Wichita State knows it has to work on its foul mood

Paul Miller, 10 years later, remembers the fouls, the frustration, the sitting.

He fouled out against Florida State in the 2004 NIT. He fouled out of the season-changing 2006 win over Creighton at Koch Arena.

“I felt like I watched most of that (NIT) game from the bench,” he said.

Fouls and big men.

They seem to be as much a part of college basketball as three-pointers and bracket projections. This season, the Shockers foul too much, at all positions, and coach Gregg Marshall knows some of them are silly fouls. He is also unsure how many are related to an emphasis on cleaning up physical defense by officials.

Miller, who avoided foul trouble well enough to earn Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year honors in 2006, understands what the Shockers, especially centers Shaq Morris and Anton Grady, are enduring.

“The referee sees big guy-small guy and a lot of times they’re going to give the benefit of the doubt to the smaller player,” Miller said. “Part of it is understanding the times when you can make contact and the times when the refs are watching a little more closely and you can’t get away with it.”

No. 25 WSU (18-6, 12-1 MVC) plays Northern Iowa (15-11, 7-6) on Saturday at Koch Arena and its foul tendencies could pose a problem. The Panthers are on a five-game win streak and center Bennett Koch is part of the reason. He scored 14 points in a January meeting, making 8 of 9 foul shots and is coming off a 19-point performance in which made all five against Missouri State.

The Shockers don’t give up much easily to scorers. Getting to the foul line is one way to even the playing field.

For the season, opponents attempted 27 more free throws and outscored the Shockers by 29 points. Opponents attempt free throws against the Shockers at a clip of 50.1 percent of every 100 possessions, according to kenpom.com’s statistics. Four teams — Morehead State, North Carolina-Wilmington, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and West Virginia — allow more. In the MVC, Northern Iowa allows the fewest (24.4) and Bradley ranks one spot ahead of WSU (50.9).

Last season’s Shockers outscored opponents by 62 points at the line and attempted 81 more free throws. The 2011 team is last to allow more attempts than it took, by three. The 2009 Shockers were outscored (56 points) after allowing 69 more attempts.

WSU does so many other things well that losing points at the line isn’t fatal most of the time. Illinois State outscored the Shockers 22-9 at the line a week ago and won 58-53.

It is the one part of WSU’s defense that isn’t dominant. The Shockers rank sixth nationally in kenpom.com’s defensive efficiency statistic by allowing 90.8 points per 100 possessions. In MVC games, the Shockers allowed 221 baskets, while forcing 203 turnovers, the best ratio in the nation in conference play.

The Shockers defend aggressively, throwing at least nine or 10 motivated and talented defenders at scorers. They are physical and want to make every pass, dribble and shot difficult. Finding the sweet spot between blanketing the opposition and avoiding whistles is a challenge, especially in a season when officials are charged with restoring freedom of movement.

“We try to do a great job defending, and we are,” Marshall said. “What part of this is the new rules? I don’t know.”

Marshall does know which fouls are the most harmful. He can live with his big men trying to block shots or guards fighting through a screen. He doesn’t need his big men fouling near the three-point line or guards reaching and grabbing.

“What I’ve tried to do with my guys is show them the silly ones, the careless ones,” Marshall said. “Those are the ones you’ve got to eliminate. If you’re engaged and ready and alert and in a stance and ahead of the play instead of behind the play, it won’t happen.”

Miller learned those lessons over his career. Fouls are best avoided early in plays by beating opponents to preferred positions and by using the lower body to push people, instead of hands.

“As you get older, you start using positioning and using your head,” he said. “Refs are real quick to call fouls when you’re out of position.”

Sophomore Shaq Morris is one of those big men who often sees fouls limit his playing time and effectiveness. He’s finished nine of the past 11 games with three or more fouls. Grady finished the past five games with four fouls.

“We’ve got to find the medium,” Morris said. “Fouling is a problem and we’ve got to take care of that.”

At Drake, Morris picked up one of his three fouls near the three-point line. He must avoid those, which are easy for officials to see and don’t accomplish much, to save his fouls for the bumping and wrestling that goes on closer to the basket between large people.

“I can easily fix that,” he said. “In the paint, it’s hard.”

The Shockers can survive foul trouble more comfortably than most teams because of their depth and strong defense. Regardless of the cause, it is an issue Marshall wants to fix before March.

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 6:45 PM with the headline "Wichita State knows it has to work on its foul mood."