Wichita State Basketball: 2019-20 keys to win on the road vs Cincinnati
By John Vaccaro
Make Cincy get Sloppy
One thing Wichita State has done incredibly well throughout the season is force turnovers. The 14.9 they’ve forced per game throughout the season are the 59th most in the country. However, they haven’t been as great at forcing turnovers recently. In fact, the first matchup between Wichita State and Cincy started a 4 game span where the Shockers created 10 or fewer turnovers in every game. They broke that streak on Thursday against USF, creating 15 in the win. Now they’ll need to turn that performance into a new streak in this game against Cincinnati.
Cincinnati is one of the worst teams in the country when it comes to taking care of the ball. Their 14.7 turnovers committed puts them in the bottom 50 nationally and they’ve actually been even worse in their most recent games. They’ve committed 21 and 22 in their last two games and have committed an average of 16.8 per game in the four they’ve played since their last matchup against the Shockers.
In this game, the Shockers need to make Cincy get sloppy with the ball and they certainly need to force more turnovers than the nine they got out of the Bearcats the last time. Forcing turnovers might actually be their best way to prevent themselves from having another poor defensive showing. If they can get live-ball turnovers it would even help to spark an offense that struggled on Thursday and could have trouble finding a groove on the road.
It’s not often that one of your biggest strengths lines up so perfectly with your opponent’s biggest weakness. The Shockers need to take advantage of Cincinnati’s turnover woes if they are going to avenge their loss from a few weeks ago.