‘Protect home court’: Wichita State opens AAC play with national TV game vs. Memphis

In its surprise run to the American Athletic Conference championship last season, the Wichita State men’s basketball team won every game it played at Koch Arena during conference play.

Protecting homecourt is on the mind of the Shockers’ when they start their title defense at 11 a.m. Saturday against Memphis in a nationally-televised New Years Day showdown broadcast on CBS from Koch Arena.

After its original conference-opener was postponed due to COVID-19 issues within the East Carolina program, Wichita State (9-3) will return to the court for its first game in 10 days. Memphis (6-5, 0-1 AAC) lost its AAC opener at Tulane on Wednesday.

“All we talked about is protecting home court,” WSU coach Isaac Brown said. “The team that’s going to win the conference championship is going to be able to win games at home. If you want to be one of the top teams in the league, you’ve got to protect home. That’s all we’ve been talking about. Memphis is going to be one of the teams that will finish in the top of the league. It’s just a big challenge for us, and we’ve got to play well to have a chance.”

There is plenty of intrigue to the matchup before the game even happens, as there are question marks on the availability, due to COVID-19 protocol and injuries, to key players on both teams.

Brown was able to answer the questions on Wichita State’s side, stating that point guard Craig Porter (ankle) and power forward Joe Pleasant (hamstring) are both fully healthy and ready to play Saturday. The WSU coach also said the Shockers are facing no COVID-19 issues after Friday’s practice.

More question marks remain on the Memphis side, as the Tigers were missing their three leading scorers — DeAndre Williams (covid protocols), Emoni Bates (injury) and Jalen Duren (covid protocols) — in their 85-84 loss at Tulane on Wednesday. A Memphis Commercial Appeal report on Friday afternoon stated that all three players were at least limited practice participants on Friday and will travel with the team to Wichita.

Memphis is recently coming off a pause in its program following a covid outbreak, the same situation East Carolina is currently facing and forced the Pirates to call off their game against WSU on the day of the game. After facing 10 postponements or cancellations last season, Brown said his team was not fazed by Wednesday’s postponement.

“I wasn’t frustrated at all. I’m prepared for this,” Brown said. “We’re in a pandemic right now, so we already know going in that every game can be canceled. Our game (Saturday) could be canceled. It’s just the way it is right now. The guys are staying focused on the task at hand. We understand that sometimes game are going to be canceled, on the road or at home, and we’ve just got to be prepared when we are able to play.”

While Memphis has lost five of its last six games, it arguably has the most raw talent of any team in the American. Bates and Duren are likely NBA Draft lottery picks and coach Penny Hardaway once again has stocked his roster with plenty of scoring potential, as evidenced when Memphis beat Virginia Tech and Alabama in nonconference play.

Brown said Memphis reminds him of the 2013-14 Kentucky team that finished the regular season with 10 losses and earned a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament, only to knock off WSU’s 35-0 team en route to a run that ended with a loss in the national championship game.

“(Kentucky) had a bunch of young guys and sometimes when you have young guys, it takes a while to get going,” Brown said. “That Kentucky team finished 12-6 in the SEC. A lot of people don’t know that. Those guys got better and better later in the year. And that’s going to happen for this Memphis team. This Memphis team is so talented that, at any point in time, those guys can gel. It can start to click. They’re still one of the most-talented teams in the country.”

At full strength, Memphis is one of the most aggressive teams in the country. On offense, the Tigers are one of the best offensive rebounding teams and foul-drawing teams in the country. On defense, they use their length and athleticism to force turnovers.

But Memphis has once again struggled with its discipline, as turnovers are again haunting the Tigers in losses and they have struggled mightily giving up offensive rebounds and sending the opposition to the foul line with their aggressive style.

If Wichita State can keep its poise, a real challenge considering it has lost four of five games against Memphis since Hardaway was hired, then the Shockers could score a crucial early-season conference victory.

“You’re going to get picked up full-court and they’re going to run and jump,” Brown said. “They’re going to frenzy ball-screens. We’ve got to do a good job of taking care of the ball, taking wide-open shots and then we’ve got to rebound. We’ve got to rebound at a high level. We talked to those guys about: ‘It can’t be a jumping-contest. They’ve got better athletes.’ We have to make sure that we’re checking out, we’re hitting bodies and everybody is gang-rebounding. We’ve got the win the battle on the boards to have a shot at winning the game.”

Memphis at Wichita State basketball preview

When: 11:06 a.m. Saturday

Where: Koch Arena (10,506)

TV: CBS (John Sadk and Jim Spanarkel)

Radio: 103.7 FM (Mike Kennedy and Dave Dahl)

Series: Memphis leads 14-12 (4-8 in Wichita)

Last meeting: Memphis won 72-52 at FedExForum on Jan. 17, 2021

KenPom says: Memphis 72, WSU 71

Projected starting lineups

Memphis (6-5)

Coach: Penny Hardaway, fourth season, 69-37.

Wichita State Shockers (9-3)

Coach: Isaac Brown, second season, 25-9

This story was originally published December 31, 2021 at 5:05 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.