Wichita State Basketball: 2019-20 keys to beat Houston after first AAC loss
By John Vaccaro
Get Erik Stevenson in a rhythm early
Another problem that Wichita State had in their loss to Temple was Erik Stevenson struggling to ever get into a rhythm. That was partly due to a tremendous defensive effort from Temple. It was also partly due to his foul trouble in the second half forcing him off the court for a long stretch of the game. Wichita State can’t let this happen again when they play Houston. Instead, they need to do everything they can to get Stevenson into a rhythm early in the game so he can exploit the biggest weakness in Houston’s defense.
Houston’s defense has been impressive in many areas this season. They only allow opponents to shoot 42.9% from inside the 3 point line. They average 5.5 blocks per game, which is the 17th most in the country. They pull down an impressive 79% of available rebounds on the defensive end. However, there’s an area where their defense is much more average and that’s defending the 3-pt line. They allow opponents to hit 32.3% and that number might even be lower than it should be because most of their schedule has been compromised of teams in the bottom half of the country in 3-pt shooting.
Wichita State has other players who can take advantage of this flaw. Tyson Etienne, Trey Wade, and Jamarius Burton are all good shooters who can stretch this defense. The reason I am picking out Stevenson as somebody they need to get going early is because of how badly he struggled against Temple. Wichita State needs to make it easy for him to shake that game off early and prevent that one bad game from turning into a slump. He will also likely need to have a bigger role than usual in this game because Houston is going to make life miserable for Jaime Echenique. Their defense is built around defending the lane, which will likely make the 3rd highest scoring Shocker less of a factor in this game than usual.
If Stevenson has another rough day shooting the ball when the Shockers take on Houston, it’s going to be really tough for Wichita State to find ways to score. The Shockers need to do everything in their power to not let that happen.