Wichita State basketball focused on playing ‘the Shocker way’ again in Tulsa road game
For a program that was among the best in college basketball winning road games the past decade, it’s bizarre to discuss the Wichita State men’s basketball team looking for its first conference road victory of the season in March.
Though the Shockers have had three road games in American Athletic Conference play canceled due to COVID-19 issues, the team is 0-5 on the road since last winning away from Koch Arena on Dec. 1.
That’s the focus for WSU coach Isaac Brown entering Wichita State’s last chance to score an AAC road win when the Shockers (13-12, 4-9 AAC) travel to Tulsa (9-18, 3-13 AAC) for an 8 p.m. tipoff on Wednesday in a game broadcast on ESPNU.
In order for WSU to shed the bad memories of a 24-point drubbing at Memphis on Sunday, Brown thinks his team needs to play more like the Shocker teams of the past.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that are wired in their mind to score and that’s the most important thing,” Brown said. “We’ve got to get back to winning basketball, defending at a high level, rebounding, playing with toughness, playing the Shocker way. We’ve always won games here not just with talent, but with guys with a high basketball IQ, guys playing hard and guys being the toughest team on the floor. We’ve got to get back to that if we want to win basketball games.”
Despite WSU’s three-game losing streak, Cincinnati’s own woes have opened the door for the Shockers to potentially jump up to the No. 7 seed in the AAC tournament next week in Fort Worth. If Cincinnati goes 0-2 this week with road trips at SMU and Houston on deck, WSU could secure the No. 7 seed if it wins at Tulsa on Wednesday and beats East Carolina at Koch Arena on Saturday.
But fighting for the No. 7 seed at the conference tournament isn’t exactly an inspiring thought for the defending AAC champions putting the wraps on the program’s first losing conference season since 2009.
“I haven’t been focused on the standings, I’m just focused on winning the next game,” Brown said. “We can’t look ahead and worry about the standings. In order to move up, you’ve got to win basketball games and it’s going to have to start at Tulsa.”
The only route to March Madness is to win four games in four days in Fort Worth, an improbable challenge but one the Shockers still feel like they have the talent to achieve.
Stringing together a pair of wins could go a long way in building the confidence necessary to pull off the improbable next week, Brown says.
“I think it could mean a lot if we can get on a winning streak, gain some confidence and play the right way going into the conference tournament,” Brown said. “If you can go win a game on the road, play well at home and win a game and get a good start going into the conference tournament, then you’ll have a chance.”
Wichita State should certainly have the confidence in the matchup with Tulsa, which the Shockers have dominated since joining the AAC with a 7-1 record against the Golden Hurricane. Just a month ago, WSU held Tulsa to 48 points in a 10-point victory at Koch Arena.
The only question is if the Shockers can keep their faith after their worst performance of the season. Brown believes the team is still connected.
“Those guys are still together,” Brown said. “We had a good team meeting after (Monday’s) practice. Dex (Dennis) and Mo (Udeze) talked to the guys about what we needed to do in order to get better. The attitudes were positive. We’ve got to put that (Memphis) game behind us and go out and play well these next two games.
“We’ve got to step up and play better on the road and play for 40 minutes. It can’t be 30 minutes. It can’t be a bad first half and try to come out in the second half and catch up. We’ve got to be ready to go for 40 minutes.”
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