College Basketball Watchability Rankings: 5 games to watch in Week 6
Oklahoma at Wichita State, Saturday 4:00 p.m. Eastern
Wichita State is playing terrific basketball in the early going despite missing arguably its best player, which should provide for and entertaining Saturday matchup with Trae Young and the Sooners.
The Shockers opened the season with national championship expectations at No. 7 in the AP Poll and have impressed at 8-1 overall, with the only blemish coming in a hard-fought game against Notre Dame in the Maui Invitational final. Greg Marshall’s team is already road tested with wins at Baylor and Oklahoma State, and will be hyped up for one of its biggest home games of the year this weekend.
With Markis McDuffie still out due to a stress fracture in his foot, the Shockers have relied on excellent depth behind stars Landry Shamet and Shaq Morris. The Shockers rotate in 10 players regularly even with McDuffie absent, and have a rare combination of balance and experience that few teams nationally can match.
After enduring a rebuilding campaign last year, Lon Kuger should have the Sooners back in the NCAA Tournament with a record of 7-1 so far. Oklahoma picked up its best win of the year last Friday against USC, with its only loss coming in a hard-fought PK80 battle against a good Arkansas team,
Young has lived up to the hype and then some with an average of 28.8 points per game to lead college basketball by a healthy amount. The Sooners are averaging 93.2 points per game overall to rank third in the nation, with senior Khadeem Latin also making a big leap this season.
This will be a tough test for the Sooners, but Young has been fun to watch so far and could give Wichita State’s stout defense some issues.