‘Get over your feelings’: What was said in WSU’s locker room after second straight loss
Don’t recognize the Wichita State men’s basketball team this week that averaged 53.5 points per game on 30 percent shooting in two double-digit losses?
Don’t worry, WSU coach Gregg Marshall didn’t either. After a 15-1 start that saw the Shockers ascend to No. 16 in The Associated Press Top-25 poll, WSU responded with back-to-back dud performances this week: a 65-53 loss at Temple, then a 65-54 loss at home to Houston on Saturday.
“Obviously the last two games I haven’t gotten it done, and I haven’t helped the team enough,” Marshall said after the Houston loss. “But I really do not recognize our team the last two games from a competitive standpoint, from a toughness, play angry-type of standpoint. It’s been more like the teams that we’ve beaten over the years, that’s who we look like.”
The second straight loss led to an emotional scene in the WSU locker room. Marshall confronted the players about the change in their demeanor the past two games.
“I don’t know what’s crept into the ointment, like a fly in the ointment,” Marshall said. “All I can say is that I’ve told them, ‘You guys have got to get over your feelings. If you’re worried about you and you’re worried about how many points you’re scoring or how many shots you’re getting or how many minutes you’re getting, then that’s not healthy. And we’ve got a lot of guys doing that. I feel that and I know that.
“Until we work that out, we’re not going to be as good as we can be. But we’ve got more things going on behind the scenes that I’m not familiar with, and it’s spread. It’s like a crab grass in your beautiful lawn.”
Marshall even asked if the players wanted him and the coaching staff to change the way they coach them.
“We can get as gnarly as you want,” Marshall said. “We really haven’t been (so far) because these guys take care of their business on and off the court.”
WSU sophomore Erik Stevenson said there were players who vented their frustrations during the meeting. Some things that needed to be said were said, and now it’s up to the players to respond.
The Shockers (15-3, 3-2 American) have another short turnaround coming, as they will practice on Sunday, then fly out Monday in preparation for a Tuesday game at South Florida.
“(Something different) obviously needs to happen,” Stevenson said. “We’re going to figure it out. We’ve got to look in the mirror and take it like a man. We’re still a young team, but it’s time for us to grow up. We have some adversity now, so how are we going to handle that?”
It was easy to forget in all of the success that WSU is still operating with an extremely young roster, one that had never garnered the kind of attention the Shockers were receiving at the start of this week.
“The first 16 games we played pretty together as a team and shared the basketball and was on the glass and then these last two games we saw a number (ranking) by our name when we were watching film and we were reading our press and drinking the Kool-Aid,” Stevenson said. “We’ve got to get back to being the hungry dogs when we weren’t ranked, weren’t being talked about.”
One of Marshall’s biggest concerns has been how WSU has been out of halftime.
At Temple, WSU let a six-point halftime lead turn into a five-point deficit in the first four minutes of the second half as it gave up an 11-0 run to the Owls. On Saturday, Houston scored the first 12 points of the second half and buried WSU in a 22-point hole.
“It’s just been horrible,” Marshall said. “I’ve got to figure out what to do because whatever I’m doing is not working at halftime. It’s about as bad as it could be in the Temple game and now this game.”
The core of the Shockers are well-versed in adversity. The sophomores, Asbjorn Midtgaard and senior Jaime Echenique were all around last year when WSU started 8-11. They’ve seen rock bottom before, and despite how bad a pair of double-digit losses felt this week, WSU is still far away from rock bottom.
The Shockers have seen the success they can have when they play the brand of basketball that Marshall desires. The good news is that not much has to change with the team’s strategy. The bad news is that the players have let it get to this point where their heart is being questioned.
WSU sophomore Jamarius Burton said some reflection the rest of the weekend should help the Shockers get their minds right for the road trip to South Florida.
“We didn’t display that in the last two games, and that’s what made us lose,” Burton said. “If we play with energy and effort, I believe the outcome would have been different.
“We’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and each one of us say to ourselves, “Are we giving everything we can on both ends of the floor?’ When we change that and start making smart plays, winning plays, playing tougher, I think we’ll get back on a roll.”
This story was originally published January 18, 2020 at 7:40 PM.
.jpg)