Shocker WBB 2022-23 Non-Conference Games

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks get back to their regularly scheduled programming to take on 1-6 Southern out of the SWAC (Southern does have 2 Non-D1 wins not reflected in that record). Southern has a net ranking of 312. The Shocks opened the season with a SWAC member Alcorn State winning 67-53 in Koch Arena. Most recently Southern lost 52-67 to fellow AAC member Tulane in New Orleans. So I am thinking at least a 15 point win should be the expectation in this game.

5 of Southern's 6 losses have been to P-5 teams by 24 at Iowa State, by 37 at Oregon, by 49 at Texas and by 53 twice at Iowa and Oregon State. So the potential for a blow out is there.

Hopefully, HCKA will use this game as an opportunity to build her teams depth. I think their has been some progress with that.

Wichita State (8-2) vs. Southern (3-6)
Friday, Dec. 16, 2022 | 6:00 PM CT | Charles Koch Arena
ESPN+ | GoShockers.com/Listen | ShockerStats.com

[1972Shocker]

The Shockers used a hot-shooting game from their starters and a cold shooting first half from Southern to cruise to a 72-42 win over Southern. The Shocks thrashed Southern in the first half taking a 38-9 lead into the locker room at the midway point.

The Shockers were 13-25 (2-6) from the field in the 1st half plus a so-so 10-15 from the line OTOH Southern was 4-30 (0-14) form the field and 1-2 from the line.

In the second half Southern started find the range including 8-12 on 3-pointers as the teams pretty much traded points with the Shocks only outscoring Southern by 1 at 34-33 for the final 30-point margin.

The Shockers continued to shoot the ball well from 2 point range in the 2nd half and finished the game shooting 24-44 (2-9) from the filed. The Shocks ended up outscoring Southern by 18 points from the line hitting 22-32 (68.8%) to Southern's 4-10 (40.0%).

The Shocks outrebunded Southern 40-22. Turnovers were about even at 12 for the Shocks and 11 for Southern. The Shocks had 14 assists on their 24 baskets.

Ponts in the paint favored the Shockers 34-8.

The Shockers continue to be somewhat of a top heavy team as the starters scored 58 of their 72 points while combining to shoot 19-31 (1-3) from the filed for 61.3% and 19-27 from the line. The bench contributed 14 points on 5-13 (38.5%) from the field and 3-5 from the line. Southern's bench scored 23 points.

I have not watched the game yet so not sure what to attribute the difference to the 1st half to the 2nd half. Clearly Southern's shooting totally turned around in the 2nd half. Chances are the Shocks may have let up a bit on defense in the 2nd half as well. It's not unusual for teams to maintain their intensity after a dominant 1st half. Also I suspect the Shocker bench got a lot of their minutes in the 2nd half.

The Shockers move to 9-2 on the season although the continue to be somewhat of a mystery do to the softness of the schedule currently ranked #338 and that was helped by their game at #22 KU.

The Shocks have 2 more non-con games left, both at home. They take on Wyoming, who sits at 4-3 in D-1 games and has a NET ranking of 106 on Tuesday. The Shockers NET ranking is now at 128. Wyoming's last game was a 72-43 home win over UMKC (2-7). Wyoming plays at Nebraska (8-3, 2-0) in Lincoln this afternoon. This easily the 2nd toughest opponent on the Shocks non-con schedule. Seemingly a matchup of relatively evenly matched teams. Update: Nebraska boat-raced Wyoming 66-39 on Sunday evening.

The Shocks will then take a week off for Christmas before finishing up their non-con schedule hosting South Carolina State (1-10) on Tuesday, December 27th. SCS is ranked next to last in the NET at #360.

I think the Shocks will win both of these final 2 games. Wyoming plays much better at home in the altitude than they do on the road. They seem to be evenly matched but I like the Shocks to win at home. South Carolina State is basically another exhibition game coming off the Christmas break before heading into to AAC play.

[1972Shocker]

So I thought coming in that the Shocks and Wyoming where a pretty even match and that proved to be the case. Although Wyoming used a big 2nd quarter to take a 28-17 lead at the half. The Shocks pretty much reversed that in the 3rd quarter to close within 1 at 39-40. The Shocks moved ahead 47-42 with 6:18 play and seemed to have the momentum. But a layup and 2 treys by Wyoming put them back up 50-47 with 5 minutes to play. The 2 teams trades points until an and-1 three point play by DJ McCarty put the Shocks up 56-54 with 1:51 to play. However, Wyoming closed out the final 1:50 with a 7-0 run to pull out a 61-56 win. I thought the Shocks would pull this one out with the home court advantage but it didn't work out.

The Shockers continue to be a top heavy team as the starting five sccored 54 fo the teams 56 points. Wyoming did get 13 points form their bench vs the 2 by the Shocker bench.

The Shocks only had 5 assists on 19 baskets. Wyoming had 15 assists on 22 baskets.

Where the Shocks did shine was from the free throw line hitting all 16 of their attempts with Trajata Colbert hitting 8 of those. Wyoming was 9-14 from the line.

Wyoming was a very good 8-15 on three-pointers vs only 2-13 for the Shocks.

Trajata Colbert had a double-double with 14 points and 16 rebounds and only had 1 turnover. DJ McCarty had 19 points, 5 rebounds and 4 of the Shocks 5 assists but she also had 4 of the Shocks 11 turnovers. Curtessia Dean chipped in 10 points and 6 rebounds.

[flyingMoose]

The Shockers spent the entire first half trying to run the offense through the posts, Trajata and Jane. It did not work well - 6 for 27 in the first half.

The Cowgirls ran a motion offense the entire game - 12 for 26 in the first half and 10 for 26 in the second. They were very patient with it, willing to run the shot clock well under ten seconds if they had to.

In the second half, the Shocks gave DJ the ball up top and let her create. Thus, a big Q3 that got the Shockers back in the game. Eventually, Wyoming put their quickest player on her and slowed that down. That same girl could lob the ball into their post with uncanny accuracy. We don't do that well at all.

The Cowgirls hit some big 3s toward the end (that girl was 4 for 5 for the game) and that was the difference.

Trajata got her points, some off the offense but most - I think - from her offensive rebounding.

This game illustrated a point that has been made several times over the years - the Shockers do not have a reliable offensive system.

[WuDrWu]

This game illustrated a point that has been made several times over the years - the Shockers do not have a reliable offensive system.

Seems I've heard this somewhere before......

[flyingMoose]

Game write-up from the Laramie newspaper

[flyingMoose]

I forgot to mention ...

One of the referees last night was Dee Kantner. She has done 20 Final Fours and 10 Championship games. Rare to have someone of that caliber on our court. Doing another game in the area tonight?

[1972Shocker]

Shocks take on 1-11 South Carolina State on Tuesday evening go close out their 2022 non-conference slate of games. This one won't help their SOS as SCS has a NET ranking of #360 out of 361 D-1 programs. Essentially, this amounts to an exhibition game tune up after the Christmas break and anything less that a 30+ point blowout would be s disappointment.

Wichita State (9-3) vs. South Carolina State (1-11)
Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022 | 6:00 PM CT | Charles Koch Arena
ESPN+ | GoShockers.com/Listen | ShockerStats.com

The Shocks open AAC play on Friday at home against Cincinnati.

[1972Shocker]

The Shockers cruise, and I mean cruise to a 105-38 win over a bedraggled (lots of travel probems getting to Wichita) and not very talented or well coached South Carolina State team who more than lived up to theisdr #360 NET ranking. I would like to say the Shockers were impressive in this game but South Carolina State was so bad it was hard to tell. This game might have had some value for getting the bench some minutes and perhaps a little confidence but unfortunately whatever confidence that may have been gained might be somewhat of a smoke screen. I suppose it also was good to knock of a little rust that may have set in over the Christmas break, but again SCS provided so little resistance it was hard to tell. I will give Shane Dennis and Denning Goering some props though. They did a good job trying to portray this as a legitimate D-1 basketball game.

No reason to quote any stats from this game as, in my opinion, they are pretty much worthless.

So the Shocks finish off the non-con season at 10-3 but against a very weak schedule that is ranked around 349 out of 361 D-1 teams. Broken down by NET quardrant's the Shocker's record was 0-1, 0-0, 3-1 and 7-1.

So where does this team stand heading into AAC play? That is really hard to say. The Shockers NET ranking is 10th in the 11-team AAC and the Coaches picked the Shocks to finish 10th. Outside of South Florida I am just not sure hwo strong the AAC is this year. USF is 3-4 in Quadrant 1 games. The rest of the AAC is 0-20 in Quadrant 1 games.

I'm thinking the Shocks will do better than their predicted 10th place finish. How much better is impossible to know and they need to avoid any injuries to their starters.

The get to ease into the AAC schedule opening up at home against Cincinnati was picked to finish in 9th in the coaches' preseason poll just a couple of points ahaed of the Shockers. A game the Shockers probably should win at home.

[1972Shocker]

A 48-hour travel nightmare preceded 67-point loss for SC State women’s basketball team

What was originally scheduled as a Christmas Day flight to Wichita turned into a 48-hour travel nightmare, as the South Carolina State women’s basketball team was stranded in St. Louis for two straight nights and was forced to drive seven hours to Wichita on the day of Tuesday’s game, which was delayed an hour to accommodate the travel challenges, just to ensure SC State could play in a game that resulted in a 67-point loss.

The trip was on schedule with the team arriving that night in St. Louis for the final connecting flight to Wichita, but that’s when the cancellations from Southwest Airlines began. The team waited hours to receive clarification on when its flight could be rescheduled. When it became apparent a flight out wasn’t happening that night, it took more time to find a hotel with enough rooms to accommodate a large party. Eatman said the team didn’t leave the St. Louis airport until 3:30 a.m. in the early hours of Dec. 26. With just a few hours of sleep, the players had to return to the airport hours later with hopes of catching a flight that never materialized. The team was again told it could potentially fly out that evening, but once again waited for hours in the airport and left with nothing but disappointment.

After a second night of less-than-ideal sleep in St. Louis, Eatman was able to rent a pair of 12-passenger vans on Tuesday morning. The players piled into the vans, as the head coach and assistant Ervin Monier each drove a van and made the 7-hour trek to Wichita in time for Tuesday night’s game. (I believe the SCS team arrived at Koch Arena a around 6:00, the originally scheduled start time, with the game pushed back an hour to start at 7:00).

Read more at: https://www.kansas.com/sports/colleg...#storylink=cpy

[WuDrWu]

That explains the lethargy that SCS displayed much of the night. Ignoring the ineptness of the opponent, I will say that I was pleased with how WSU passed the ball and looked up the court.

Even if it was a case of simply taking advantage of your opponent's circumstances, it was an element of basketball that I've rarely seen from this program in quite a while. Nothing earth shattering or program direction turning, just nice to see.

And some of the bench players that have rarely seen the court, seeing them be able to have some success, especially making shots, was pleasant to witness as well.


Things will come at them a lot faster starting Friday. Maybe a little preseason success will help, but previous seasons tell us it's still likely an uphill climb, and it's probably fairly steep.

[flyingMoose]

I hope we did their laundry.

[1972Shocker]

Things will come at them a lot faster starting Friday. Maybe a little preseason success will help, but previous seasons tell us it's still likely an uphill climb, and it's probably fairly steep.

I see the Shockers (10-3) and the Bearcats (7-6) as a pretty even matchup. The Bearcats have not played since December 21st when they did not play well in a 52-72 loss at Northern Kentucky. Back on December 9th they lost to Xavier 35-48. So, while they will be rested, they may be a bit rusty and, as you can see, their offense is very capable of having an off night and the Shocks generally are a decent defensive team. Cincy may be a bit more battle tested with a SOS of 218 vs 349 for the Shocks. The Shocks have home court advantage FWIW.

I see it similar to the Wyoming game that the Shocks lost down the stretch. That one could easily have gone the other way. I think this one is pretty much a toss up as well. If the Shocks are going to out perform AAC expectations this is one they need to get.

[flyingMoose]

The Bulldogs made it to Albuquerque-

New Mexico 107-55 South Carolina State