Wichita State Basketball: Shockers a sleeper for 2019-2020 season

SAN DIEGO, CA - MARCH 16: The Wichita State Shockers mascot gestures in the second half against the Marshall Thundering Herd during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Viejas Arena on March 16, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

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COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA – MARCH 22: The Oklahoma Sooners bench reacts in the first half against the Mississippi Rebels during the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Colonial Life Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

Non-conference games

Nov 26th South Carolina (Cancun)

Nov 27th UNI/West Virginia (Cancun)

Dec 8th @ Oklahoma State

Dec 14th Oklahoma

Dec 21st VCU

Jan 4th Ole Miss

A few things pop out when you look at some of the bigger teams here, that December 8th trip to Oklahoma State will actually be the first time the Shockers play in a true road game. While Oklahoma State wasn’t all that good last year it’s still a great opportunity to pick up a valuable win. Oklahoma and VCU both coming to Kansas is big, a chance to see one of the frontrunners in the A-10 with a good VCU team and an Oklahoma team coming off a trip to the NCAA tournament. Wichita State was absolutely crushed by Oklahoma last season and also dropped their game against VCU.

Ole Miss comes to town to wrap up non-conference play at the beginning of January, Ole Miss was another tournament team last year and actually lost to Oklahoma in their first game. Regardless these are three more great opportunities to grab some quality wins and get ready for conference play in the AAC. The rest of their schedule shouldn’t prove to be too difficult. Winning two of those three would go a long way for Wichita State to claim a non-conference bid as long as the Shockers take care of business in the rest of their games.

Conference Games

UConn (Away)

Cincinnati (Home and Away)

Memphis (Home and Away)

Houston (Home and Away)

Temple (Home and Away)

A pretty standard conference schedule for Wichita State this season, the only thing notable is that they’ll only see UConn one time and unfortunately it’s all the way out in Storrs. Two games against Memphis, Cincinnati, and Houston are all going to tough games with all three schools looking to make the tournament. One thing emphasized in the non-conference portion is the importance of quality wins and Wichita State is going to need to win some of those tough games in conference play.