How Wichita State’s Darral Willis turned a weakness into three points

The comment drew laughter from those inside the Koch Arena interview room.

“I guess I’m doing something right,” Wichita State senior Darral Willis said after making his third three-pointer of the season in an 81-63 victory over the College of Charleston on Monday.

“I’m going to continue to get in the gym and get to where I can be like Conner (Frankamp).”

But shooting threes is no laughing matter for Willis.

Making the target Frankamp, who had a team-high 73 three-pointers on 44 percent accuracy last season, is a bit lofty, but Willis has proven in the first two games of the season he is now a weapon from beyond the arc. After not making a single three-pointer last season and only attempting one, Willis is 3 for 6 from distance this season.

As No. 6 Wichita State (2-0) prepares for California (2-1) in the opening round of the Maui Invitational on Monday, coach Gregg Marshall is confident Willis’ outside shooting is here to stay.

“That’s skill development,” Marshall said. “That’s getting in the gym and taking several hundred jump shots a day. Last year he had that tremendous 15-17-footer, but this year he’s going to take threes. I’m going to allow him to take threes because I know he can make them. It looks good coming out of his hand and I have confidence in him.”

Willis said Marshall challenged him to take 300 shots a night during the summer. Willis said he would often stay until he put up at least 500.

He would go to the gym by himself with ear buds. No teammate or rebounder, just himself, his music, and the shooting machine. There was no change in his release or follow-through. Willis focused on repetition from a couple feet further away from the goal.

“Over time, I just felt more comfortable shooting them,” Willis said. “I’ve always had that mid-range shot, so it was just a little further back. Now I’m bringing the defense out further, instead of them sagging off me to the mid-point line.”

WSU’s first two opponents — UMKC and Charleston — didn’t pick up on Willis’ new ability. Those defenses didn’t bother to follow Willis out to the three-point line and he made them pay. That is sure to change if Willis keeps making threes.

Marshall even ran Willis off a screen to open up a three-point shot for him against Charleston. It’s a new wrinkle he knows makes Wichita State more difficult to defend, but he also knows Willis has to keep making it an effective shot. That means not increasing the volume too much — no more than two or three a game.

“I don’t want him taking too many from out there because he’s really good around the basket,” Marshall said.

The averages say Willis is off to a good start with 16.5 points on 46 percent shooting and 8.5 rebounds per game. But according to advanced statistics, Willis is actually struggling in two areas — posting up and spotting up — that are basically half of his offense.

On the 18 possessions he has spotted or posted up in two games, Willis has eight points on 3-of-11 shooting paired with four turnovers for 0.44 points per possession. Last season Willis used post-ups and spot-ups for 47 percent of his offense and produced 0.89 points per possession in those scenarios.

Despite those struggles, adding the three-point shot to his arsenal has still made Willis one of the best offensive weapons on the team.

“You never want to stray away from what you do best, but you always have to work on your weakness,” WSU senior Zach Brown said about Willis. “His weakness was shooting the three, so he kept working at it and kept growing. There is always room for improvement in your game and he improved.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2017 at 6:06 PM with the headline "How Wichita State’s Darral Willis turned a weakness into three points."