Wichita State Head Coach Gregg Marshall knows his team can still get back to where they once were offensively and hasn’t lost faith one bit. Despite only being able to reach the 60 point mark just once in the last five games, and at times missing wide-open shots, Marshall was happy with how the team responded at practice on Monday following the loss against Tulsa on Saturday.

“They accepted coaching and we had a good practice,” Marshall said at a press conference on Tuesday. “A lot of them had valuable things to say among themselves and in front of the staff. We just need to play the way we practiced yesterday.”

The Shockers will face off with one of the hottest teams in the AAC, the Cincinnati Bearcats, on Thursday. Despite getting off to a 7-5 start, the Bearcats have gotten hot at the right time, winning seven of their last nine games.

For Marshall, Cincinnati and Houston have been one of the top teams in the league since WSU joined the American Athletic Conference two seasons ago. Part of what makes them effective is their effort night-in and night-out along with their physical nature of play.

“Both play really, really hard,” Marshall said. “I don’t think I need to do anything scouting wise except show them the Cincinnati-Houston game, which happened on Saturday. It’s two teams playing really hard basketball and making plays and making shots.”

When speaking about the teams’ physicality, Marshall dove into the film.

“It got to the point where it was so physical that one kid (Houston’s DeJon Jarreau) bit another. I think that’s way over the line,” Marshall said. “I’m not advocating anyone biting anyone or punching anyone or going into the stands all that, but the degree to which you have to compete and the intensity you have to compete with these teams is really good.”

Part of what has made Cincinnati successful more recently has been the recent play of Jarron Cumberland. Despite being named the AAC Preseason Player of the Year, Cumberland got off to a rough start, only averaging 12.9 points per game, which was about six points below his season average from a season ago.

Since then, Cumberland has started to excel in new Bearcats’ Head Coach John Brannen’s system, pumping his points per game average all the way up to 15, a three-point increase.

According to Marshall, part of what has made him successful has been the amount of time Cumberland has the ball in his hands and the options he has within the offense. Despite his 6’5 frame, Cumberland has been running the point guard 84% of the time over the last five games, according to KenPom.

“He’s making shots, he gets to the line, he can drive it, he’s physical, strong, makes pretty good decisions, has the ball in his hands quite a bit,” Marshall said. “They run some pretty good stuff but, in the end, it’s he and a ball screen with two guys on the left, one guy on the right. He makes a ton of plays out of that.”

Part of what makes this matchup different than those in year’s past is the coach on the opposing sidelines. After Mick Cronin left for UCLA, the Bearcats hired Brannen, who Marshall has previous experience with from his time as an assistant at the University of Marshall.

In his first year at Marshall, Gregg Marshall coached Brannen, who was a senior at the school. Despite him only being there for a year, Marshall and Brannen have developed a relationship and have stayed in touch ever since.

“He was a hard worker,” Marshall said. “He was intense and a great kid. The sum of his game was greater than the individual talent. He worked so hard and had a knack for putting in the basket. We’ve maintained a relationship all these years. I was excited to see him get the opportunity at Cincinnati, but I also know that it’s going to be very difficult because he’s a very good coach.”

Despite WSU sitting in a rough patch, Marshall says the team still has faith. It is sometimes hard to lose in the course of a season that the Shockers are 17-4 even with the 25th youngest roster in the country.

“We can’t lose faith in these guys, we have to keep working with them and getting them better and hopefully, they can get better and they got better last year,” he said.

One of the players that Marshall was proud of for showing up in a leadership role during this stretch was sophomore guard Dexter Dennis. During practice on Monday, Dennis confronted his teammates and knows that they have the capabilities improving once again.

“Dexter Dennis was very astute in his comments to the team yesterday,” Marshall said. “He goes ‘Hey guys, we were in the same position last year and we got better. We can do the same this year and make the NCAA Tournament if we get better instead of getting relegated to the NIT which we were last year.’ It was very mature of him and a great step forward in terms of leadership.”

The Shockers are scheduled to tip off against the Bearcats at 6 p.m. on Thursday inside Charles Koch Arena.