Playing faster, more transition scoring leads to WSU women’s three-game win streak
Playing faster and scoring more in transition were two offseason points of emphasis for Wichita State women’s basketball coach Keitha Adams.
So far so good for the Shockers, who defeated Houston Baptist 59-42 on Monday to extend their winning streak to three games heading into Saturday’s 2 p.m. showdown against Oklahoma at Koch Arena.
According to Synergy, WSU (3-2) is forcing turnovers at the 65th-best rate (23.2%) in the country. That’s led to a surge in transition points, as the Shockers also rank in the 79th percentile on Synergy and have outscored opponents 84-52 on fast-break points so far this season.
“We’ve been better at that, for sure,” Adams said. “Our defense is something we’ve got to rely on to really get us going. I’d like to increase our defensive package and do some more things in the full court. As you get your foundation and you get that where you want it, then you feel like you can work on some other things to add to the mix.”
The player in the open court the most this season is freshman DJ McCarty, a 5-foot-8 guard from DeSoto, Texas. She leads WSU in scoring at 11.0 points per game on 46.7% shooting. She’s also made six steals.
Once WSU rebounds a miss or generates a steal (Carla Bremaud has 16 steals in five games), McCarty has shown promise in harnessing her athleticism to speed past defenders with good touch in the paint to finish baskets.
“She’s really quick and she can get by people and has been really good at attacking out of transition,” Adams said. “She’s pretty good at finishing and making plays for us.”
But there are still glaring issues that Adams hopes to correct in nonconference play. After averaging 18.7 turnovers per game last season, WSU is committing 19.0 turnovers per game.
When WSU pushes and doesn’t find an opportunity in transition, Adams wants the Shockers to drastically improve in their half-court execution. Right now too many possessions are being thrown away on careless mistakes.
“We’ve got to get these turnovers down and we need to be around 12 a game,” Adams said. “We need to eliminate at least five or six turnovers and get ourselves to that lower number.
“When we don’t have the look in transition, we’ve got to be better in our half-court offense. We’ve got to slow it down, set better screens, move the ball and get it reversed. We’ve got to do a better job about going fast to slow and recognizing when the chances aren’t there in transition.”
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 4:45 PM.
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