Quality depth: Wichita State basketball dominating bench scoring in 10-1 start
The Wichita State men’s basketball team ranks third in the American Athletic Conference in scoring this season, but you won’t find any Shockers on the conference’s top-scorers leaderboard.
WSU has found success during its 10-1 start with a balanced scoring attack. Erik Stevenson (13.2 points per game) leads the Shockers, while Tyson Etienne (11.0), Jaime Echenique (10.0), Jamarius Burton (9.5), Grant Sherfield (9.1) and Trey Wade (9.0) all average at least nine points per game.
The Shockers have already had seven different leading scorers in their first 12 games. They next play at 2 p.m. game Sunday at Koch Arena against Abilene Christian (7-5).
“That’s the way it goes when you have a lot of talented players,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “Having quality depth is what we have with this young group and you’re seeing the benefits of it right now.”
Last season, Markis McDuffie and Samajae Haynes-Jones carried nearly half of the scoring load. Marshall and his coaching staff went to work on the recruiting trail to bolster the team with more scoring options.
Now, WSU’s leading scorer (Stevenson at 13.2) accounts for just 17% of the team’s scoring load, the lowest of any leading scorer in the AAC. Newcomers like Etienne, Sherfield and Wade have already become crucial pieces to the Shockers’ depth.
Although the Shockers have the lowest leading scorer, they are the only team in the American with six players averaging at least nine points per game.
“We’re more experienced now and we’ve got some guys who have been more experienced in college basketball,” Marshall said. “So if we can continue to play as hard or harder than the opposition and play as smart or smarter, then we have a great chance because we match up physically with teams and we’re not deer in the headlights any more.”
Even without sophomore Dexter Dennis, who is taking an indefinite leave of absence, WSU still has one of the deepest rotations in the conference. Not counting Dennis, the Shockers have nine players averaging at least 11 minutes. Freshmen Noah Fernandes and DeAntoni Gordon average 9.3 and 8.6, respectively.
WSU ranks 70th in the country in bench minutes and the Shockers’ reserves are averaging 29.2 points and have outscored opponents 321-157 this season. That’s the style that Marshall loves to play.
“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.”
This story was originally published December 27, 2019 at 11:15 AM.
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