Shock talk: Gregg Marshall urges his players to open their mouths

Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall is always the prominent voice in basketball practices. He would like others to emerge.

Somebody to tell a teammate to hustle through fatigue. Somebody to call out defensive switches. Somebody to provide the kind of strong voice and presence that guard Fred VanVleet, assisted by fellow seniors Ron Baker, Evan Wessel and Anton Grady, provided last season.

“We lost our voice with Ron and Fred leaving,” junior Rashard Kelly said Thursday at WSU’s media day. “Some of us veterans are trying to fill that role. We’ve got to make that a consistent aspect of our game, being a vocal leader on and off the court.”

Replacing players of that level is tricky. VanVleet could say what needed to be said because his talent, personality and resume gave him that license. It’s tougher for less-accomplished, or less confident, players to take command of the locker room or court. The Shockers don’t have a scholarship senior. WSU and Bradley are the lone Missouri Valley Conference teams not returning a double-figure scorer.

Juniors such as Kelly, Zach Brown and Shaq Morris are moving into larger roles and need leadership themselves. Marshall likes how his returners lead by example. The next task is getting them to share.

“None of these guys have ever been in that role here, so they’ve got to figure out when and how,” Marshall said. “It’s a pretty quiet group. They communicate better with their thumbs than their lips. We’re working on that.”

Morris tried to learn from VanVleet and Baker and said he occasionally communicates on Snapchat to check in with them.

“Even though they’re not here, they’re still helping me out,” Morris said. “When they look to me for leadership, I kind of look back in the past and think, ‘How would Fred and Ron deal with this type of thing?’ Coach will remind me, sometimes, that ‘I never have Ron and Fred do this. You’ve got to be an everyday guy.’ ”

Marshall said practices are improving over the past week or so. Senior J.R. Simon, a walk-on who has played in 64 games the past three seasons, sees the same progress. Kelly and Brown are the most willing to speak up and Simon is willing to his use his experience and voice to pitch in.

“That’s been the biggest problem coming in and the biggest question is who’s going to be that guy to step up to be the vocal leader and the example,” Simon said. “The past 10 days, practices have been a lot better and guys are starting to really learn the system, so practices are flowing a lot better. Now it’s that next step we really need to take is, ‘Who’s going to be those two or three guys to really speak up — just because it’s not always nice to be a leader, you’ve got to be that example and be accountable.”

Marshall described practices as two steps forward and one step back. Nowhere is communication more important than on defense.

“The effort is always there,” he said. “It’s in terms of playing the game the right way. Defending as a unit. Finishing the possession with a checkout and a rebound. Getting in the right defense. We’re throwing a lot at them.”

The masked freshman — Shamet received his hard plastic mask on Thursday morning. He will wear it into early November to protect his nose, broken in a practice earlier this month.

“It will be interesting; it’s a little bit thicker than I was expecting,” he said.

The mask is fitted to his facial features.

“They scanned my face and all that,” he said. “Then they made a mold and I got this out of it. It makes a 3-D model on the computer and they create this out of it.”

Reaves, Keyser in and out — WSU’s injury list is down to freshmen Austin Reeves and C.J. Keyser, neither of whom Marshall sees as totally past their summer issues.

“They’re intermittently back in practice, then they’ll have a setback,” Marshall said. “So that’s hurt their progress, but at least Austin’s out there for the most part now.”

Reaves considers himself in good shape after his rehab from should surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder in late March. Keyser sat out the summer to recover from stress injuries in his right foot. Now his left foot is holding him back with a a split longitudinal tear in his posterior tibialis, bone marrow edema and cysts.

“I feel fine,” Reaves said. “No pain in my shoulder, nothing. I do everything in practice.”

McDuffie mending nicely — Sophomore Markis McDuffie underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee in late August. The only time Marshall notices is when he is asked.

“Markis looks pretty good — I wouldn’t be able to tell he had the meniscus surgery,” Marshall said. “He says it’s sore time to time after he works out and he has to ice it. I think that’s just going to be the way it is.”

McDuffie, last season’s MVC Freshman of the Year, does look different.

“He’s stronger,” Marshall said. “He has gained some weight. I think he’s over 210 now. That gives us some flexibility with him, at the three (small forward) and the four (power forward).”

McDuffie, who averaged 7.4 points and 3.3 rebounds last season, is listed at 6-foot-8, 212 pounds.

Worth noting — Kelly has played in 70 games at WSU, most of any Shocker. A year ago, VanVleet led WSU with 110 games, with Baker (89), Evan Wessel (88) and Anton Grady (104 at Cleveland State) also on the roster. … Marshall’s radio shows begin at 6 p.m. Oct. 31 on KNSS, 1330-AM from A.J.’s Sports Grill at The Alley at 13th and Greenwich. … WSU’s Tipoff Luncheon is at noon Nov. 3 in the Koch Arena practice gym. Tickets are $25.

This story was originally published October 13, 2016 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Shock talk: Gregg Marshall urges his players to open their mouths."