WSU notes: Zach Brown takes a more aggressive approach to scoring

When he started playing basketball, coaches told Zach Brown to score inside first and build up to longer shots.

Brown wants to return to those instructions as he enters his junior season at Wichita State. He got a good start on diversifying his offense during an August trip to Canada for four exhibition games. He made 23 of 27 foul shots, a sign he drove to the basket more often and produced points.

Brown, a 6-foot-6 junior forward, needs to be more than a jump-shooter and Canada continued that work.

“Inside game first, inside game first,” he said. “That will be a big thing that I will be focused on. I took that to heart and I was more aggressive.”

The Shockers start their full practices on Sunday and one of the issues is scoring.

Last season’s team ranked fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 42.9 shooting percentage and seventh in three-point accuracy at 32.4. Several Shockers must score more efficiently for those numbers to improve and Brown knows he needs to join that list. Last season, he averaged 6.7 points, making 45.6 percent of his shots and 30.6 percent of his threes.

Coaches want him to use his height and athletic ability to get in the lane and score around the rim. Despite some turnover problems early in the trip to Canada, Brown’s offense showed progress. He scored 17 points and 14 points in the two middle games of the tour.

“He’s gifted with a lot of skills, athletic skills,” teammate Rashard Kelly said. “I’ve seen his confidence go, it went crazy, from the end of last year to this summer. He understands he’s got to use his athletic ability to the best of his power.”

Brown hears the instruction “straight-line drive, straight-line drive” from assistant coach Greg Heiar on a loop. Heiar doesn’t want to see Brown dribbling a lot — it’s two or three bounces to get to the lane or pass the ball and keep the offense moving.

“It’s the simplest way to get to the rim,” Brown said. “He says I can get a whole lot of those because you’ve got a quick first step and you can get past a lot of people.”

In his younger days, Brown had the height, but lacked bulk. He started making jumpers and kept making them, which slowed the growth of his inside scoring skills.

“Until you get to the point where you can just bully people, you’ve got to learn how to shoot,” he said. “Once I taught myself how to shoot, it was about mainly getting shots up more than getting into the lane.”

Honors from Brazil — WSU will recognize Olympic boxer Nico Hernandez and Paralympians Liz Willis, Deja Young and Nick Taylor at 5 p.m. Monday at Koch Arena.

Young, a Shockers sprinter, won gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter sprints.

At 5:30, a ceremony will be held outside the arena at the site of WSU’s Olympic trees.

Taylor, a volunteer coach for WSU’s men’s tennis tean, is unable to attend. He will be recognized at a later event.

New fall wardrobe — WSU will sell used athletic gear at its athletic department garage sale on Oct. 15 at the Koch Arena practice gym.

Don’t expect to buy No. 23 or No. 31 from a recent men’s basketball team. However, if you want a James Anacreon or Jake White jersey (no guarantees), this might be the event for you.

Jerseys, shorts, practice gear and shoes from basketball, baseball and other sports are available from 8 a.m.-noon. Also for sale are golf carts and cheer and dance uniforms.

Proceeds benefit each sport. Enter on the east side of the practice gym.

This story was originally published October 1, 2016 at 3:24 PM with the headline "WSU notes: Zach Brown takes a more aggressive approach to scoring."