‘We’ve got to show it’: Wichita State basketball hopes potential comes out at Houston

There is a certain level of confidence a group of players take with them when they defy the odds and win a championship together.

The returners on the Wichita State men’s basketball team know they can overcome adversity because they’ve done it before. They have experience when it comes to accomplishing things no one outside the program believed possible.

But just because a group has overcome adversity before doesn’t mean the next wave of adversity is any easier.

This seems to be the crossroads the Shockers are rapidly approaching this season. Their 9-4 record isn’t alarming. All of their losses are to top-100 teams. But Wichita State has underperformed on its potential, sputtering on offense in three straight key games.

WSU is confident it can still compete for another American Athletic Conference title and NCAA Tournament bid, but it’s now the third month of the season and the team has more questions than answers. Just because they pulled it off last season doesn’t guarantee another feel-good ending to this season.

The Shockers have a chance to turn their season around in front of a national television audience during an 11 a.m. Saturday game against No. 12-ranked Houston at the Fertitta Center. But in order to do so, they’ll have to do something the program hasn’t been able to do in its first four trips to Houston in the AAC era: beat the Cougars on their home court.

“Eventually, we’ve got to show it,” WSU coach Isaac Brown said about his team’s potential. “We haven’t played great, but we have to stay together, no matter what. We got to battle through adversity. It’s not going to get any easier, it’s only going to get tougher. You just played Memphis and now you’re playing the team that’s dominated the league. You got to keep fighting if you want to start winning basketball games.

“We’ve got enough guys in the locker room to compete in the AAC to be at the top of this league. We’ve just got to start playing well.”

WSU will certainly need a more focused effort and better shooting than its last performance, where it fell behind by as many as 28 points on its home floor to Memphis.

Brown and the team’s three veterans — Dexter Dennis, Morris Udeze and Tyson Etienne — know from experience of a 76-43 loss at Houston in February 2020 that if they don’t bring a good effort on Saturday, a repeat performance could very well happen.

The coaching staff has been stressing to learn from the Memphis loss, but to move past the memories of ice-cold shooting. WSU will be trying to break the trend of poor shooting in Houston, which has held the Shockers to combined 34% shooting from the field in four AAC games in Houston.

“It’s one game on the schedule and it hurt to lose that game, but if we lost by one point on a half-court shot, would that make you feel any better?” Brown said of the Memphis loss. “It wouldn’t make me feel any better. Sometimes, that happens.

“A couple of years ago at Houston, I remember being down 38 points. That team battled back, finished the season well. So we’ve just got to do a good job of handling adversity. Don’t let that one game decide our season.”

The veteran trio of Dennis, Udeze and Etienne continue to lead the team, but Brown said it’s up to the coaching staff to guide the team past its offensive struggles.

“We talk about positive things. I’ve talked about some teams we’ve had here in the past that had some bad losses and how those guys were able to bounce back,” Brown said. “At some point during the basketball season, you’re going to hit some adversity. You’ve got to be able to bounce back and get ready to go. That was a tough loss (against Memphis). That loss stung the guys. It hurts me a lot to play in front of our home crowd like that.

“We got to do a better job and the focus is to talk to these guys how to battle through adversity. You can’t point fingers, got to get in the gym, got to be able to make shots, got to keep working.”

A loss at Houston, one of the top-ranked teams in the country in efficiency metrics, wouldn’t sink WSU’s season.

The thought of starting 0-2 in AAC play seems a little daunting, especially for the defending champions, but WSU has two home conference games against Tulane and Cincinnati next week with a chance to start a winning streak.

Right now the Shockers are in somewhat of a funk. A win on Saturday could change the trajectory of their season, while a loss would ramp up the urgency even more.

“You’ve got to go down to Houston and play well in order to have a chance to win the basketball game,” Brown said. “Number one, you can’t turn it over. You’ve got to be able to make wide open shots. You have to take care of the ball when you throw it in the post because you’re going to get double-teamed. And you’ve got to rebound.”

Wichita State at No. 12 Houston basketball preview

Records: WSU 9-4, 0-1 AAC; UH 13-2, 2-0 AAC

When: 11:06 a.m. Saturday

Where: Fertitta Center (7,035), Houston

TV: CBS (Rich Waltz & Clark Kellogg)

Radio: 103.7 FM (Mike Kennedy & Bob Hull)

Series: WSU leads 18-15 (3-11 in Houston)

Last meeting: WSU won 68-63 at Koch Arena on February 18, 2021

KenPom says: UH 75, WSU 60

Projected starting lineups

Wichita State Shockers (9-4)

Coach: Isaac Brown, second season, 25-10

Houston Cougars (13-2)

Coach: Kelvin Sampson, eighth season, 180-66

Taylor Eldridge

The Wichita Eagle

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