After a 74-59 muscling over Memphis in late January, Wichita State basketball coach Paul Mills put it plainly:
“It’s not other people’s job to move us. It’s our job to move them. The only way that we can move people is you have to play connected. You have to play inspired. You have to play intense.”
The Shockers, who’ve won five of their last six games while holding teams to 70.3 points and scoring 78.2, are doing their part. Now it’s up to the fans to flock to Koch Arena.
Wichita State (15-9, 6-4 American) has a huge week ahead of it, arguably its biggest this season, with the opportunity to occupy a spot atop the conference standings for the first time in five years — the last time it won a conference title.
The Shockers will host the American Conference’s co-leaders beginning with South Florida (16-8, 8-3) Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Tulsa (20-4, 8-3) visits Saturday for a rematch from earlier this month at 6 p.m.
To help make ends meet, Wichita State Athletic Director Kevin Saal is offering a $25 general admission ticket deal for both games, which is $12.50 a ticket per game. They’re available at goshockers.com.
Even former players like PJ Couisnard (now an assistant coach) and Rashard Kelly, among others, are urging 10,506 — the maximum occupancy — to fill the Roundhouse. It’s a number that hasn’t been recorded since March 8, 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Need 10k Wednesday,” Couisnard said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Basketball Tournament this past summer was a reminder of how special it is when the upper bowl is mostly full. More than 9,000 gathered to watch the AfterShocks, a WSU alumni team, take home their first TBT crown in early August.
But now, six months later, the Shockers of Wichita State are in position to claim the top spot in the conference and do it in front of a sold-out crowd.
