Five things to know from Wichita State’s dominant performance in Gardner-Webb win
The Wichita State men’s basketball team improved to 4-0 Tuesday with a 74-52 victory over Gardner-Webb at Koch Arena.
Here are five takeaways from the game:
1. Another great defensive performance
Wichita State has turned in four straight great defensive performances to start the season, as opponents are averaging just 57.8 points per game and 0.83 points per possession.
Gardner-Webb is the reigning Big South champion and hung with North Carolina for 35 minutes last Friday, which makes what WSU’s defense did on Tuesday perhaps its most impressive feat this season. The Shockers held Gardner-Webb to 35.6% shooting and the fewest points it has scored since Nov. 10, 2017. Take away the four possessions at the end of the game with WSU’s walk-ons on the floor and Gardner-Webb scored just 43 points in 59 possessions.
The most impressive part is that Gardner-Webb hit 52.4% of its three-pointers, yet still shot just 35.6% from the field. That’s because WSU’s defense had an unreal effort inside the arc, limiting Gardner-Webb to just five two-point field goals — its fewest since Nov. 16, 2007 — and 20.8% shooting inside the arc.
“I think our length and size bothered them,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “I don’t know whether it was fatigue having to play against North Carolina a couple of days ago, then coming out here and having to deal with Mo Udeze and Asbjorn Midtgaard.”
Gardner-Webb’s pistol offense relies a lot on slips to the basket from the big men, actions that WSU’s defense bottled up effectively. Marshall said he felt that Gardner-Webb was dribble penetrating a lot, but the Shockers were playing handsy defense.
WSU frustrated Gardner-Webb star Jose Perez by walling off his driving lanes and holding him to four points on 1 of 10 shooting, the worst scoring game he’s had in his collegiate career. WSU also turned Gardner-Webb over on 25% of its possessions, scoring 19 points off of the 16 turnovers.
“I thought we were very ratty and made them play in tight spaces,” Marshall said. “We got hands on balls and I think our size may have affected them some. We’ve got a lot of big and very athletic guys.”
2. The Morris Udeze breakthrough
The biggest positional concern early in this season for WSU has been at center, as the Shockers wait on senior star Jaime Echenique’s broken hand to heal. Through two games, WSU’s three-man rotation at center had combined for more fouls (20) than points (15).
Morris Udeze has earned the first two starts of his career the last two games and the 6-foot-8, 240-pound bulldozer from Houston has responded with back-to-back career-high scoring performances. After scoring 14 points against UT Martin, Udeze followed with 15 points on 6 of 8 shooting against Gardner-Webb on Tuesday.
Not bad for someone who missed the final 18 games of his freshman season because of a shoulder injury that also caused him to miss almost all of WSU’s summer workouts.
“I’m really excited for him because at one point he was talking about redshirting when he was rehabbing the shoulder,” Marshall said. “Those shoulders are a problem. I can’t imagine how hard he worked to get it back to this point. I’m so happy that he’s enjoying some success.”
“All summer I’ve been working hard to get back to where I was last year or even better,” Udeze said. “I just keep grinding every day for that.”
On Tuesday, Udeze and fellow sophomore Erik Stevenson had a strong connection. Stevenson found Udeze rolling to the basket on three separate occasions, all ending with an Udeze lay-up. But Udeze also was effective because he has a non-stop motor combined with a big frame that makes it difficult for defenses to stop, especially a Gardner-Webb defense whose heaviest starter was 200 pounds.
After averaging 3.3 points in 16 games, Udeze has exploded for back-to-back double-digit scoring games. WSU outscored Gardner-Webb by 21 points in Udeze’s 23 minutes, as he also took two charges and grabbed four rebounds.
“I feel like he adds a lot of toughness to our ball club,” Burton said. “He’s going 120% every time, whether that’s on the offense end or defensive end. He’s crashing the boards, giving us second-chance opportunities and he’s finishing in the paint for us, which is big.”
Echenique has a follow-up at the doctors on Wednesday to determine if he could possibly return for Saturday’s game against Oral Roberts. Regardless of the news, WSU feels better about its center position now thanks to Udeze’s improved play.
3. Erik Stevenson is playing the best basketball of his career
Erik Stevenson isn’t posting gaudy statistics, but Marshall is convinced the sophomore is playing the best basketball of his career.
On Tuesday, Stevenson added 10 points — his third straight double-digit scoring game, the first time he’s done that — to go along with five assists and no turnovers. Through four games, Stevenson has racked up nine assists to just one turnover in 97 minutes played.
“He’s letting the game come to him,” Marshall said. “He’s playing the best basketball he’s played since he’s been here.”
Stevenson won’t lead WSU in assists, but he might be the team’s most advanced passer due to his high basketball intelligence. He not only sees the court well, but understands the art of passing — putting the proper angle and pace on each pass.
When WSU has a rolling big man down the middle of the lane, Stevenson specializes in reading how the defense is bending and either whipping a pass to the big man for the lay-in or darting a skip pass cross-court to the shooter on the weak side.
“When I’m that guy on the skip, I know I’m open on that,” Stevenson said. “So if I have the ball, then I know someone on the weak-side is open. The way they played defense, they collapsed in the paint and tried to take away the driving lanes. I know (that defender) is going to be on the weak-side block, so I have the ability to skip it to him hopefully for a knock-down jumper.”
Marshall noted that Stevenson has a reputation as a gambler, but so far this season he’s making better choices.
“He has great vision,” Marshall said. “I think he was probably a multi-sport athlete. He can really zip that ball to the intended receiver with some pace. Usually it’s on target. Sometimes he’s a little bit of a river boat gambler, but he’s playing really well right now as long as he lets the game come to him.”
Stevenson credits the experience he gained as a freshman for his improved decision-making this season.
“Last year everything was flying at me and I was kind of playing too fast at times,” Stevenson said. “This year it’s kind of like in slow motion. I know what coach wants out of his motion offense and I know where our guys are going to be at certain times, so I can hit them at the right spot for the look.”
4. The reason why Marshall doesn’t like playing from behind
WSU has now produced fast starts in back-to-back games.
The Shockers led 24-4 after just seven minutes against UT Martin on Saturday, then blazed to a 20-6 lead against Gardner-Webb after eight minutes on Tuesday.
Afterward, Marshall was asked if quick starts were being emphasized recently and the coach gave an interesting analogy.
“It’s like a muddy track and you’re in a horse race,” Marshall said. “If you’re not the lead horse, you know what you get? You get a lot of horses’ (rear-ends) and mud in your eye. So I like to run ahead as much as I can.”
5. Shockers leaning on their team depth
No Shocker is averaging more than 30 minutes per game through the first four games of the season and 11 WSU players are averaging at least 10 minutes per game.
That kind of long rotation isn’t anything new for WSU under Marshall, who is playing four true freshmen right now. Is that sustainable? It is if you ask Marshall.
“We’ll mix them in as best we can and try to have them develop on the fly. We need them. We need them this year and we need them right now to be a good basketball team and to go as deep as I want to go,” Marshall said. “I want to play 10 or 11 guys and be all over people and not have to worry about foul trouble and press a little bit more.”
So far the Shockers have been able to wear down all four of the out-matched teams they’ve played at Koch Arena this season.
The WSU players seem to be on board with the strategy of sending waves at the other team.
“We’re communicating better on the defensive end, sharing the ball and giving 120% while we’re out there on the court,” WSU sophomore Jamarius Burton said. “We play hard and then another five can come right in. We have a lot of depth on this team. If everyone goes out there and gives 120%, then you see the results.”
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 5:14 AM.
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