Basketball: Wichita State @ TCU (Pre-Game)

48-57 (F)
Tomorrow the Shockers (3-4) will travel to Fort Worth, Texas to take on TCU (6-3), part of a 2-game road stretch. WSU is coming off a 72-69 loss at Texas Tech where Mike Singletary nailed a three with 4.2 left on the clock. The Horned Frogs however are winners of 5 straight against teams like Colorado, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and SMU. In order for the Shox to turn around there losing ways they will need to get by a hot TCU team at there house.

THE ARENA - DANIEL MEYER COLISEUM

Daniel Meyer Coliseum, home to both men's and women's basketball teams, carries a capacity of 7,200. TCU's average attendance for home games this season is sitting at a sad 3,254 fans per game, so expect a half-full arena. I would expect the atmosphere to be the same or a little bit better than the Tech game becuase of the smaller arena. All in all should be an easy place to play at.


SCOUTING TCU

The frogs leading scorer is senior Kevin Langford, who's averaging 14.1 points per game. Though there leader in minute is Edvinas Ruzgas, a player from Lithuania (hopefully Mantas will be inspired). There height will come from Zvonko Buljan a 6'9 220 center from Croatia. It appears Garrett Stutz could play a key role in this game against less-athletic centers. 6'1 Jason Ebie will run the point for the Frogs. 6'2 Ronnie Moss will likely start at shooting guard, he leads their guards in scoring at 8.4 points per game. TCU's leading rebounder, Zvonko Buljan, is averaging just 6.1 per game. Jason Ebie will dish the ball, he's averaging 4.8 assists. Ruzgas will be the one shooting the threes, he shoots on average 5 per game. TCU appears to be a team that likes to shoot a lot of threes, every player on the team has made one except for two bench players. So the key to beating the Frogs is to grab rebounds and make them force bad shots.

MATCH-UPS

Point Guard: Clevin Hannah (5'11, 155) will match-up against Jason Ebie (6'1, 175). Ebie appears to be a pass first point guard.
Shooting Guard: Toure' Murry (6'4, 183) will match-up against Ronnie Moss (6'2, 195). Toure' will have to try and limit Moss' looks.
Small Forward: AJ Hawkins (6'5, 202) will match-up against Edvinas Ruzgas (6'6, 200). Edvinas likes to shoot the three-ball when he gets the chance.
Power Forward: Ramon Clemente (6'6, 225) will match-up against Kevin Langford (6'8, 245). Ramon will get the job of shutting down their top scorer.
Center: JT Durley (6'7, 235) will match-up against Zvonko Buljan (6'9, 220). Durley should be able to score easily on Buljan.

In order for the Shox to win this game they will need to box out and win the boards by 15+. TCU lacks scoring at the guard positions so Clemente, Durley, Ellis, and Stutz will need to make sure their defense is having an A game. Look for a big game from Durley and Murry, both have favorable match-ups. This will begin a 4-game stretch where the shox will be favored in each game.

PREDICTION: WSU 73, TCU 66.

-shockers02