ABOUT WICHITA STATE • Wichita State brings a 11-2 overall record and 1-0 mark in American Athletic Conference place into Thursday’s game. • Shockers are ranked No. 9 in the latest Associated Press poll (1,026 points) and No. 9 in the recent USA TODAY Coaches’ poll (466 points). • Wichita State has won its last three games and seven of its last eight… Only a 91-83 home loss to Oklahoma on Dec. 9 prevents a longer winning streak. • In most recent action, Wichita State claimed a 72-62 win at UConn in Hartford, Conn., in its inaugural American Athletic Conference game. • Against the Huskies, guard Landry Shamet led the Shockers with 16 points, thanks to 5-of-6 shooting from the 3-point line… Forward Rashard Kelly totaled 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting and led all players with 12 rebounds… Guard Conner Frankamp totaled 11 points with three treys, while Austin Reaves came off the bench to post 11 points with three treys, four rebounds and a pair of assists. • This season, Shamet leads Wichita State with 17.0 points and 4.7 assists per game… Darral Willis Jr. stands second among the Shockers with 12.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game… Shaquille Morris ranks third with 11.8 points per game, and Frankamp is a close fourth with 11.5 points per contest… Kelly paces the team with 8.2 rebounds per game… • Head Coach Gregg Marshall is in his 11th season at Wichita State and his 20th season overall as an NCAA collegiate head coach. • Has compiled a 272-92 record at Wichita State and is 466-175 during his career… Previously built a 194-83 record at Winthrop (1998-07). • Thursday’s game will be the first time Marshall has faced Houston during his career. • Marshall is 0-1 against Houston Head Coach Kelvin Sampson during their careers… Sampson’s 1999-00 Oklahoma team claimed a 74-50 win over Marshall’s Winthrop team in the NCAA Tournament West Region First Round on March 16, 2000.
Kelvin Sampson speaks with the media and discusses Breaon Brady’s success in the post against Temple; previews the upcoming road game against Wichita State; and acknowledges the reasons Wichita State is a successful men’s basketball program and a consistent winner.
Sagarin has Wichita State as about a 9 point favorite. I think the Coogs are better than that. It should be a close game. The Shockers stats are some what skewed by 2 50+ point blow out wins against cripples earlier this year, but they are an elite 3 point shooting team nearly 40% as a team and they have been killing teams on the glass. If UH is the real deal this year, this is a close game.
I have a feeling that Van Beck and Brooks need to have good games in order for us to have a chance. We have to keep their defenders honest on those guys so Rob has room to operate.
WS will be jacked because this is their first AAC home game.
Notice how CKS keeps mentioning the home court advantage, something he wished he had.
The new AD needs to come up with some ways to get students to the games next year. This year would be nice. I don’t know the answer, but having 2K students at each game would yield a home court advantage.
This will be a tough game, but if Houston plays like they did against Arkansas, they can win this one. Good litmus test for where we stand right now if anything
I think the best bet (not sure how it can happen) is to find a way to schedule all the legit aac conference contenders we play at home after the break when 2nd semester begins. Most of the students leave during the Christmas break.
Our bigs will have to really step it up for us to compete. Rob was off against Temple, hopefully he bounces back. We have a punchers chance, but not much more.
Hard to believe he would be 100% even if he played. Don’t get me wrong – I will be happy to see him play if he can go but tempering my expectations on his contributions. Plus, Sampson has already mentioned he cannot play long minutes as it is right now even before the ankle injury.
“That’s way down the road,” Sampson said of needing signature wins to pad UH’s NCAA Tournament résumé. “The only reason we are talking about that is because we are pretty good. I’m glad our program is to a point I get asked questions like that. For us, it’s just a process. We’ve had a plan from Day 1 when we came here in 2014 where we wanted to build our program.”
The Cougars are 2-10 against Cincinnati and SMU under Sampson. During that same span, UH has six wins against Connecticut and Memphis, two teams considered among the league’s torchbearers in recent seasons.
A busy night for basketball between the Coogs and the Rockets vs. Warriors. It’s times like these I’m glad to have two TVs a few feet away from each other.
