The RoundHouse | 2/23/2020 9:17:00 AM

WICHITA STATE (20-6, 8-5) at rv/rv CINCINNATI (17-9, 10-4)
SUNDAY, FEB. 23, 2020 | 12:01 P.M. CST (1:01 p.m. EST)
CINCINNATI, OHIO | FIFTH THIRD ARENA (12,012)
TV: ESPN (WatchESPN)
RADIO: KEYN 103.7 FM (GoShockers.com/Listen)
SERIES: CIN leads 23-12 (12-4 in Cincinnati)
LAST: Feb. 6, 2020 in Wichita (CIN, 80-79)
 
 
After 20 wins and six losses, Wichita State gives us a firm idea of what it is – a strong defensive team that can rise up offensively in favorable matchups. Against other strong defenses, prepare for a first-one-to-65 kind of game.

Another 20-win season proves it works.
 
What is most heartening is that the Shockers are winning defensive games with freshmen and sophomores trained to ignore cold shooting nights and work on defense.
 
They will need those efforts over the season's remaining five games as they try to maintain an NCAA Tournament at-large resume and push for a top-four seed in the American Athletic Conference Tournament. The Shockers (20-6, 8-5 American Athletic Conference) play at Cincinnati at noon Sunday (ESPN).
 
Thursday's defensive effort in a win over USF moved the Shockers to No. 10 in Ken Pomeroy's defensive efficiency rankings, up two spots. They ranked No. 18 before the current three-game win streak. The Shockers allow .897 points per possession (the 2016 team that topped the Pomeroy rankings allowed .887).
 
One of coach Gregg Marshall's favorite compliments is "ratty" and the Shockers play in that feisty, persistent manner quite often. They fight through screens, deflect passes, disrupt dribblers and contest shots at a rate that makes it difficult to score. 
 
Crucially, they are playing good defense without fouling in recent games.

USF relies on drawing fouls and the Shockers outscored them 21-9 at the line in the 65-55 win. That continues a helpful trend – the Shockers limited four of their past five opponents under 20 foul shots. The exception was Tulane, which shot 23 and lost 82-57. 
 
Before that stretch, opponents shot 20 or more foul shots in eight straight games.
 
Wichita State's defense is excellent in two areas, both of which involve center Jaime Echenique. They hold opponents to 42.1 percent shooting on two-point attempts, which ranks eighth nationally, according to Pomeroy. Their steals percentage of 11.0 ranks No. 22.
 
Echenique's shot-blocking leads both efforts – his presence deters scoring and allows the guards to play aggressively. He has learned to play defense without fouling, which helps remove a way for opponents to get to the line.
 
"What doesn't show up on the stat sheet is how many times he protects, and helps, the guards by protecting the rim on those middle ball-screens," Marshall said. "He's always right in there."
 
Echenqiue played 31 minutes and blocked three shots in Cincinnati's 80-79 win over the Shockers earlier this season. The Bearcats (17-9, 10-4) are deadly around the rim – they made 24 of 35 two-point shots in the win over Wichita State. 
 
Wichita State guard Jamarius Burton talked a lot about execution after Thursday's win. That shows the lessons of earlier struggles are setting in. Almost every team in the American can tell a story about painful losses and the Shockers have theirs against Tulsa (54-51) and Cincinnati (80-79). 
 
The Shockers, like every other American team, should realize that the top of this conference is evenly matched and the bottom is good enough to rise up, as Tulane did this week. Every possession matters and when the Shockers didn't execute late against Tulsa, it opened the door for a buzzer-beater.
 
Against USF, the Shockers weren't perfect. They went up 10 and then committed consecutive turnovers. But they did do enough to lead by seven or more points over the final three minutes.
 
"I think the last five games is preparing us for what we should look forward to down the stretch in the conference tournament and maybe hopefully a postseason tournament," Burton said. "Being able to execute down the stretch is going to help us. We're just going to take what we learned and apply it later."
 
USF coach Brian Gregory talked about Wichita State's "culture" when he addressed the final minutes of the game. He liked his team's defense on Dexter Dennis, except for one of the two three-pointers he made in the second half. He pointed to a three-point play by Echenique, created by a well-executed play, that pushed the lead to eight points with 3:14 to play as crucial.
 
"Every time we made a minor defensive effort, they took advantage," Gregory said. "We were deep one time on Dennis and he buries that three in the second half and that was a big one."
 
The Shockers are in fourth place in the American with five losses. Houston, Cincinnati and Tulsa all have four losses. Memphis and SMU loom in the top half with six losses. A possession or two could swing significant spots in the standings over these next two weeks.
 
No team knows about this more than the Bearcats, who are on an amazing stretch of close games.
 
Cincinnati is 4-2 in February with four straight overtime (or two) games entering Sunday. The two games before the overtime streak were a 64-62 win over Houston and the one-point win at Wichita State. 
 
Cincinnati's seven overtime games (it is 4-3) is a conference and school record and the most in the nation this season. 
 
After Wednesday's 89-87 double-overtime loss at home to UCF, Cincinnati coach John Brannen said he saw some of his team's defensive breakdowns coming. He is struggling to fix them. His team, he said, relies too much on pressing and turnovers. When teams handle that aspect of their defense, they are vulnerable.
 
"We haven't guarded in a month," he said. "I don't know if we've fallen in love with offense. We've got to get back to guarding. (Wednesday) felt like a team that was not connected defensively. We're not guarding the ball."
 
Brannen also said he sees too much one-on-one play offensively. The Bearcats committed 22 turnovers in an overtime win at East Carolina and 21 in the loss to UCF. Before those games, the Bearcats had not committed more than 14 in six straight games.
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.