WSU’s Dexter Dennis takes personal leave from team. ‘He’s struggling,’ Marshall says
Wichita State announced less than an hour before Saturday’s 73-63 victory for the Shockers over VCU that sophomore Dexter Dennis will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from the men’s basketball team for personal reasons.
Dennis, a 6-foot-5 wing from Baker, Louisiana, was averaging 7.1 points and 4.3 rebounds in 23.7 minutes this season for the Shockers.
“I just talked to them about what had transpired (Friday) and the fact that Dex is a brother,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said after the game about his message to the team. “Dex is one of the best teammates you can have. A straight-A student this semester. But he’s struggling and there’s nothing we can do about that. I’m not a doctor.
“We still had a game to play and we needed to tighten our circle and rally around one of our guys who’s hurting a little bit. And they did that beautifully.”
WSU channeled those emotions into a near-perfect start to open the game with an 18-6 lead over VCU before the first media timeout. That early start set the tone for the Shockers, as they maintained a double-digit lead for the majority of the game.
The Shockers improved to 10-1 this season with three straight notable wins over Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and VCU heading into the Christmas break. WSU is poised to rejoin the top-25 national rankings after a nearly two-year drought.
“We’re all praying for Dex and hoping he figures it out, but these guys, man, they’ve made me a very proud coach,” Marshall said. “And we’re just getting started.”
Dennis entered this season with NBA Draft buzz after he elevated his game to become a crucial piece in WSU’s 14-4 close last season as a true freshman. Dennis averaged 8.4 points and 5.3 rebounds, drilled 40% of his three-pointers and was WSU’s best defender. Marshall referred to him multiple times as the program’s potential “next NBA” player.
But just like last season, Dennis was off to a slow start this season. His three-point shooting dropped to 24% in the first 10 games, while his defending and rebounding weren’t up to his usual superb standard.
Sources close to the WSU team said Dennis practiced as normal this week, including on Friday, but informed the team on Friday night of his decision to step away. Marshall said the decision surprised him “a little bit.”
“He was struggling, but I didn’t know to what degree he was struggling,” Marshall said. “He’s got some things going. He’s got to figure it out on his own time. We’ll be patient and support him in every way. We’re thinking about him and praying for him every day.
“But I’ve got 15 others that I do that for too. They’re not going to stop the season, not going to cancel any games. We’ve got to keep going.”
While Dennis was not at the game on Saturday, he did show his public support for his teammates on Twitter. After Saturday’s win, Dennis retweeted support from Shocker fans from his Twitter account and responded to an Erik Stevenson tweet with the message, “So proud of ya’ll bro.”
Marshall said on his post-game radio show that he hopes Dennis is able to return on Dec. 26 and be available for the Dec. 29 game at home against Abilene Christian.
“Hopefully he comes back on the 26th as fresh as he possibly can be mentally and physically and be ready to go,” Marshall said. “He’s got a lot of things going on right now and he just felt like he needed to step away. We talked about it. What can we do? We love you. You’re a big part of what we do, you’re a big part of why we’re 9-1 and hopefully will be a big part going forward.”
This story was originally published December 21, 2019 at 10:34 AM.
.jpg)