Wichita State Basketball: 2019-20 season overview of the Shockers

The Highs of the season

Comeback Against SMU

At the end of the year, the moments truly worth celebrating were becoming less and less common for the Shockers. However, that didn’t stop them from pulling off one of the best comebacks of the season in their game at SMU.

It looked like Wichita State’s tourney hopes were about to come to an end when they fell behind by 24 points with just under 15 minutes left in the game. Then the Shockers went on an incredible 32-8 run to pull themselves level with SMU and were finally able to pull into the lead with 1:14 left. They ended up winning the game by 4, keeping their hopes of an at-large bid alive.

The second half of this game was one of the rare occasions in the second half of the season where the Shockers came together as a team and overcame adversity. It was a triumphant moment for the Shockers and was the game that was most worth celebrating this year.

Win Over Memphis

This was the game that really put Wichita State on the national radar. It wasn’t just that the Shockers won this game, but the way they handled a Memphis team that had only been beaten by Georgia when they were shorthanded and by Oregon in Portland. The final score really just doesn’t do this win justice.

The Shockers controlled this game against a top 25 opponent from start to finish and were cruising midway through the second half. It was only a late rally from the Tigers that kept this from being a blowout.

The Shockers announced themselves as a real contender when they dominated Memphis in a way no other team had at that point in the season. The Shocker team we saw that night looked like the clear-cut best team in the conference.

Beating Oklahoma

This wasn’t exactly a huge win for the Shocker resume this season. They were favored to win at home and Oklahoma wasn’t exactly a team that was expected to achieve too much this year. However, this was one of their better wins during the non-conference schedule, and there was a little bit of added motivation for this one.

Oklahoma featured former Shocker Austin Reaves as one of their starters. Any time you get to take on a player that left for greener pastures it’s nice to get the spite win, especially with a player like Reaves who played big minutes early in his career and was a key piece of Wichita State’s future plans.

This wasn’t the most glamorous win for the Shockers, but they managed to handle the Sooners pretty easily in the second half, added a power 5 win to their resume, and might have made Austin Reaves regret leaving.