the Shockers (12-4, 8-2 AAC) host No. 8 Houston (17-2, 11-2 AAC) at Koch Arena in front of a national television audience on either ESPN or ESPN2.
The American announced on Saturday that it had moved the game, originally scheduled for Feb. 25, up a week after three AAC programs — Memphis, SMU and East Carolina — were forced to pause basketball activities because of positive tests and ensuing contact tracing.
Since WSU and Houston both had upcoming games postponed, the conference decided it did not want its first- and second-place teams going that long between games while healthy this late in the season.
While Houston is secure in its NCAA Tournament fate, the Shockers are in desperate need of a marquee win and Thursday’s home game against the Cougars might be their last chance at obtaining the kind of win that can catch the eye of the tournament committee.
Despite a 12-4 record and its current second-place standing in the American, WSU is seen as an NCAA Tournament team by just four of 102 bracketologists, according to bracketmatrix.com. Despite a top-40 strength of schedule, WSU is not that impressive according to the analytics. The Shockers rank No. 74 in the NET and No. 82 on KenPom.
A quick look at WSU’s team sheet shows just how important Thursday’s game is. The Shockers are 1-2 in Quadrant 1 games and 3-2 in Quadrant 2 games, without a win against a team projected to be in the NCAA Tournament field. With the uncertainty of playing SMU (NET of 58) on the road, which would count as a Quadrant 1 game, WSU’s last chance at a top-tier win may come on Thursday.
WSU interim coach Isaac Brown addressed the topic of his team’s NCAA chances earlier last week.
“I’m not really focusing much on that,” Brown said. “I let those people make those decisions. We’ve just got to keep winning games and focus on the next opponent on the schedule. If you can continue to win, then the rest will take care of itself. We’ve just got to play well.”
That might prove true in the end, but winning against American teams has only taken WSU so far. The Shockers remain in neutral in the advanced metrics because they lack a win over the three conference teams rated ahead of them: Houston (NET of 5), SMU (NET of 58) and Memphis (NET of 61).
Opportunities to score wins against two of those teams were taken away late this week. On Friday, WSU found out from the conference that Sunday’s scheduled game at SMU had been postponed yet again because of COVID-19 issues within SMU’s program. The very next day, the Shockers’ home date against Memphis was also delayed because of COVID-19 issues within the Memphis program.
It is also possible that next weekend’s game at East Carolina, which could have turned into a home doubleheader in Wichita, is postponed after the Pirates’ program was forced to pause again late in the week.
If that game is indeed postponed, then that would leave WSU with just four scheduled games remaining — Thursday vs. Houston, Feb. 28 vs. SMU, March 3 at Tulane and March 6 at Temple. The Shockers still have five conference games they are waiting to have rescheduled — vs. East Carolina, vs. South Florida, at Cincinnati, at SMU and vs. Memphis.
This story was originally published February 14, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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