Wichita State Basketball: 2019-20 keys to defeating Houston on the road

Keep Houston Off The Offensive Glass

If you just look at the total rebounds in the first game between the Shockers and the Cougars, it looks like Houston won the rebounding battle. However, the reality is the Shockers were significantly better on the boards, but they shot the ball so poorly that Houston just had a ton more opportunities to grab defensive rebounds.

In fact, the Shockers managed to grab six more offensive boards than Houston in that game, which is pretty impressive when considering how well Houston has hit the offensive glass this year. They also held Houston to just eight offensive boards, which is 4.5 less than their season average and tied for the least offensive rebounds they’ve grabbed in a game all season long.

All of that was my way of saying that if there was one thing that Wichita State did right against Houston the first time these teams met, it was keeping Houston off of the offensive glass (and it just might have been the only thing they did right in that game). Their defense struggled to force misses or turnovers from Houston, so the fact that the Shockers were able to at least finish the possessions where they did get a miss was one positive to take away from that game.

This time around, we know that it is going to be the defense who will need to carry the Shockers to a win after their offense had struggled for weeks before the game against Cincy. The only issue is it is going to be more difficult for them to force misses on Houston’s home court than it was at the Roundhouse. For the Shockers to give themselves a chance to pull off this upset, they’ll need to rebound as they did in the first matchup and take advantage of every Cougar miss they do manage to force.