What did Austin Reaves just do for the first time at WSU since Ron Baker?

Anytime your name gets tossed around with Ron Baker, that’s a pretty big deal around Wichita State.

After Austin Reaves scored a game-high 22 points in No. 22 WSU’s 85-65 win over Memphis at FedEx Forum on Tuesday, the sophomore from Newark, Ark. became the first Shocker since Baker did it in 2015 to score at least 20 points in three consecutive games.

Reaves averaged 6.2 points through the first 20 games and had never scored more than 15 in his career. He’s since dropped 23 on Tulsa, scored 20 at Temple, and 22 at Memphis. How does he explain this explosion?

“Just knowing that my teammates have trust in me to take the shot and make the shot is a big key,” Reaves said. “If you feel like no one trusts you, then you’re probably not going to make as many. But I feel like I’ve got everybody’s trust and they want me shooting the ball. I’ve got to give all of the credit to my teammates and my coaches.”

Newark is a two-hour drive to Memphis and Reaves estimates he had at least 150 in attendance. He said he saw people wearing his jersey number he didn’t know watched basketball or still followed his career. He was touched by the support, as his cheering section had plenty to make noise about as the 6-foot-5 guard continues his stellar play.

After hot starts fizzled out in the second half against Tulsa and Temple, Reaves pieced together a complete game on Tuesday. After leading the team with 10 points at halftime, he closed strong with 12 points and three three-pointers. He finished making 6 of 10 shots and is shooting 60 percent during his three-game hot streak.

“It’s just a blessing to play basketball with these guys,” Reaves said. “You’ve got to wake up every morning and count your blessings. Once you get on the court when you have that many people you know behind you, you have your team behind you, you have your coaches behind you, it’s just a great feeling.”

Marshall credited the team’s ball movement in recent games as one reason behind Reaves’ sudden surge. Of Reaves’ 21 made baskets during the stretch, 15 of them have come from an assist.

Against Memphis, WSU was doing a lot of things that pleased its head coach. The Shockers finished with 18 assists and eight turnovers.

“This particular case we were sharing it back and forth,” Marshall said. “They were shot faking and doing an escape dribble to the side to get good looks. There was some inside-out basketball being played. Our big guys were getting doubled sometimes when they got the ball and kicking it out to shooters. That’s what you’ve got to do.”

Landry Shamet back on track

Seeing the first shot swish through the net is always a good feeling for a shooter, especially one mired in a slump.

So WSU star Landry Shamet, mired in a 3-for-25 three-point shooting slump his last four games, had an inkling Tuesday might be his slump-busting game when his three found the bottom of the net a little more than a minute into the game.

Sure enough, Shamet made his first three three-pointers and ended with 20 points and five assists in the win.

"That’s always a big confidence boost," Shamet said. "I just felt good in general tonight. The energy we had as a team collectively was great."

But Shamet’s most important stretch came in the second half when Memphis rallied to trim WSU’s lead to 54-49 with 8:53 remaining. He scored three baskets doing the same action and receiving the assist from the same player.

Here’s how: Shamet would pass to Zach Brown on the wing, use a back screen by Shaquille Morris or Darral Willis, and break free by the basket for a lay-in. Each time Shamet successfully set his defender up to get tagged by the screen, then burst down the lane for the score.

Three times, three Brown passes, three Shamet scores. By the third, WSU’s lead was out to 63-51 in part of a larger 17-3 run that sealed the road win.

"I told Zach, hey, it’s there," Shamet said. "There’s a window there and it’s going to be open. Just throw it. Zach put it on the money at the right time and I got a great screen, so it was everybody carrying out their part."

But it is Shamet’s cutting that makes the play work.

"He’s a great cutter and he cuts to score," Marshall said. "He finishes his cut and that’s what you’ve got to do on that play. You’ve got to get it below the foul line and then you’ve got to look and be patient and stay with the cutter until he finishes his cut because the cutter usually comes open late in that play.

"We don’t look for him enough on that cut."

Memphis coach Tubby Smith was disappointed in the way his team defended the play.

"That’s what good teams do," Smith said, "they find something that they’re doing well and you’re doing poorly, like that shuffle cut that we worked on. We just didn’t get the help off of the back screen. We get screened two or three times and (Shamet) made reverse layups two or three times. Next thing you know it goes from a five-point game to a 12-point game. Now you’ve got real problems."

New pregame routine leads to better start

One hour before Tuesday’s tipoff, WSU’s players noticeably had more energy going through their pregame routine. Senior Zach Brown seemed to set the tone, bouncing around the court, slapping hands, and being a loud presence for WSU.

It rubbed off on the rest of the team, as Landry Shamet decided to start guarding his teammates in the usually-dull lay-up line. Instead of a free lane to the basket, teammates had to work to get past a locked-in Shamet in a stance. Brown and CJ Keyser each followed doing the same.

"I think that really helped our energy tonight and we needed that," Shamet said. "But honestly, it was coming. We saw it coming all week."

That energy carried over into the game, as WSU pounced on Memphis for a 12-2 lead in the first four minutes of the game.

"That was our focus this game was to play with that energy and play for each other and let it carry over from warm-ups to the game," senior Rashard Kelly said.

Brown doesn’t mind being the tone-setter for future games if results like Tuesday continue.

"We’ve got to stay locked in and bring the energy and focus," Brown said. "Those are all things that aren’t taught. It’s just something you’ve got to have. If you bring those key qualities, then that’s going ot make the game a lot easier."

The return of lockdown Zach Brown

Leg injuries have kept Brown from providing the lockdown perimeter defense WSU grew accustomed to last season.

Brown may have delivered his finest defensive effort of the season on Tuesday, as his primary assignment, Memphis star guard Jeremiah Martin, finished with 16 points on 2 of 10 shooting and five turnovers.

"We needed a really good start on Martin defensively and (Brown) has been our lockdown defender and he proved that tonight," WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. "I thought he was really good. (Martin) is a tremendous player, a very, very talented guard that can really slash and get to the basket. Zach was sticking to him very well."

Brown delivered his fifth double-digit scoring output of the season with 11 points, including a 6-for-6 performance from the foul line. He also added a career-high four steals to go along with four assists and three rebounds in 26 minutes in his return to the starting lineup after a three-game absence.

"Jeremiah was frustrated from the beginning," Memphis coach Tubby Smith said. "There were a couple of times I think he could have gotten a call a time or two here and there, but I know he was pretty frustrated by their physical play."

Frankamp’s shooting struggles continue

It was the third straight game with essentially no production from former starter Conner Frankamp, who was scoreless on 0-of-5 shooting in 13 minutes on Tuesday. During those three games, Frankamp has scored two points and missed 12 of 13 shots.

In the eight games since missed Jan. 7’s home game against South Florida with a migraine, Frankamp is averaging 6.6 points and shooting 33.3 percent from the field and 28.2 percent on three-pointers.

"Conner is just off a little bit, something is going on there," Marshall said. "But he’ll shoot himself out of it."

Frankamp was averaging 25.3 minutes and 11.8 points with shooting percentages of 42.9 percent from the field and 39.2 percent on three-pointers in the 13 games before the migraine.

Due to his shooting slump and the hot streak of Austin Reaves, Frankamp’s minutes have been limited recently. He is averaging 12.3 minutes in his last three games, as Reaves replaced him in the starting lineup for Tuesday’s game against Memphis.

"We basically have 10 starters, so I don’t worry about who starts," Marshall said. "But whoever plays well, it’s my responsibility to keep them in the game and give us the best chance to win."

Marshall gives Rashard Kelly a yellow

The days of Rashard Kelly pulling down a rebound and starting a fast break may be over.

In recent games, Kelly has taken a liking to dribbling up the court himself. In theory, it plays to WSU’s advantage because it takes point guard Landry Shamet off the ball and makes him a threat as a shooter settling on a wing as a target for Kelly.

The downside happened five minutes into the second half on Tuesday, as Kelly pulled down a rebound, took off, then tried to float a pass over a Memphis defender. The pass was deflected and Jeremiah Martin scored and drew the foul on Kelly for a three-point play.

"The light has gone to yellow for Rashard with dribbling the ball in transition now," Marshall said. "It’s almost red. We’ll have to discuss that. That play we had major numbers and he throws it right into their hands for an and-one. That was a huge play."

Random notes

Memphis ranked top-10 nationally in offensive rebounding percentage entering Tuesday, but exited the game with just five offensive rebounds in 30 opportunites. That is by far the lowest percentage (16.7) Memphis has been held to this season, while WSU cleaned up with 14 offensive rebounds to win the rebounding battle, 39-28, over Memphis...Memphis was a notoriously poor-shooting team from the outside entering and lived up to its reputation, finishing with a season-low two three-pointers on 15.4 percent shooting beyond the arc...Wichita State handled Memphis’ pressure better than anyone this season, as it committed eight turnovers in 72 possessions. Darral Willis registered his fifth double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench. Willis has a double-double in all five games he’s reached at least 10 rebounds. Willis is among the top per-minute rebounders in the nation, as he leads with the American by pulling down nearly 22 percent of available defensive rebounds and ranks sixth in offensive rebounds…Landry Shamet now has 15 games with five or more assists this season. His assist rate of 31.5 in conference play ranks him fourth in the AAC…It was just the third time in program history Wichita State won in Memphis and the first time since 1974…Since the 2010-11 season, WSU leads the nation in road wins (72) and winning percentage (81.8)…Memphis’ Tubby Smith is the fourth 500-win coach WSU has faced this season, joining Oklahoma’s Lon Kruger, Houston’s Kelvin Sampson, and Temple’s Fran Dunphy.

This story was originally published February 7, 2018 at 6:16 AM with the headline "What did Austin Reaves just do for the first time at WSU since Ron Baker?."