Wichita State

invades Holmes
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

Appalachian State’s home season opener did not go as well as planned. If the Mountaineers don’t recover quickly, game two may end up the same.

Wichita State takes on the Mountaineers in a Thursday showdown. Appalachian State beat the Shockers 60-58 last year in Wichita, Kan., in the Mountaineers’ first BracketBusters game.

The Shockers come into Boone with a 3-2 record, having won their last two games. They include a 67-60 win over Illinois-Chicago and a solid 75-63 home victory over Wyoming.

It’s the first of two tough games for the Mountaineers to play heading into the weekend. After Wichita State, they play at Georgia Southern Saturday. The games come on the heels of a 71-60 loss to Davidson on Monday at the Holmes Center.

“We don’t have the luxury of sitting back and examining this game over the course of the week,” Mountaineers coach Houston Fancher said. “Now we’ve got Wichita coming in here Thursday and Georgia Southern on Saturday and arguably they are the second-best team in our league. We’ve got to buckle down and get better because it’s a really great time for us to get better and improve.”

The Shockers will be different in one respect — they have a new coach this year.

Gregg Marshall left Winthrop to coach at Wichita State after Mark Turgeon bolted Wichita for Texas A&M. Fancher said the Shockers have taken to Marshall’s style of playing tight defense and being physical.

“Greg has taken his style and brought it to Wichita,” Fancher said. “They’re more of a grind-it-out team like they were at Winthrop. They’re going to defend you really hard.”

Appalachian State was able to knock off the Shockers last year after D.J. Thompson hit a floating one-hander with four seconds left in the game. Demetrius Scott gave the Mountaineers a 58-55 with a three-point play with 28 seconds left. Kyle Wilson tied the game for the Shockers with a 3-pointer, the only one he hit all game.

However, Thompson, Scott and Wilson have all graduated and moved on. P.J. Couisnard returns for the Shockers and averages 7.5 points per game.

“We remember P.J. Couisnard from last year,” Fancher said. “He’s a strong, physical small forward for them.
(Phillip) Thomasson had a good game against us last year and (Matt) Braeuer can shoot the ball from the perimeter. We’ll start (Monday) getting our scouting report prepared for them and examine the film for our next one.”

Monday’s game drew a crowd of 3,241, which pleased Fancher, but does not come close to the 10,478 who watched the Mountaineers beat Wichita State in Koch Arena last year.

“I thought the crowd was awesome,” Fancher said. “They were as loud and as vocal as we’ve had since our Greensboro game last year. I thought they were awesome tonight and I’d like to thank every one of them individually for being here and supporting us and I hope they’ll come back.”

Fancher knew that several fans showed up to watch the game because Davidson, a formerly ranked team and rival, was on the visiting bench. Fancher would like to see a big crowd show up every night just because the Mountaineers are playing.

“We’ve got to get our program to the point where people come out and watch us regardless who we’re playing,” Fancher added. “You come out and support your team regardless of who is on the other side of the ledger. I hope we can grow to that point.”