All-City League backcourt set for Wichita State exhibition opener

Samajae Haynes-Jones has pretty good memories from the last time he played a game at Koch Arena, when he led the East Blue Aces to a Class 6A championship as a senior in 2015.

He’s added another championship since then — the NJCAA title at Hutchinson Community College in March — and Haynes-Jones is eager to chase another one this season with Wichita State. And for at least one game, Saturday’s 5 p.m. exhibition game against Division II Henderson State, Haynes-Jones will do it as a starter.

In a press conference earlier in the week, coach Gregg Marshall said that Haynes-Jones will join returning starter Conner Frankamp in Saturday’s lineup to form an all-City League backcourt. Frankamp, a North graduate, is the City League’s all-time leading scorer.

“We’ve got an all-Wichita backcourt,” Marshall said. “It should be good.”

Although Frankamp (a 2013 North graduate) and Haynes-Jones (a 2015 East graduate) didn’t see a lot of each other in the City League, they said there is a connection due to their Wichita roots.

“I think it’s awesome having two kids who have had some good success in the Wichita area with Samajae coming in and with me already being here,” Frankamp said. “It’s really cool for Wichita. Hopefully in the future that can happen again.”

While Frankamp is a known commodity for his reliable ball-handling and outside shooting, how Haynes-Jones’ game transfers from junior college to Wichita State is still unknown. He is an explosive athlete with quickness and a killer instinct on offense that Marshall will try to harness this season.

“I feel like I can do it at all levels,” Haynes-Jones said. “What I bring to the table, I don’t shy away from it.”

He is also an extremely emotional player who sometimes shows his frustrations, a trait that Marshall spent the summer trying to stamp out.

“He gets a little too high-strung, a little upset with himself at times,” Marshall said. “I don’t like that negative emotion. We’re working on that and he’s getting better at that. He’s very coachable. If you can get him to stop and look you in the eye. He’s just wound up real tight, but he’s a tremendous player.

“I like having to tone him down a little bit, as opposed to rev him up.”

Haynes-Jones says he’s emotional on the court because he’s so passionate about the game. He hates losing, but he also recognizes he needs to improve his body language to stay on the court.

“If I play hard and not get down on myself, then I feel like I’ll be very capable,” Haynes-Jones said. “(Marshall) yells at me when I do that, so I just try to go hard through the whole practice. I’m still learning how to control my emotions.”

Henderson State is coming off a 16-13 season and is picked to finish sixth in the Great American Conference. They allowed nearly 80 points per game last season in Division II.

The combination of Haynes-Jones (6-0) and Frankamp (6-1) is undersized, but Haynes-Jones says that he has added 20 pounds to his frame this summer and is ready to defend bigger players when necessary.

He’ll have his first chance to prove it Saturday.

“I haven’t gotten nervous in a long time,” Haynes-Jones said about his first start. “I just got to go out there and compete the way I’m supposed to compete and do what I’m supposed to do.”

Marshall takeaways

On the exhibition:

“I talked to (Henderson State coach Jimmy Elgas) this past summer at an AAU event somewhere, maybe the Dallas area. He just talked about his team and said he would love the opportunity to come and play an exhibition game. I always liked him and respected the job he did when he was at Evansville. So that’s how that happened.”

On what he’s looking for Saturday:

“It’s not like a regular game where you’re going to play your best players exclusively. In this particular type of game, I’m going to play everybody that we can within reason and get them experience, playing time in front of the crowd with referees and the bright lights and the whole deal. In the end, you want to win the game. But throughout the course of the game, you’re trying to develop your team for the future.”

On what happens if the Shockers lose:

“It would be a great touching tool for the next day in practice. The video would be brutal.”

This story was originally published November 3, 2017 at 3:37 PM with the headline "All-City League backcourt set for Wichita State exhibition opener."