Wichita State Basketball: 3 reasons the Shockers will be fine

2. Crashing the boards

On Saturday, Houston put on a defensive clinic against Wichita State. The Shockers scored just 26 points in the first half (it was a struggle to even get that many) and 59 for the game.

Despite the loss, Marshall had reasons to be pleased with his team’s performance. The biggest advantage Wichita State had? They out-rebounded the Cougars by two on the defensive end and nine on the offensive end.

The Shockers’ 11.7 offensive rebounds per game ranks in the middle of the AAC. Their 29.5 defensive rebounds per game, however, leads the conference.

When teams are grabbing offensive rebounds, they’re creating more opportunities for themselves. hen they grab defensive rebounds, they are limiting opportunities for their opponents. For the Shockers, that hasn’t translated to a low enough number of points allowed in any given game – that just appears to be bad luck, though.

If Marshall wants, he could take a cue from the Cougars and have his team play more intense defense over the course of 40 minutes. The Shockers are certainly talented enough to do so.

But he should continue to drill rebounding into Wichita State players. Crashing the boards will make good things happen eventually, even if that wasn’t the case this week.