Print edition: 
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —As I watched Wichita State toy with UMKC on Wednesday night, I had a recurring thought.
The Shockers can be so much better.
When a team wins by 21 points on the road against an opponent it had lost to two years in a row and my prevalent thought is that it can be so much better, it's a good sign.
WSU has something here.
They swarmed UMKC defensively, limiting the Kangaroos to 34.7 percent shooting, 17 turnovers and a night of tight nerves. No possession was easy for the 'Roos; they all had varying degrees of fright.
The Shockers also out-rebounded UMKC by six (it seemed like more) and generally jumped higher, ran faster and pushed harder than the outmanned 'Roos, who have been around in Division I for 22 years now and barely made a ripple.
"Defensively, we were really good,'' Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said. "I thought we got our hands on a lot of balls. We had 10 steals and it could have been more than that. We had a lot of deflections and a lot of active hands. We have great length and athleticism and when we're dedicated to defending with those attributes, and you mix heart in there, then you have a great formula for defense.''
If we've learned anything about Marshall during his two-plus seasons as WSU's coach, it's that his teams will consistently play defense.
Offense, sometimes, isn't such a cinch.
It wasn't again Wednesday.
The Shockers scored better in transition than they did in half-court sets, during which they often rushed or got sloppy.
Outside of sophomore David Kyles, who made three of five three-point shots, nobody shot the ball well from the perimeter. Starting point guard Clevin Hannah was limited to 17 minutes because of foul trouble and his backcourt mate, Toure Murry, scored only 10 points on two-of-eight shooting.
Yet the Shockers won by 21, should have won by 31 and could have won by 41.
"The sky is the limit for this team,'' Murry said. "We just got to keep improving every day in practice and taking that into games. Play every minute like it's your last. That's what we're trying to do here.''
The soft part of Wichita State's schedule is over after a run of lopsided wins against Alcorn State, Texas Southern, South Carolina-Upstate and UMKC.
Next up is TCU. Then unbeaten Texas Tech. Then North Dakota State before the Shockers' Missouri Valley Conference opener Dec. 29 at Illinois State.
We're about to learn more about the Shockers. But what we've learned so far is sufficient to boast this team as, at least, a Valley contender and perhaps a whole lot more.
The Valley is having a good year and one of the chief reasons is Wichita State's 8-1 record. Granted, those eight wins have come against, at best, so-so teams. The Shockers don't have a win that jumps off the page yet, but that could change with Texas Tech coming to town in nine days.
Winning has given this still-young team a lot of confidence.
"Last year, we really didn't know how to work hard on the defensive end,'' Kyles said. "I know that as far as my confidence goes, if I'm stopping somebody and keeping them contained, then I feel like my offense will carry me.''
Kyles shows flashes of being that go-to consistent perimeter threat the Shockers don't have and the potential to be a player who can score points quickly.
He has mostly overcome periods of being lackadaisical and sporadic and played a team-high 32 minutes against UMKC.
Seven-footer Garrett Stutz is another guy who looks like a completely different player from a season ago. A light appeared to come on for Stutz during the Shockers' 74-57 win over Iowa in the consolation game of the CBE Classic last month and the bulb still burns bright. Stutz had nine points and five rebounds against UMKC.
"Having a year behind you really does help,'' he said. "Day by day, we're being coached really well and jelling as a team. We're gaining confidence every day.''
You can see it with the Shockers. Every one of them. What's most intriguing, though, is this team's ability to gain even more confidence and play more consistently.
The defense is ahead of the offense. The Shockers take too many ill-advised shots and there are players who are still learning their roles. Marshall has the much-welcomed "problem" of trying to find enough minutes for players on easily the deepest team he's coached at Wichita State.
Going into Wednesday's game, 10 players were playing at least 10 minutes per game. Some are going to have to adjust to fewer minutes as games get tougher and stakes rise.
I had concerns about the Shockers' frontcourt going into the season. I don't now, based on what I've seen from Stutz and East Carolina transfer Gabe Blair, the team's best rebounder.
It was a good test for the Shockers to play as long as they did Wednesday without Hannah. Freshmen Demetric Williams got most of Hannah's minutes and turned the ball over once in 19 minutes.
There is a lot to like about the Shockers. But now this team really gets down to business. The cupcake portion of the schedule is finished.
