Wichita State basketball can’t slow down Cincinnati’s hot shooting in road loss
Defensive intensity used to be the source of what made Wichita State one of the best road teams in college basketball for the last decade.
Now defensive intensity is the source of the problem for a Shockers team that is still winless on the road in American Athletic Conference play and still in search of their first win away from Koch Arena since Dec. 1.
Wichita State brought its usual brand of rebounding and resilience to Thursday’s road game at Cincinnati, but defense continued to be the missing element for the Shockers in a 85-76 loss to the Bearcats at Fifth Third Arena.
There was hardly any resistance from the Shockers, which allowed Cincinnati to torch the nets for 55.2% shooting from the field, make 11 three-pointers at a 57.9% clip and score 1.21 points per possession — its best offensive outing of the season. The 85 points allowed was also a season-high for WSU.
“We can’t keep saying other teams aren’t great three-point shooting teams and they’re just making them on us,” WSU coach Isaac Brown said. “It’s because we’re not defending. They didn’t feel us. They were comfortable and anytime you let a team get comfortable, that’s going to happen.”
After building a top-30 national defense entering February, the Shockers have now allowed UCF, South Florida and Cincinnati — their last three opponents — to score efficiently and combine for 29 three-pointers
In its season sweep of the Shockers, Cincinnati — which has now won nine of 11 AAC games against WSU — dominated the matchup beyond the arc, outscoring WSU 63-24 on three-pointers in the two games. On Thursday, the Bearcats made seven of their first eight triples to bombard WSU for a 21-point lead in the game’s first nine minutes, while the Shockers shot just 27.8% (5 of 18) on threes.
“You’ve got to give them some credit, but mainly I thought it was on our defense,” WSU junior Dexter Dennis said. “Our defensive intensity wasn’t there. When they shoot that high of a number, that pretty much tells you there’s no defense, no coverage.
“Our defensive intensity wasn’t there for 40 minutes and we paid for it.”
The loss all but eliminates the Shockers (13-10, 4-7 AAC) from contention for the fifth seed and first-round bye at the conference tournament, as they are now all alone in eighth place in the 11-team conference with four games remaining. The tests don’t get any easier with conference-leader and No. 14-ranked Houston coming to Koch Arena on Sunday.
“I feel like we can (turn it around), it’s been done before,” Dennis said. “But it’s definitely hard right now dropping these games. It’s not something this program is really used to. A lot of us are not used to losing this much, this many games in conference. But it can still be turned around. We still have a little time left.”
On Thursday, however, WSU ran out of time.
The Shockers looked in danger of suffering a knock-out blow in the first nine minutes when their defensive lapses played a role in Cincinnati connecting on seven of their first eight three-pointers. The stunning display culminated when Mason Madsen and Jeremiah Davenport drilled three straight threes in less than a minute of game action to stake Cincinnati to a 32-11 lead and forced Brown to call a timeout.
Give WSU credit: it battled. The Shockers ripped off a 12-0 run and out-scored Cincinnati 24-6 over the next 10 minutes to claw their way to within three points before halftime.
“We’ve got to have that same fire to start the game,” Brown said. “You’ve got to have that fire when we’re up 10 to take the lead to 20. When we start a game, we’ve got to have that same fire. You can’t wait until you’re down 20 points and then start fighting.”
The Shockers certainly had their chances to make things interesting at various points in the second half. A wide-open corner three would’ve trimmed the deficit to four early in the second half; any makes on a possession where WSU grabbed four offensive rebounds and came up empty five times in a row would’ve cut the deficit to 10 with more than seven minutes to play; a fast-break layup that rimmed out would’ve made it a seven-point game with three minutes left.
Those missed opportunities became even costlier because they were followed by a Cincinnati basket every time. Instead of cutting into the lead, the deficit grew.
“Their guards just crawled up in us and they denied us on the wing and we couldn’t get into our offense,” Brown said. “We were able to go to our breakdown basketball and execute at times, but the game was lost on the defensive end. They didn’t feel us. They got whatever they wanted and we couldn’t guard them.”
Perhaps it was because the team expended so much energy and effort to scrap its way back from the 21-point deficit early, but the Shockers were demoralized when they failed to produce the defensive stands they needed to rally again in the second half.
WSU grabbed 16 offensive rebounds (Morris Udeze had five), but failed to capitalize fully on the advantage with only 12 second-chance points. The Shockers made 44.6% of their shots, one of their better shooting performances of the season, but it was all negated by poor defensive play.
“We just don’t understand the little stuff,” Brown said. “It’s mind-boggling to me, but we’ve got to figure it out. All we can do is take a day off, get back in the gym in practice and try to get ready for this tough stretch we’ve got coming up. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. We’ve got to continue to get better and learn from these mistakes we continue to make.”
Not even the usual second-half eruption from Ricky Council IV, the blossoming star freshman who scored 15 of his team-high 17 points after halftime, could save the Shockers. Council made 7-of-12 attempts, including a pair of ferocious fast-break dunks, to go along with four rebounds, two assists and four steals.
He was joined by three others in double-digit scoring in Dennis (14), Tyson Etienne (14) and Udeze (13). Point guard Craig Porter filled the stat sheet up once again, delivering nine points, a team-high eight rebounds, six assists and a block.
Etienne appeared to suffer a left ankle injury midway through the second half, which caused him to hobble off the floor. He did return and played 14 minutes in the second half, although it was clear his ankle was not 100%.
“I hope he’s good,” Brown said. “I asked if he was OK when he came out of the game and he was begging me to put him back in. I’m waiting to hear back from (the trainer). We’ll see (Friday).”
This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 8:11 PM.
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