After owning the Missouri Valley Conference for the past several years, the Wichita State Shockers needed a new challenge. Their move to the American has provided just that. The Shockers have lost nearly as many conference games in their first year in the AAC (3) than they did in their last four combined in the MVC (4). But one thing remains the same – the Shockers are vying for a regular season title. They can move closer to their goal with a road win over the Central Florida Knights on Thursday.
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Since losing a heartbreaking overtime game to Temple a month ago, the Shockers have been perfect winning their last six while going 3-3 ATS. Two of their five losses have come in true road games, but playing on the road hasn’t fazed Wichita State in the past. Since the start of the 2013-14 season, the Shockers have amassed a Division I-best 48 road wins and they are 8-2 SU and 5-5 ATS this season.
The Knights aren’t going anywhere and they have a great chance to play spoiler with two home games to finish off the regular year. They’ve been a much better team on their own floor posting an 11-3 overall record and 5-2 conference ledger at CFE Arena. But they’ve had little success against the top teams in the conference, going 0-5 SU and ATS against the top four teams in the AAC.
Player to Watch
Markus McDuffie is heating up just in time for the tournament, and the Shockers are a better team because of it. McDuffie played all 36 games last season with 28 starts and led the team in scoring with 11.5 points per game, and rebound with 5.7 boards per contest.
However, he missed the first 11 games this season while recovering from an injury and has been used mainly off the bench since returning. McDuffie had his best offensive outing of the season in the Shockers win over SMU, scoring 26 points on 11 of 14 shooting while knocking down 3 of 6 three-pointers.
McDuffie failed to score more than 12 points in any of his first 15 games this season, but he erupted for 41 in the last two by hitting 68 percent of his shots. “I feel like I’m back to myself now in terms of airing everything out,” McDuffie said after his performance against the Mustangs.
Letdown Spot
This game is the definition of a trap for Wichita State. The Shockers have a home date with first-place Cincinnati on Sunday in a game that likely determines the conference champion and it would be very easy to overlook the Knights with that mega-contest on tap.
The Shockers are feeling good about themselves at this point. They rallied to win six straight games following their upset loss at Temple and knocked off the Bearcats on the road in that run. UCF plays a stingy brand of defense and they could give the Shockers some fits with their smothering style.
Wichita State hasn’t been destroying opponents lately, either. The Shockers won their last four games by a combined 24 points and three of those games were against teams in the lower half of the conference standings, so there is hope for UCF.
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The Shockers haven’t been dominating teams, but they are winning and scoring plenty of points doing so. They blitzed Cincinnati’s highly-ranked defense in a critical road win against the Bearcats last week and are destined for a first-place showdown at home with Cincy on Sunday.
But they can’t look past UCF, which is a solid team. The Knights are a middling AAC club because they haven’t been able to beat the top contenders. They play well at home and have the AAC’s second-best defense. The Knights struggle to score so they’ll have to play aggressively on the defensive end giving plenty of value to the under. And it will be enough for the home team to cover the spread.
College Basketball Odds: Wichita State 67, Central Florida 60
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