Wichita State Basketball: 2019-20 keys to beat Houston after first AAC loss

Finish Defensive Possessions

As I mentioned in the 2nd slide, Houston’s offense doesn’t shoot particularly high percentages from anywhere on the floor, but they make up for that in other areas. The most important way that they make up for their offensive shortcomings is the way they rebound on the offensive end.

Houston is the nation’s best offensive rebounding team, grabbing an absolutely insane 41.5% of available rebounds on the offensive end of the floor. That is a huge reason why they score the

53rd most points per game in the country in spite of the fact that they aren’t in the top 100 in any shooting category. You don’t really need to shoot that well when you give yourself a second chance on nearly every other shot that you miss.

This shouldn’t be something Wichita State has too much of an issue negating. They are the country’s 87th best defensive rebounding team, pulling down 75.9% of available rebounds. The key in this game will be for them to make hitting the defensive glass a focus of their game plan. They need to have all five guys crashing the boards when the shot goes up and should even be willing to sacrifice fastbreak opportunities to ensure they finish defensive possessions. Wichita State’s half-court offense should be good enough that they won’t miss the fastbreak points as much as Houston misses whatever second chances the Shockers can take from them.

The Shockers always play a physical style of basketball that should make them the perfect team to put an end to Houston’s rebounding dominance. They have the size, they have the strength, and they have the athleticism to be able to take away Houston’s strength and get themselves back in the win column at Koch Arena.