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CINCI (16-8, 6-5 AAC) vs WICHITA STATE (13-9 4-6 AAC)
WSU +3
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022 | 6:00 PM CT
CINCINNATI, OHIO | FIFTH THIRD ARENA
TV: ESPN2 with John Schriffen & Tim Welsh
RADIO: KEYN 103.7 FM https://www.radio.com/keyn/listen
SERIES: Cinci leads 13-26 (4-13 in Cincinnati)
LAST MEETING: January 16, 2022 in Wichita (Cinci, 61-57)
GAME NOTES:
Wichita State returns to FifthThird Arena for the first time in two years this Thursday night for an American Athletic Conference clash with the Cincinnati Bearcats.
A WSU win would be its first AAC road win of the year (currently 0-3) and its first in three visits to FifthThird.
WSU is 2-8 vs. UC since joining the AAC, but six of their losses were one-possession games within the final minute.
UC won the first meeting (Jan. 16 in Wichita) by a count of 61-57. David DeJulius scored 18 points to lead the Bearcats, including the go-ahead basket with 2:18 to play. Filling in for starting point guard Craig Porter Jr. (health & safety protocol), Tyson Etienne led WSU with 15 points and six assists. The loss dropped the Shockers to 0-4 in league play.
Since that day, the Shockers' fortunes have taken a turn for the better with wins in four of their last six. Over that span, they're is shooting 37.3% from deep (up from 30.7%). Etienne (15.7) and Ricky Council IV (15.2) have carried the scoring load.
KenPom rates the Shocker defense 25th in adjusted efficiency. WSU is holding foes to low percentages (31st in effective field goal %), creating turnovers (54th in turnover %) and blocking shots (27th in block%) with great consistency.
Etienne, the AAC preseason player of the year, averages a team-high 15.1 points and ranks second on the conference leaderboard in three-pointers (2.9). He's topped 20 points in three of the last four games.
Etienne needs just 31 more points to reach 1,000 for his career. Teammate Dexter Dennis is 52 points away (more on page 9).
Craig Porter Jr. ranks among the league leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio (4th, 1.94), assists (8th, 3.5), blocks (9th, 1.05) and steals (15th, 1.40).
Porter is one of just five Division I players who are currently averaging more than 3.0 assists, 1.0 block and 1.0 steal-per-game (full list on page 4).
Morris Udeze (11.0 ppg) is one of eight AAC players who are averaging at least 6.0 rebounds-per-game.
Ricky Council IV (11.3 ppg) is the league's highest-scoring reserve (starts in less than 25% of games).
WSU is one of 10 schools with a trio of players all averaging at least a block (Udeze, Dennis, Porter).
Who's going to step up tonight?
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