Former WSU walk-on Kaelen Malone is example of perseverance, hard work paying off
Kaelen Malone returned to Koch Arena on the visitor’s side on Wednesday with a message he wanted to get across.
Malone, who had been a walk-on at Wichita State the last two seasons, transferred for his senior season, received a Division I scholarship a week before school started, then played 37 minutes against the Shockers and finished with 12 points, five rebounds and seven assists in WSU’s 84-63 victory.
This wasn’t about validation or proving himself to his former team. Malone hopes his story of hard work, perseverance and belief being rewarded can show others in his position that it is possible.
“For every kid that has ever bet on themselves, continue to do it because that’s what I did and it paid off,” Malone said. “This has been a dream and I want people to understand that even if you do have to walk on somewhere, you can still make the best of whatever situation you’re in.”
Malone’s decision to transfer came down to wanting the opportunity to play in his final collegiate season, a situation he has found at Oral Roberts. Malone is averaging 8.6 points and a team-high 4.4 assists in more than 28 minutes per game this season.
But returning to Koch Arena, Malone admitted that it brought back a lot of good memories from the last two seasons.
“It was so hard leaving that place, man,” Malone said. “This was not a very easy decision for me. The amount of love you receive there no matter how much you play, what the program is about, all of that was very hard to leave.
“For me to come back and be on the other side of it, it was bittersweet. But I think it adds to my experience being at Wichita State. It makes you appreciate all of the hard work that I put in here.”
Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall was proud of Malone after the game.
“I’m happy for Kaelen Malone,” Marshall said. “He went to a great spot where he’s able to be a lead guard and he’s playing really well. There were no Division I schools clamoring to get his name on the dotted line out of high school. He’s just a really, really nice young man and he deserves this experience in college basketball. He played well and I’m happy for him.”
Malone initially was planning on staying in Wichita and finishing out his career at the Division II level at Newman. But on the last week of summer break, Malone received a phone call from Oral Roberts head coach Paul Mills, who remembers seeing Malone play as a freshman at McLennan Community College in Texas and also knows Malone’s father, Mitch.
“They needed a point guard for a year and I needed a place for a year,” Malone said.
Malone was confident in his abilities as a basketball player. Although he only saw 61 minutes in 23 games over two years at WSU, Malone was practicing every day against the likes Landry Shamet, Conner Frankamp and current WSU guard Samajae Haynes-Jones.
In practice, if a guard was injured, Malone had earned Marshall’s confidence in stepping in and being the fill-in point guard. Malone showed the WSU coaches and teammates what he could in practice, which is why Malone felt like he didn’t have anything to prove in Wednesday’s game.
That message was reinforced by a text message from former teammate Brett Barney, another former WSU walk-on who is now on scholarship this season at Omaha.
“He texted me before the game when I was on the bus and told me I don’t have anything to prove to anybody else, only something to prove to myself,” Malone said. “It wasn’t about me showing them what I could do, i feel like that had been done a long time ago. The toughest challenge was just keeping it all in perspective and not letting the game become bigger than it was. (Barney’s text) really settled me in and I appreciated that.”
Malone received cheers when he checked in the game, then made Shocker fans a little nervous at the end of the first half when he cut through the heart of WSU’s defense for a lay-in that forced Marshall to call a 30-second timeout. A minute later, Malone drilled a deep three to cut WSU’s lead at halftime to 36-33.
Oral Roberts didn’t win, but Malone played well and he said getting one last chance to play in front of the crowd at Koch Arena meant everything to him.
“Man, if you’re a college basketball player and you get a chance to play at Wichita State, then you have to feel like you got to play at one of the best places in the country whether you’re a player for them or you’re an opponent,” Malone said. “It was great being back and when you’re inside that place, you can just feel the energy and feel the crowd.
“Being a part of it one last time, that is a game I’ll remember the rest of my life.”
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