Wichita State Basketball: 2019-20 keys to win on the road vs Cincinnati

Stretch Cincy’s Defense

Wichita State’s offense has been incredibly inconsistent throughout the AAC schedule. Even over the last month, here are the scores from each of their games in order. 56, 87, 54, 79, 43, 75, 82, 65. The way that their offense swings from awful to great makes it really difficult to know what to expect from the Shockers on a game to game basis. However, there is one thing that has remained pretty consistent. For the most part, they have successfully shot the ball from outside in the games where they have put up higher scores and the games where they have shot the ball poorly from outside have been the ones where they have scored their lowest totals of the season.

I’m sure you’re thinking “well duh, if they miss more 3s, they’ll score fewer points” and you aren’t wrong. The problem for the Shockers is that, unlike many of the other teams that are planning a trip to the NCAA tournament, the Shockers haven’t been able to find a way to make up for poor shooting.

The reason for that seems to be that they just don’t really have options to increase their scoring inside when the shooters struggle. Jaime Echenique has been awesome for the Shockers this season, but we’ve seen a clear ceiling for his scoring. His season-high is 20 points and he’s reached that number in a couple of strong performances. However, that’s only eight points above his season average. Obviously, it’s a nice addition to the scoring, but it isn’t enough to make up for the points they lose when the shooters go cold. He also happens to be the Shockers’ only path to consistent points on the inside.

Morris Udeze and Asbjorn Midtgaard only combine for seven points per game and neither one is a huge factor in the offense when they are on the floor. The Shockers also don’t have guards who are particularly adept at getting the ball to the basket. This means that the Shockers need to be able to stretch opposing defenses to avoid long scoring droughts.

There also isn’t the scoring ceiling for Wichita State’s shooters like there is for Echenique. We’ve seen Erik Stevenson and Dexter Dennis blow past their scoring averages in games where they’ve gotten hot.

In this game, the Shockers are going to need to get their shooters involved right from the start of the game to stretch the Bearcat defense. This will help give their offense a boost and it will make everything else on the offensive end easier for them. Stretching the defense will make it easier for the Shockers to grab offensive rebounds, which have consistently been an important part of this offense. It will also make it easier for Echenique to get position in the post and for the Shocker guards to get to the basket.

For Wichita State, the most important factor on the offensive floor has been their shooting all season. Against Cincinnati, they are going to need their shooters at their best if the Shockers are going to bring home this win.