Five observations (with videos) from watching the film on WSU’s exhibition victory
The Wichita State men’s basketball team picked up a 92-57 exhibition victory over Northeastern State at Koch Arena on Tuesday night. In case you missed it, here’s my game story with quotes from coach Gregg Marshall and the players.
After rewatching the game film, here are five observations I had from the Shockers’ debut performance in the 2019-20 season:
1. Grant Sherfield and Tyson Etienne have already raised WSU’s ceiling
The one thing that WSU lacked last season was spot-up shooting, especially from point guards.
That problem might be a thing of the past, as the freshmen tandem of Grant Sherfield and Tyson Etienne made a combined 7 of 14 three-pointers on a night when the rest of WSU’s players combined for 3 of 17 beyond the arc.
That was a welcome change for Marshall, who noted that WSU’s pair of point guards from last season (Jamarius Burton and Ricky Torres) made just 14 three-pointers the entire season and at a 17% clip.
WSU scraped by with an average offense last season, ranking in the bottom 50 in the country in three-point shooting and effective field goal percentage. If Sherfield and Etienne can continue knocking down shots, that almost ensures a better WSU offense, which in turn raises the ceiling of a team that considers defense and rebounding its calling cards.
“It’s going to open up the middle,” Marshall said of the benefits of the outside shooting. “It opens up things for Asbjorn (Midtgaard), it opens up for Trey Wade, it opens up for DeAntoni Gordon or Jaime Echenique or Morris Udeze when they come back. That’s the way the game is played now. You either shoot the three or dump it inside, but you’ve got to space the floor.”
Sherfield in particular was a revelation, earning the starting spot at point guard and responding with a game-high 18 points on 7 of 12 shooting to go along with three assists and no turnovers.
The 6-foot-2 freshman excelled running WSU’s ball-screen offense, displaying a knack for knowing when to use a hesitation dribble to freeze the defense. And he also showed he could score in various ways from a ball screen, whether that be attacking until he finished at the rim, pulling up for a mid-range jumper or dribbling around the hedge and then lofting an assist to the rolling big man over the top of the defense.
“Coach just told me to go out there and be calm and just try to control the speed of the game and control your team,” Sherfield said. “Hats off to Coach for calming me down and getting me ready.”
It would be a mistake to think Sherfield only adds to the offensive end to the Shockers. He also showed signs of being a dogged on-ball defender. Granted, it was against lesser competition, but Sherfield showed a willingness to get down in a stance and move his feet to stay in front of his man.
Marshall has said before that Sherfield leads the team in deflections during practice. He came up with a steal on WSU’s first defensive possession, then earned a deflection after blowing up a dribble hand-off to his man and aggressively pursuing him past the three-point line before tipping the cross-court pass.
“He’s moving his feet with active hands,” Marshall said. “He’s done the best job of anyone on our team in the fall of getting deflections in practice when he’s guarding the ball. I guess his arms are deceptively long and he’s good at anticipating.”
Sherfield is sure to have the mental lapses typical of a freshman when he’s not engaged off the ball. But he showed on Tuesday the ability to stave off attacks from the top of the key, which is an invaluable trait for team defense. Combined with his offensive punch, Sherfield could end up being a crucial piece for the Shockers in his first season.
2. What to do with the tantalizing potential of Josaphat Bilau?
How many post players in the last 13 years at WSU under Marshall have been able to do all four of these things?
1. Bilau (6 foot 10, 232 pounds) is the ideal athlete for Marshall’s defensive system of hedging ball screens. In this clip, Bilau shows off explosive athleticism for his size to slide up and beat the ball handler to the spot. He then uses his 7-foot-3 wingspan to knock the ball loose for what becomes an eventual steal.
2. Bilau confidently spots up for a three and swishes it from the right wing when left alone.
3. Bilau showed off his passing ability and vision on the third clip. WSU runs a set to get him a post touch on the left block, but Bilau keeps his eyes up and rockets a pass cross-court right in the shooting pocket of Tyson Etienne, who drills the three.
4. Bilau keeps his eyes on the attacking ball handler. Instead of leaving his feet and chasing the block, Bilau slides over, puts his hands straight up in the air and stands his ground. Bilau is barreled over and the referees award him with a charge call.
It’s clear Bilau is far from a finished product, but it’s also clear the 19-year-old French freshman has immense talent. It’s made for a difficult decision for Marshall, who will mull whether to redshirt Bilau this week.
“He’s not healthy right now, so that’s his biggest deal,” said Marshall, who did not specify the injury. “But he’s going to be a really good player. You saw some glimpses. He can really hedge a ball screen. He can rebound. He knocked down a three. He made a beautiful pass out of the post to Tyson Etienne for a three.
“He’s a beautiful kid. I’m very excited about him, I just don’t know what we’re going to do with him. Until he gets healthy, he’s not going to play a whole lot when Jaime (Echenique) and Mo (Udeze) come back. Then you’ve got DeAntoni Gordon playing well too. Both of those guys are two pretty good, young forwards.”
It’s difficult to see Bilau’s pathway to minutes this season. At center, WSU uses a three-man rotation among Echenique, Midtgaard and Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler. At power forward, Trey Wade is looking capable of playing major minutes right away for the Shockers.
After producing 18 points and 11 rebounds in 17 minutes against Nebraska over the weekend, Wade followed that up with 13 points and nine rebounds (should have been 11) in 21 minutes on Tuesday. How advanced and diverse (he’s scoring on jumpers, post-ups and drives) his offensive game has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the fall for WSU.
And then Gordon, WSU’s other freshman four, appears ahead of Bilau on the depth chart for backup minutes at power forward. Gordon is an explosive athlete, as he showed on the steal and dunk he had on Tuesday, and also showed a knack for rebounding. He had six points (3 of 3 shooting), four rebounds and two steals in 18 minutes.
3. WSU improved its effort in the second half
If Marshall uses a timeout in the first half, it’s likely because he is upset with his team’s defensive effort. Sure enough, that was the case Tuesday when WSU allowed a rebound to slip away and bounce to Northeastern State for an easy basket that trimmed WSU’s lead to 24-20 with 8:00 remaining in the first half.
Throw in the fact that WSU allowed Northeastern State to grab eight offensive rebounds, many because of veterans losing their man, and it was no surprise Marshall immediately called timeout and ripped his team. Afterward, he gave a detailed description for what he’s looking for in rebounding.
“What I didn’t like was more than a handful of times we had two hands on the basketball and didn’t secure it,” Marshall said. “So that’s a bugaboo and something we’ve got to get better at. I’ve told the team that. I’ve seen it all fall.
“College basketball is a physical game. You get a rebound, more than likely going to have some body contact. It’s not like the other team is going to let you secure the rebound. You have to ferociously grab it and squeeze and put your indentation of your hands into the basketball. Otherwise, there’s a chance that it will be knocked out. You’re going to get an arm hit or a body checked when you’re coming out of the air.”
The effort changed after halftime.
After allowing eight offensive rebounds and boarding out at a 75% rate on the defensive end in the first half, WSU allowed just two offensive rebounds and boarded out at a 86% rate on the defensive end before subbing in the walk-ons in the second half.
The Shockers also started to show effort to win the 50-50 balls they were losing in the first half, most notably when Etienne dove head-first to wrap up a loose ball.
“We know what our goals are and we know there’s a certain level we need to play at,” Etienne said. “We can’t let 50-50 balls go to the other team. We can’t let offensive rebounds go to the other team. We’ve got to limit their second-chance points to as few as possible. We needed to buckle down and I thought we did that the second half.”
4. WSU still working on a familiar defensive problem
It hasn’t been a secret what the vulnerability is against WSU’s hedging ball-screen defense in recent seasons.
Opponents have often exploited the Shockers by collapsing their defense with a roller, then kicking out to the perimeter to a big man who can shoot. Northeastern State found success doing this multiple times on Tuesday, which resulted in several open three-pointers for its big men.
On all three of those occasions, Northeastern State picked on WSU’s power forward on the play — all three times that player was a first-year player in the program. The Shockers should be better equipped to handle this problem with their upgraded length and athleticism, but it will take time for the newer players to adjust to Marshall’s style.
Northeastern State couldn’t make WSU pay on Tuesday, but this game-within-the-game is something to monitor once the regular season begins.
That’s not to say WSU’s defense isn’t looking just as stingy as it was last March. The Shockers held Northeastern State to 19 points on 27 possessions in the second half, including a pair of forced 10-second violation calls, before the walk-ons entered.
And if anyone forgot how much of a terror Dexter Dennis can be as an on-ball defender, he provided a reminder on Tuesday when he was locked in.
5. The returners show off their summer work
WSU’s three sophomore guards — Jamarius Burton, Erik Stevenson and Dexter Dennis — all had flaws in their game that they spent this summer improving. All three showed off those improvements on Tuesday.
For Burton, it was showing off a smoother, more confident release on his jumper. He relocated to the left wing after an Asbjorn Midtgaard offensive rebound, took the kick-out and didn’t hesitate to fire a three-pointer over the close-out. After shooting 26% on three-pointers last season, Burton showed encouraging signs on Tuesday that his outside shot has improved.
For Stevenson, it was translating his new, transformed body into production on the court. Stevenson dropped 10 pounds and cut up his body this summer, adding to his vertical and becoming a more explosive athlete. That showed on a fast break in the first half when Stevenson jumped, absorbed the contact in the air and finished at the rim for a three-point play.
For Dennis, it was becoming more than just a spot-up shooter in the halfcourt offense. He spent all summer working on improving his dribbling and he showed off his new skill in the second half, pump-faking past a close-out and then attacking the basket and using his vertical to soar above the defender for the basket and the score.
This story was originally published October 30, 2019 at 7:05 AM.
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