Conner Frankamp is avoiding turnovers better than anyone in college basketball

In-laws have come over to cut up the turkey, Christmas presents have been unwrapped, and champagne has been popped to celebrate a new year.

All of these things have occurred since the last time Wichita State senior Conner Frankamp has had more than one turnover in a game. To be exact, it will be 56 days, eight weeks, and 12 games ago when No. 7 Wichita State (15-2, 5-0 American) play SMU (12-6, 2-3) at Koch Arena on Wednesday.

Here are the stats: Frankamp has one turnover in his last 10 games (a total of 246 minutes) and just five total (0.3 average) this season. Frankamp possessions end in turnovers 4.1 percent of the time, the lowest mark for any player in college basketball playing at least 16 minutes per game, according to the Ken Pomeroy website.

“He’s very cautious with the ball,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “He does a good job of protecting it. He’s a very good passer, he just doesn’t put a lot of pressure on the defense and create that much. I actually wish he would do that a little more.”

While Frankamp hardly ever commits a turnover, his 38 assists this season ranks third on the team behind Landry Shamet (85) and Rashard Kelly (40). Because his assist average (2.5) is below the 3.0 per game requirement, Frankamp is excluded from the national assist-to-turnover ratio leaderboard — his current 7.6 assist-to-turnover ratio would rank No. 1 in the country.

“It’s something I am proud of because I know how important that is to coach Marshall not turning the ball over,” Frankamp said. “That’s one thing that coach harps on every single day in practice. So it really is something I try to focus on before the game is making sure I value every possession.”

But should Frankamp be more aggressive in trying to create for others? Is taking a chance more often worth the risk of potentially more turnovers?

Shamet is an example of a player who is taking more chances this season. He has seen his assist average increase to 5.0 per game this season with the trade-off being his turnovers have increased from 1.1 per game to 1.9. As a secondary ballhandler to Shamet, Frankamp doesn’t need to create as much and adds value with his understanding of WSU’s offense and how it works.

“If you know the game and just watch what he does on the court, you know he’s just a really smart player,” WSU sophomore guard Austin Reaves said. “He anticipates things really well and he just has a great feel for the game.”

Although not many of his passes are being credited as assists, teammates say Frankamp’s passing is a reason why WSU’s offense is scoring a Marshall Era-best 1.15 points per possession and ranks 12th in the country in offensive efficiency.

The advanced metrics also support Frankamp’s passes still being extremely valuable. Per Synergy, WSU is scoring at 1.41 points per possession and shooting 59 percent when Frankamp passes out of pick-and-roll plays. So Frankamp not always is registering the assist, but his initial pass is generating offense at a rate that ranks in the 99th percentile in college basketball.

Defenders must tag Frankamp on the perimeter due to his shooting reputation and the Wichita native takes advantage of over-eager perimeter defenders with dribble penetration. Once Frankamp dribbles inside the arc, he is an expert at diagnosing the defense and identifying ways to make it collapse that offer his teammates openings.

“A lot of Conner’s passes do lead to baskets, it’s just he’s not getting the assist pass,” Shamet said. “A lot of time I’m getting a great pass from him and then throwing it to the open guy, so I get the assist. But a lot of that comes from him. He could have a lot more assists if we were a little bit more selfish and took that first shot, but we have guys that want to make the extra pass and he’s a big part of that.”

There were stretches in the non-conference slate where WSU was struggling on defense, partly due to live-ball turnovers that were springing fast breaks the other way for opponents. When a turnover occurs, it puts more pressure on defenses to not only sprint back but also communicate coverages.

Frankamp isn’t perfect, but he may be the closest thing to it in college basketball when it comes to not putting his team in a bad spot.

That kind of security will be valuable on Wednesday against an SMU defense that forces opponents to commit turnovers on nearly 24 percent of possessions, a top-10 rate in the country.

“I know that making turnovers anywhere on the court is going to hurt my team,” Frankamp said. “So I just try to be strong with the ball and make the sure pass.”

This story was originally published January 16, 2018 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Conner Frankamp is avoiding turnovers better than anyone in college basketball."