Shocker WBB 2022-23 Non-Conference Games

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks trail LMU at the half 29-36. In a bit of an oddity, all of the scoring has been provided by each teams 5 starters. No bench scoring from either team. Shocks were down by eleven early in the 2nd half in their game yesterday vs Montana and came back to force OT and then the Shocks dominated the OT.

The Shocks pulled to within 1 at the end of the 3rd quarter at 44-45 then opened the 4th quarter and went on a 15-2 run to open the quarter to take a 59-47 lead at the media timeout. LMU pulled to within 61-55 with 2 minutes to play had missed 3 point attempts on their next two possessions the started fouing with the Shockers finishing off the game hitting 8-8 from the free throw line for a 69-57 win.

All of the Shocker scoring came from the 5 starters in this game,

Jane Asinde led the way with 22 points on 10-15 from the filed and 2-3 from the line and grabbed 15 rebounds in 34 minutes of play.

Nhug Bosch-Duran had her best game as a Shocker with 15 points on 4-6 from the field including 3-4 on 3-pointers plus 4-4 from the free throw line and played the full 40 minutes. The rest of the team was 1-13 on 3-pointers.

DJ McCarty did not shoot ball well from the field at 3-10 but did hit all 8 of her free throw attempts to register 14 points. DJ did have 4 turnovers 25 minutes of play.

Curtessia Dean chipped in 12 points on 5-11 from the field and 1-4 from the free throw line.

Trajata Colbert capped off the Shocker scoring with 6 points on 3-5 shooting.

Shamaryah Duncan who sparked the Shockers overtime win over Montana did not play. I do not know the reason for that.

The Shocks move to 5-1 on the season. Loyola Marymount falls to 0-5 in D-1 games. The Shockers five wins this season have come against teams with a combined record of 3-21 in D-1 games. Nice to be winning games. Just not sure what it means against what so far has been a pretty weak schedule.

It does appear that my initial observation about this team lacking depth is proving to be true. The have a pretty decent starting lineup but only go about 6 deep and in tonight's LMU game not even that with Sham Duncan not playing.

It seems that the only reason for the Shockers to carry a roster of 15 scholarship players is purely for Ttile IX reasons.

The next 3 games vs Denver (2-4), vs New Orleans (1-3) and at St Louis (1-7) look like probable victories as well before the Shocks head to Lawrence to play KU (5-0).

[WuDrWu]

I want the team (program) to be successful but it seems like a formidable effort was made to schedule the worst possible non-conference slate. Barring substantial success in conference, I hope this doesn't cause undue influence.

[1972Shocker]

I want the team (program) to be successful but it seems like a formidable effort was made to schedule the worst possible non-conference slate. Barring substantial success in conference, I hope this doesn't cause undue influence.

WSU WBB non-con scheduling has generally been pretty soft during the HCKA tenure, expecially home games. I'm not sure that I am ready to declare that this year's schedule is the result of a deliberate effort to make it as soft as possible or if it just happened to work out that way.

The thing is that the Shocks are not alone among AAC teams with soft non-conference schedules. Here are the non-con records and their non-con SOS ratings to date including only D-1 games per WarrenNolan.com:

South Florida 7-2; #78
Central Florida 5-0; #354
Wichita State 5-1; #329
East Carolina 5-2; #340
Tulane 4-2; #309
Tulsa 4-2; #317
SMU 4-2; #247
Memphis 4-3; #171
Cincinnati 4-3; #199
Houston 2-4; #273
Temple 2-4; #20

So despite a pretty decent record of 46-25 the AAC is ranked 15th among 32 conferences in RPI at this point.

South Florida looks to be the class of the league this year and their non-con schedule includes @TCU, vs Georgia Tecah, vs #22 Michigan, vs #23 Villanova, @ #19 Texas, @ #13 North Carolina State, and vs #4 Ohio State. So their non-con SOS will no doubt strengthen by the time conference play starts. The Shockers will most likely have a far better W-L record in the non-con than USF will but USF will be the better team and will be much more battle tested by the time conference play rolls around.

Last year the Shockers were 9-4 in non-con games and 5-12 in AAC games. As I said I think South Florida will be pretty good this year. How good the rest of the league will be is hard to say at this point. Right now I'm thinking not all that good. The Shockers should go 10-3 at worst on this year's non-con schedule and maybe even 11-2. As of right now the Shocks non-con opponents, excluding 5-0 Kanas, have a combined record of 14-52.

[1972Shocker]

Asinde Nets Player of the Week Honor after Big Weekend

https://goshockers.com/news/2022/11/28/womens-basketball-asinde-nets-player-of-the-week-honor-after-big-weekend.aspx

Asinde averaged 21.0 points, 17.0 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 1.0 steal, while shooting nearly 60 percent from the field in Wichita State's two wins last week over Montana and Loyola Marymount.

The Uganda native opened the LMU Thanksgiving Classic with a 20-point, 19-rebound effort in an overtime win vs. Montana. Her 19 rebounds were a career high. The very next night Asinde dropped a career-high 22 points, 15 rebounds and four steals in a victory over Loyola Marymount. She has three double-doubles in the four games she's played.

This is the first American Athletic Conference Player of the Week honor for a Shocker since Rangie Bessard on Jan. 15, 2018.

[1972Shocker]

I want the team (program) to be successful but it seems like a formidable effort was made to schedule the worst possible non-conference slate. Barring substantial success in conference, I hope this doesn't cause undue influence.

After giving this more thought I am thinking that a gaudy non-con record won't help much if they go 4-12 in AAC play. OTOH, it probably will help if the Shocks play around .500 ball in AAC play.

As I mentioned before the AAC is very hard to evaluate at this point. USF was a solid, but not unanimous pick, to win the league this year and, so far, that seems to be holding up. Houston was picked a fairly strong 2nd and picked up 2 first place votes. However, Houston is off to a 1-5 start against a schedule ranked #284. Impossible to get much of a fell for everyone else.

So I'm thinking that if the Shockers can avoid injuries and foul trouble with there top 6 players especially Jane Asinde they have a shot at finishing at or near .500, They only get USF and UCF once each this year. UCF was last year's champs but their coach has moved to Georgia and they lost several key players as well. Note the assumption about injuries may be an open question as Shamaryah Duncan did not play against Loyola Marymount. In listening to HCKA's radio show on Monday it sounds like Shamaryah took an errant pass in shoot around before the LMU game and is under concussion protocol. They hope to have her back this coming Saturday vs New Orleans.

If the Shocks finish at or around .500 in AAC play I think HCKA will survive.

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks, as is their habit lately, pulled away late and then hung on for a 61-54 win over Denver to move to 6-1 on the season.

The Shockers trailed 43-41 at the end of the 3rd quarter when Denver hit a long 3 at the buzzer. However, the 2 free throws by Orenell Niankan capped a 14-3 run to open the 4th quarter and stake the Shocks to a 9 point lead at 55-46 with 4:34 to play. At that point the Shocker offense took a snooze. Denver pulled to within 4 at 55-51 with 1:36 to play. Neither team scored again until Denver had to start fouling resulting in 2 free throws for Nhug Bosch Duran who made both to put the Shocks up 57-51 with 34 seconds to play. After a Denver basket made it 53-51 they fouled D.J. McCarty with 21 seconds remaining. D.J. drained both foul shots for a 59-51 lead but for some reason her brain disconnected from her mouth and she picked up a technical. Denver hit 1 of 2 on the technical then missed a 3 pointer. Another Denver foul put Nhug at the free throw line where she hit 2 more to cap off the 61-54 win.

D.J. McCarty led the way for the Shockers and was near perfect except for the diarrhea of the mouth at the end of the game. D.J. who sat out the last 6.5 minutes of the first half with 2 fouls made the most of her 27 minutes of playing time with 19 points on 8-8 from the field including 1 trey, 2-2 from the line, 5 assists and only 2 turnovers plus 2 steals.

Nhug Bosch Duran was the only other double-figure scoring for the Shocks with 10 points but was only 2-10 from the field (2-8 on 3-pointers) but she hit 4-4 from the line in the final 34 seconds of the game to help preserve the win.

Trajata Colbert had 8 ponts on 4-11 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Jane Asinde struggled in this game going scoreless on only 2 shots and turning the ball over 6 times. However, Jane did lead the way on the boards with 13. Jane, the reigning AAC player of the week, was just not good at all outside of her reboudning in this game.

Unlike the LMU game where only the 5 starters scored the Shocks did get some contributions from the bench in this game. Aniya Bell, Ornella Niankan, Jenia Thompson and Ella Aciaux combined for 20 points on 8-17 shooting including 2-3 treys (all by Aniya Bell) and 2-2 from the line.

The game wasn't very pretty. as the teams combined for 37 turnovers, 21 of those by the Shockers. Asinde with 6, Colbert with 5 and Curtessia Dean contributed 16 of those 21 turnovers. Asinde and Colbert in particular were having probems with their footwork as most of their turnovers traveling calls.

The cupcake sampling continues for the Shockers at home on Saturday when they host 1-4 New Orleans. New Orleans played fellow AAC Member Tulane tonight with the Green Wave abusing the Privateers by a score of 90-37. That is not a typo. Tulane won by 53.

Shamaryah Duncan, as expected, did not play in this game and Shane Dennis said she would miss Saturday's game as well.

[WuDrWu]

That was challenging to watch, and not in a good way.

I wonder if our new AD realized he was diving head first into the deep end.

[WstateU]

That was challenging to watch, and not in a good way.

I wonder if our new AD realized he was diving head first into the deep end.

Definitely double-trouble, but triple-trouble isn't out of the question...

[1972Shocker]

The Shockers took care of busines against New Orleans today to mover to 7-1 on the season although it proved to be a little tougher than I was anticipating. Initally, it looked like the Shockers might be trying to match Tulane's 90-37 blowout over New Orleans on Wednesday as the Shocks jumped to a 17-3 lead after the first 6 minutes of play. However, things were decidely tougher after that. In fact, with 3:20 left in the game New Orleans trailed 70-59 meaning New Orleans won he intervening 26 minutes and 40 seconds of play 56-53. A 9-2 run led by 7 points from DJ McCarty pushed the Shocks to their final score of 79-61.

The Shockers actually shot the ball very well hit 45.6% from the field including 8-16 (50%) on 3-pointers. The Shocks were shooting 26.5% from beyond the arc coming into this game. New Orleans was 10-30 on 3-pointers which was also better than the 28% they have shot on 3-pointers coming into the game. The Shocks also had a 10-point advantage at the free throw one hitting 19/23 vs 9-12 for Tulane.

Trajata Colbert led the way with 19 points, including 9-12 from the free throw line, and 9 rebounds followed by DJ McCarty with 17 points including 3-4 on treys, plus 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. However, DJ did commit 5 of the Shockers' 15 turnovers.

Perhaps the highlight of the game for the Shockers was the 11 points on 4-4 from the field and 3-3 from the line plus 3 rebounds and 3 assists in 22 minutes by Ornella Niankan for her 2nd straight solid performance. Also Ambah Kowcun, who had played 18 scoreless minutes in 4 previous games, played 18 minutes and scored 8 points on 3-6 shooting including 2-5 on 3-pointers. Good to see contributions coming off the bench. Especially when Jane Asinde struggle for the 2nd consecutive game scoring only 4 points following her scoreless game in the win over Denver.

Again not totally sure what to make of it. New Orleans apparently played much worse against Tulane than they did against the Shocks. How much of that is attributable to the relative strength of Tulane vs the Shocks is hard to tell.

Next up for the Shocks is a road game at St. Louis on December 8th. St. Louis is 3-8 with wins over SIU-Edwardsville, Air Force and Illinois State. Losses are to Indiana State, Northern Iowa, Missouri State, Green Bay, South Dakota, Baylor, and Missouri.

Update: St. Louis feel to 3-9 on Monday losing at Ball State by 34 points, 51-85.

[SubGod22]

Go Shockers - Shockers Take Win Streak to Saint Louis Thursday Night

LAST TIME OUT
Wichita State extended its win streak to six in a row with a 79-61 win over New Orleans on Saturday in Charles Koch Arena. The Shockers set season highs in made three-pointers (8) and three-point percentage (50.0%). Trajata Colbert just missed a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds. Colbert set career highs in free throws made (9) and free throw attempts (12). DJ McCarty scored 10 of her 17 points in the fourth quarter to go with seven rebounds and five assists. McCarty has scored 10 or more points in three straight games. Ornella Niankan set a new season high with 11 points off the bench. Ambah Kowcunrecorded her first career points behind a pair of three-pointers. She finished with eight points.

SCOUTING THE BILLIKENS
Saint Louis enters the matchup at 3-9 on the season, as they come off a loss at Ball State on Monday. The Billikens are one of the nation's top free throw shooting teams at 77.9 percent and boast the nation's top shot blocker in Brooke Flowers. Flowers is tops in the country in blocked shots with 50 through 12 games. She adds 11.6 points and 7.3 rebounds to her shot blocking prowess. Kyla McMakin leads the scoring attack at 17.6 points per game. McMakin leads the nation in field goal attempts, three-point attempts and ranks fifth in total points. Julia Martinez is seventh nationally in steals and Kennedy Calhoun has dished out 54 assists, good for 10th nationally.

THE SERIES VS. SAINT LOUIS
Surprisingly, Wichita State and Saint Louis have never met on the hardwood in women's hoops.

[1972Shocker]

South Florida picked up a nice road win at Texas last Friday by a score of 70-65.

[flyingMoose]

South Florida picked up a nice road win at Texas last Friday by a score of 70-65.

Nice, but ... Texas started as Preseason #3, but are no longer in the Top 25, standing at 3-4.

[1972Shocker]

Nice, but ... Texas started as Preseason #3, but are no longer in the Top 25, standing at 3-4.

Still a nice win for an AAC team not named UConn. BTW, Texas lost to #6 UConn in mid-November by 7 points. 76-83. Not too dissimilar to their loss to USF. For the AAC, I don't think a win has to be over a Top 10 or Top 25 team to be considered a nice win. I think for this conference any win in a Quadrant 1 (NET) game is a nice win. So far this year the AAC is 2-16 in Quadrant 1 (NET) games with both wins belonging to USF.

The Shockers are 1-0 Q-3 games and 6-1 in Q-4 games. The 1 Q-3 game I believe was at ORU.

St. Louis will be a Quadrant 3 game going in.

[1972Shocker]

Go Shockers - Shockers Take Win Streak to Saint Louis Thursday Night

SCOUTING THE BILLIKENS
Saint Louis enters the matchup at 3-9 on the season, as they come off a loss at Ball State on Monday. The Billikens are one of the nation's top free throw shooting teams at 77.9 percent and boast the nation's top shot blocker in Brooke Flowers. Flowers is tops in the country in blocked shots with 50 through 12 games. She adds 11.6 points and 7.3 rebounds to her shot blocking prowess. Kyla McMakin leads the scoring attack at 17.6 points per game. McMakin leads the nation in field goal attempts, three-point attempts and ranks fifth in total points. Julia Martinez is seventh nationally in steals and Kennedy Calhoun has dished out 54 assists, good for 10th nationally.

The Lady Shocks are a pretty decent free throw shooting team themselves at 75.7% plus they average 19 free throw attempts per game vs 15 for St. Louis. So no real advantage there for the Billikens. The 5-11 Sr. McMakin has an impressive scoring average but she is not very efficient as she puts up a lot of shots. In fact, in the Ball State game she was held to 2 points on 1-14 shooting including 0-6 on 3-pointers. I think the challenge for the Shockers will be dealing with the 6-5 Sr. Flowers in the post. She is averaging 4.2 blocks per game compared to 2.9 blocks per game for the entire Shocker team. She averages just under 2 fouls per game and plays an average of 30 minutes per game. So not sure we can get her into foul trouble.

Flowers could tend to clog up the middle and discourage the driving game. While outside shooting has not generally been a strength of this team (29.8% from 3) they have been very good (14-30 = 46.7%) in their last 2 games. St. Louis only shoots 25.7% on 3-pointers for the season but average 7 more attempts per game than the Shocks.

While the Shockers aren't great at valuing possessions at 17.6 turnovers per game, St. Louis is even worse averaging 19.2 turnovers per game. The Shocker assist to turnover ratio is not great at .759 but again is better than St. Louis at .704. Trajata Colbert and Jane Asinde have a combined 12 assists to 44 turnovers on the season. Don't really need much in the way of assists from these 2 although with the 6-5 Flowers clogging up the lane perhaps some timely kick-outs to the guards would be helpful. It definitely would be helpful of they could cut down on the turnovers which seem to come and go for Trajata. In 4 of her games she had 19 turnovers and in the other 4 games only 6 turnovers. Jane is petty consistent with about 3 turnovers most games but she did have 6 against Denver..

All-in-all a game the Shockers should win I think.

[flyingMoose]

Still a nice win for an AAC team not named UConn.

I agree. Just that this is not the 'Horns team from last year's tournament ... yet. Or maybe never.