After losing to Tulsa earlier this week, Memphis remains on the road for a matchup against Wichita State on Saturday. The Tigers are now 9-9 on the season and 4-2 in conference play, and they’re currently in a five-way tie in the conference standings among teams with two losses.
Wichita State enters the game with a 12-8 record on the season and 4-3 in conference play. The Shockers have won back-to-back games over USF and ECU, but they started conference play 2-3 with losses against Charlotte, Rice and FAU.
Paul Mills is in his third season as Wichita State’s head coach, and it looks like he has his team heading in the right direction. Like most teams in the American, Mills had to use the transfer portal to rebuild his team, and a bulk of his roster are newcomers.
As a team, the Shockers average 78 points, shooting 44.4 percent from the field, 36.3 percent from deep and 69.7 percent from the free-throw line. Two players average more than 10 points per game, and senior Kenyon Giles leads the team with 18.4 points per game, while shooting 42.2 percent from three-point range on 8.3 attempts.
Alongside Giles in the backcourt, Michael Gray and Karon Boyd have also played well this season. Boyd averages 11.1 points and 6.2 rebounds, while Gray averages 9.8 points and 3.2 rebounds.
In the frontcourt, Wichita State is anchored by 7-foot-2 big man Will Berg, who averages 8.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. As a team, the Shockers average 41.2 rebounds per game, and they have a plus-8.1 rebounding margin.
Wichita State ranks No. 5 in offensive rebounding, which could cause some issues for the Tigers on Saturday. Mills’ team also doesn’t turn the ball over very often, averaging 10.3 turnovers per game.
Defensively, the Shockers allow 70.1 points per game, and opposing teams are shooting 32 percent from the field and 31.4 percent from three-point range. They also force 10.6 turnovers per game and turn those into 12.5 points off turnovers.