After a 10-day layoff due to COVID-19 issues, the Wichita State men’s basketball team is looking to earn its first conference win on Wednesday against Central Florida. 

The Shockers had both games postponed last week but the program still practiced during that time off. WSU was without juniors Dexter Dennis and Morris Udeze against Tulane on Jan. 12 but they returned on Jan. 16 against Cincinnati. They were then  without Craig Porter Jr. and assistant coach Billy Kennedy during that game against the Bearcats.

WSU has returned to near full health heading into Wednesday’s game, with at least 12 players active, according to head coach Isaac Brown.

“We’re just so excited to be back, to be having two games this week,” Brown said. “We’re going to be playing a lot of back-to-back games, with the games we had postponed. We’ve got to get back on the winning side, we need to play well and the guys are excited about coming back.”

WSU is hopeful that the time off will help following the team’s recent skid. The Shockers last win was over a month ago, including four straight losses to start conference play. WSU has now also lost five games at home, the most since the 2007-08 season.

Brown said that the break allowed coaches to study the film to see what was effective during their early season wins. 

“We needed that time in order to go back and watch a lot of film,” Brown said. “We had some coaches that weren’t at practice and were able to watch a lot of film at home and echo what they saw to the coaching staff. I’m definitely excited that we’re back because you can practice, practice, practice but eventually you have to go do it in a game.”

During the past two losses, the Shockers have blown a double figure lead in both games. Winning close games was a strength last season but that hasn’t translated yet to this year’s team. 

The Shockers will be tested when they take on UCF, who currently sits in fifth place in the AAC. It seemed that the Knights had NCAA Tournament potential after non-conference wins against Miami and Michigan, but they are off to a 4-3 start in conference play.

“It’s a big challenge for us, right now we’re 0-4 in conference,” Brown said. “We’re playing a good team in UCF and I feel like our guys are still all together, and haven’t made any excuses.”

Brown said he isn’t expecting too much rust after the extended layoff, especially with practices continuing during last week. 

“I didn’t feel like we missed a beat because we were still able to practice, we were just shorthanded. For the most part we had a guy here or there that missed one day but came back the next practice. Overall, I thought it was good. I felt like we got better during this break.”

The Shockers have also announced that their game against SMU – which was one of two games postponed last week – has been rescheduled for Feb. 3. WSU will now play three games next weekend, including back-to-back matchups with the Mustangs.

WSU’s game against UCF is slated to tip-off at 7 p.m. and can also be seen on ESPN+.