The RoundHouse | 1/19/2018 11:29:00 PM

By Paul Suellentrop
 
No. 7 Wichita State at Houston
 
When: 11 a.m. Saturday
Records: Wichita State 15-3, 5-1 American; Houston 14-4, 4-2
Listen: KEYN 103.7 FM/goshockers.com
Watch: ESPNU
 
One of the best things about the 10-team Missouri Valley Conference was its round-robin schedule, which produced a regular-season champion that had to play every opponent twice and play on every road court. The 18-game grind proved something worthwhile.
 
One of the best things about the American Athletic Conference is that it doesn't pretend any of that really matters (of course it matters). What matters most, sadly or not, is getting teams into the NCAA Tournament.
 
The 12-team American rolls with an unbalanced 18-game schedule. A 22-game round robin schedule isn't desirable (although the Big 10 and ACC are going to 20 in coming seasons).
 
The American does its best to create matchups that will help power rankings (good teams vs. good teams) and play on TV (good teams vs. good teams). Geographic rivals matter, so Wichita State-Tulsa is a needed home-and-home. Teams expected to contend at the top of the conference are challenged. Teams expected to finish near the bottom get some breaks.
 
With most teams at or past the one-third mark, we can look at the schedule and see how the unbalanced nature might affect the race. If you're a favorite, things don't get easy. If you're exceeding expectations, you might be able to ride a wave toward the top.
 
Wichita State (5-1) is done with East Carolina (2-5) and South Florida (0-6), teams it handled by 35 and 38 points. That is the big difference from the MVC - top teams get one shot, in most cases, to pad their win total against weak teams. That can help the pursuit of quality wins, but rolling up big win totals isn't easy.

The Shockers play eight games against opponents in the top 100 of the Pomeroy ratings. Among the seven American schools .500 or better in conference play, only WSU and UConn (3-3) face that many top-100 opponents the rest of the way.
 
No. 160 UConn is the lowest-ranked team the Shockers face.
 
The Shockers do get a bit of a break by facing "only" four top-50 opponents, one less than Cincinnati (5-0), Houston (4-2), Central Florida (3-3) and UConn. Those schools, of course, all play the top-50 Shockers.
 
First-place Cincinnati plays seven games against the top 100 and plays No. 312 East Carolina on Saturday. 
 
UCF benefits from its rivalry with No. 328 South Florida. It has two games remaining against the Bulls.
 
Memphis, picked ninth in the preseason poll, may be the biggest beneficiary of the unbalanced schedule. The Tigers are 4-2 in the American and face five remaining top-100 opponents, four at home. It still plays two games against both USF and ECU. SMU, picked fourth, is in a similar spot. Three of its four toughest remaining games are at home and it plays ECU twice and USF once later this season. The Mustangs play four games against teams ranked No. 101-199.
 
The Shockers defeated Houston 81-63 on Jan. 4, a game they led by 32 in the final seven minutes. Wichita State overwhelmed the Cougars with 10-of-16 three-point shooting to build a 53-32 halftime lead. The Shockers played superb offense for about 30 minutes and the Cougars will need to find a way to disrupt Wichita State's motion and contest three-point shots. Wichita State finished the game with 18 assists (five from Zach Brown) on 26 baskets.

Shocker guards Conner Frankamp and Landry Shamet feasted on the crisp passing, screening and open shots. Frankamp made 6 of 7 shots to score 15 points. Shamet made 6 of 8 shots and scored 18.
 
Wichita State held Houston to 23-of-56 shooting (41.1 percent) and forced 15 turnovers. Cougars guard Rob Gray, who averages 19.4 points, was held to 13 on 6-of-14 shooting. The Shockers, who committed eight turnovers, outscored Houston 23-4 in points off turnovers, the most points allowed this season by the Cougars.
 
The Cougars are a strong offensive rebounding team, grabbing 35.3 percent of available offensive rebounds, according to Ken Pomeroy, to rank No. 19 nationally. However, opponents outscored Houston in second-chance points in each of the past three games. Houston won that stat in 11 of its first 15 games, including 11-3 vs. the Shockers.
 
Houston is shooting 39.7 percent from three-point range, 36.1 in six American games. Gray has struggled in conference play from three-point range at 32.1 percent.
 
Cougars forward Breaon Brady will help that rebounding. Brady did not play in the first meeting due to injury. He has started the past two games, although played only 10 minutes in each. He averages 5.2 rebounds and 5.2 points for the season.
 
American opponents have outscored the Cougars 95-73 at the line, after taking 33 more attempts. Regardless of what adjustments the Cougars make on defense, the Shockers can take advantage of their foul-prone ways by pushing the ball in the lane and driving to the basket.
 
Wichita State takes its 11-game road win streak (tied with Saint Mary's) into Texas Southern's H&PE Arena. Houston is playing in the 8,100-seat arena while it is building the $60 million Fertitta Center on campus.
 
Houston is preparing for a large crowd with special ticket policies and a parking shuttle. It averaged 3,139 fans in eight home games with a high of 4,186 against Arkansas.
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.