Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas
Wichita State will try to snap its three-game losing streak when it travels to South Florida in an AAC battle on Sunday afternoon. The Shockers have gone winless in their first three conference games, including a 70-61 loss against Cincinnati on Thursday. South Florida is on a two-game skid after coming up short against Temple on Wednesday.
Wichita State struggled with consistency throughout the non-conference portion of its schedule, going 7-5 in those 12 games. The Shockers lost to virtually every quality team that they faced, with their only quality win coming against Richmond in mid-November. Their struggles against solid opponents have bled over into AAC play, as they have dropped consecutive games to UCF, East Carolina and Cincinnati in their first three conference games. They were underdogs in their losses to UCF and Cincinnati, but they were 7-point favorites in their 10-point loss to East Carolina. The Shockers will be looking to get back on track against an opponent that they have beat six straight times.
Final. pic.twitter.com/wEZZSN1Ke6
— Wichita State Men's Basketball (@GoShockersMBB) January 6, 2023
They are desperately needing to turn things around offensively, as they rank No. 291 in effective field goal percentage (47.3). Their outside shooting has been particularly bad, as they are knocking down less than 30% of their 3-pointers, which ranks No. 332 of 363 Division-I teams. Their strength on the offensive end has been their low turnover rate, which will be tested by a South Florida defense that is No. 48 in turnovers forced. Senior guard Craig Porter Jr. leads Wichita State with 12.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. Junior guard Jaykwon Walton is also in double figures, averaging 11.7 points and 6.5 rebounds.