The RoundHouse | 1/22/2018 9:19:00 AM

By Paul Suellentrop

Around the American
 
Team(s) of the week: SMU and Houston rejuvenated their NCAA Tournament resumes with wins over No. 7 Wichita State. The Mustangs won at Koch Arena by slow-playing the Shockers and letting guards Shake Milton and Jahmal McMurray create.
 
SMU went 2-0 on the week with a 73-62 win over dangerous Tulane on Saturday. Houston went 1-1, losing 81-72 at Tulane on Wednesday. The Cougars didn't arrive in New Orleans until 3:30 p.m. for a 7 p.m. game because cold weather closed New Orleans' airport much of the day. Coach Kelvin Sampson said he wanted the game postponed.
 
Ugh: Wichita State will take a hit in the polls and NCAA projections after two losses. UConn suffered through another tough week with a 73-49 loss at Memphis and an 81-61 home loss to No. 1 Villanova.
 
Central Florida lost center Tacko Fall for the season with a shoulder injury. It is the third serious injury for the Knights this season. Forward Aubrey Dawkins missed the season with a shoulder injury and guard B.J. Taylor recently returned after missing 16 games with a foot injury.
 
Top performances: Milton scored 33 points on 11-of-14 shots against Wichita State and controlled the game with his patience and shot-making. He followed that with 20 points (5-of-16 shooting) and five assists in a win over Tulane . . . Tulsa's DaQuan Jeffries registered career highs with 24 points and 11 rebounds in a 64-51 win over Memphis . . . South Florida's Taylor, in his second game since returning injury, scored 25 points in a 71-69 win at Central Florida. Taylor made 10 of 11 foul shots . . . Cincinnati's Gary Clark recorded 14 points and 14 rebounds in an 86-60 win over East Carolina. He added two assists, two blocks and two steals. In a 49-38 win at UCF, Clark had 17 points and 15 rebounds . . .  Houston guard Rob Gray made 10 of 21 shots to score 24 points against Wichita State. He played 37 minutes and also handed out four assists.
 
Keep an eye on this: UCF's injury issues – which also include starting forward A.J. Davis (ankle) – hit with games against Wichita State, Houston and Cincinnati in the next 16 days.
 
Who's the new person: Temple freshman guard Nate Pierre-Louis averages 6.8 points and is 10 of 27 (37 percent) from three-point range in 13 games. He earned American Rookie of the Week honors earlier this month after scoring 23 points against Memphis.
 
Quote of the week: Sampson commented on the Koch Arena atmosphere for his early January game there on Saturday.
 
"Wichita State has it at their place," he said. "You would not believe how electric that place was. I think they had everyone from Dorothy, Toto and the mayor there. It was a coronation for them. It was their first game in the American. They were all celebrating, as they should have. They blew the roof off the building that night. You throw in all the threes they made and we didn't know if we were on foot or horseback to start that game."
 
Get to know: UCF's Taylor, a junior from Orlando, earned second-team All-American Athletic Conference honors last season. As a freshman in 2014-15, he started 26 games and made the American's All-Rookie team.
 
In between, he sat out the 2015-16 season with a lower leg injury.
 
Taylor played in this season's opener before missing the next 16 games with a foot injury. He averaged 14.3 points in three games this season and totaled 10 assists and three turnovers. He is 5 of 10 from three-point range.
 
Time for trivia:
 
Q: When did UCF coach Johnny Dawkins first coach in Koch Arena?
 
A: Dawkins coached Stanford in a 2009 College Basketball Invitational game against Wichita State. The Cardinal defeated the Shockers 70-56.
 
Big games ahead: All eyes will focus on Wichita State to see how it responds in home games vs. UCF (Thursday) and Tulsa (Sunday).
 
On Saturday, Cincinnati travels to Memphis, where the Tigers are 12-1. Memphis, after an 0-2 start to conference play, has won four of its past five games. Star guard Jeremiah Martin left Saturday's loss at Tulsa early with a hip injury, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, and his status for the Cincy game is unknown.
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.