WSU takeaways: Marshall pleased with Shockers’ defense in rout of Rice: ‘They felt us’

Wichita State picked up its first win at Koch Arena since February on Sunday in its 90-61 victory over Rice to improve to 3-3.

Freshman Erik Stevenson scored a career-high 21 points, while WSU’s defense forced 10 straight turnovers early in the game to pick up its first blowout win of the season.

Here are five takeaways WSU beat writer Taylor Eldridge had from Sunday’s game:

1. ‘They felt us’

Before Sunday, coach Gregg Marshall had lamented the fact that his team had yet to impose its will on an opponent through five games this season.

That changed in the game’s first seven minutes when WSU’s defense forced Rice into 10 straight turnovers and the Shockers got out to a 16-2 lead. The Owls went more than five minutes in between shot attempts and even that shot was volleyball spiked into the ground by WSU’s Morris Udeze for essentially an 11th straight turnover.

“Early in the game, they felt us,” Marshall said. “Our staff keeps talking about we’re not making people feel us. We did foul quite a bit trying to blow up the handoffs. We’re still a little too handsy, but I felt like for the first time we were able to dictate to another team defensively how the game was going to go.”

Rice coach Scott Pera admitted his team did itself no favors with its ball handling early, but said that was a result of the force being applied to them by the Shockers.

WSU’s pressure defense not only forced Rice into 18 turnovers, but also into Rice’s worst-shooting game of the season. The Owls entered making 9.5 threes per game on 37-percent accuracy, but left Koch Arena having made just 4 of 26 three-pointers (15.4 percent).

“They sped us up and got us playing at a speed we didn’t want to play at with the ball,” Pera said. “We couldn’t handle their pressure very well and they turned us over. That’s what good teams do to you on their home floors.”

2. ‘Quicker, faster, more energetic’

It took WSU less than 14 minutes to establish a 26-point lead against Rice.

While Rice was the first overmatched opponent the Shockers have played this season, they had yet to deliver a knockout blow like that in a first half.

“The first five games it was dog fight after dog fight,” WSU freshman Erik Stevenson said. “We always got hit in the mouth first. It was good to impose our will on somebody in the first half.”

“Our energy and intensity were really, really high,” his teammate Dexter Dennis added. “We had one bad day of practice, but then the other three were good. I felt like that carried over and we just focused on defense.”

During a timeout late in the first half, senior Markis McDuffie told the team it should be their goal to hold Rice to under 20 points in the first half. While that didn’t work out (Rice had 24 at halftime), it was that kind of mindset that Marshall has been waiting to see that aggressive mindset early in a game.

“I don’t know what it is, but there seems to be times where we’re a little slow to react or slow to the ball or slow to rotate or slow to secure a rebound,” Marshall said. “That’s just my charge. Maybe it’s confusion or youth or inexperience, but hopefully we’re better athletes than that. That’s my biggest bugaboo with this team right now. I’ve got to get them to play quicker, faster, more energetic.”

3. ‘It’s a good shooter’s spot’

Stevenson is quickly making himself at home around the perimeter at Koch Arena.

After making 4 of 6 three-pointers in the season-opener against Louisiana Tech, Stevenson followed that up with four more threes on Sunday to highlight his career-high 21-point performance.

“They’re soft, you get some bounces off of them,” Stevenson said of the Koch Arena rims. “We shoot on them basically every day, so you know the depth perception in the gym and all of that. It’s a good shooter’s spot.”

Marshall expects better accuracy out of Stevenson, who had struggled away from home in WSU’s last four games and made just 15 percent (3 of 20) of his three-pointers.

“He is a good shooter, but maybe we win a few of those games in (Charleston) if he makes a few more,” Marshall said. “He’s shooting it great at home, but I do remember him going (0 for 5 against Alabama) and (2 for 14 against Davidson) in games that came down to one possession. He’s just got to keep knocking them down.”

4. The plus-minus game

A benefit of WSU’s sizable lead was Marshall being able to extend his bench minutes.

For players like Rod Brown, Asbjorn Midtgaard, Chance Moore and Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler, all of whom trying to break into Marshall’s rotation, it was an important game.

Marshall likes using a player’s plus-minus to see if good or bad things are happening while that player is on the court. Brown was plus-three in 13 minutes, Midtgaard was plus-two in seven minutes, Moore was minus-six in nine minutes and Poor Bear-Chandler was minus-six in two minutes.

“We had some guys when they were in the game, the score went the wrong way,” Marshall said. “That’s the key. Whoever you’re in there with, I don’t care who the other four you’re in there with, the score needs to go in the right direction.”

That metric isn’t just important for those players, but also the ones who are fighting for minutes on the court in crunch time.

On Sunday, Dennis (plus-34), McDuffie (plus-26) and Stevenson (plus-24) were WSU’s three best performers in the category.

“I really don’t care about who starts, I’m more interested in who’s finishing,” Marshall said. “Who’s in the guts of the game because they’re playing well.

“I’m evaluating every single possession, not just to finish a game against Rice, but to decide who’s going to play (Saturday) against Baylor and who can play against Cincinnati and UConn.”

5. ‘It’s not charity’

Marshall’s up-and-down experience with one of the youngest teams in the country has continued to bring tiny surprises his way.

Sometimes they are good, but other times they confound him.

Marshall has certainly been confounded by some of WSU’s newcomers, who he thinks the gravity of the situation hasn’t fully settled in yet.

“Some of them don’t really understand how important this is, maybe how important I think this is or how important Shocker Nation thinks it is,” Marshall said. “Some of them are just out there. They’re having a great time. They’re so excited to be playing in front of this many people. Some of them don’t even care if they’re playing, they just like to sit there and absorb the atmosphere.

“We’ve got to get them to a point where they’re not only wanting to really beat the other team, but they want to play. They’re excited about getting their opportunity and when they get that, they want to play well so they can play some more.”

In competitive games this season, Marshall has cut his rotation to eight players. He wants that decision to be a little harder than it has been to this point in the season.

“It’s not charity,” Marshall said. “I’m not subbing guys in for charitable reasons. I’ll do all my charity to non-profits that need it, not subbing basketball guys into a game.”

This story was originally published November 25, 2018 at 6:06 PM.