Wichita State looks like no Final Four contender right now

There was a strong case to be made for Wichita State as a Final Four contender in the preseason. Through the first 17 games of this year, the Shockers looked like it. This was a team that was winning games even without star forward Markis McDuffie, with their only blemishes coming to Notre Dame (by one) and Oklahoma (by eight).

At the moment, the Shockers look like they’d be lucky just to win the American. Wichita State lost its second straight game on Saturday afternoon, 73-59 to Houston. It’s the first time Wichita has lost consecutive conference games since 2013.

Of course, the Shockers took a serious step up in competition this year, moving from the Missouri Valley to the AAC. They learned this the hard way against an impressive SMU team earlier this week, as the Mustangs offense hummed for an incredible 1.38 points per possession in the win. Gregg Marshall’s team had similar problems vs. Houston on Saturday.

Even on a day when their jumpers weren’t falling, the Cougars still scored at ease on the Shocker defense. Star guard Rob Gray led the way with 24 points, while teammate Corey Davis Jr. added 17 points and eight rebounds. The Cougars put up numbers on the No. 7 team in the country despite shooting only 5-of-20 from three-point range and 43 percent from the field.

Wichita’s defense was ranked only No. 64 in efficiency coming into the game by KenPom. The Shockers don’t force any turnovers, allow too many looks from three-point range and struggle to establish the tempo.

Watch Gray go through the entire defense for this slam:

The loss now puts Wichita State two games behind Cincinnati for the conference lead. Houston is also now 5-2 in the AAC and helped its bubble chances in a big way with this win.