How seven minutes of defensive perfection helped WSU basketball return to winning
There are three pillars of success that Gregg Marshall has created for his Wichita State teams on the road.
Toughness. Defense. Rebounding.
Shooting comes and goes, but those three traits can travel with the Shockers wherever they go. It’s why WSU has been the nation’s second-best team on the road since the 2013-14 season and why the Shockers picked up another road win on Tuesday, a grind-it-out 56-43 victory over South Florida at the Yuengling Center.
“The story of the game was defense and rebounding for us,” Marshall said.
The most important chapter of that story came during a 7-minute-and-29-second stretch midway through the second half when WSU’s defense produced 10 straight defensive stops.
Here’s a closer look at how WSU’s quick hands, on-ball defense and improved decision-making helped spur the game-defining 10-0 run that helped snap the Shockers’ two-game losing streak and improve them to 16-3 overall and 4-2 in the American Athletic Conference.
1. ‘More energy, more juice, more passion’
South Florida committed five turnovers during this 10-possession stretch: four of those coming on steals by WSU, then the other on a charge taken by Morris Udeze.
A lot of WSU’s success came on good initial defense, then good instincts that led to steals when USF tried to attack the basket. The first example came when USF’s Laquincy Rideau tried to take Jamarius Burton to the hole, but Burton walled him off in the paint. Rideau pivoted and tried to go up for a shot, but Burton swiped at the ball when Rideau exposed it on the turn and knocked it out of his hands for the turnover.
The next time down, David Collins rejected a high ball screen and blew past Erik Stevenson. Marshall would probably like a little more initial resistance from Stevenson, but the sophomore’s instincts kicked in and he came from behind and swiped the ball away from Collins and off of his leg for a basket-saving turnover.
But not all of WSU’s steals came on gambles. Tyson Etienne earned a well-deserved steal with picture-perfect defense on USF’s Xavier Castaneda. Etienne trailed him on a ball screen to take away his jump shot, caught back up to him to prevent deeper penetration, then beat him to the baseline on his drive. When Castaneda tried a desperation pass out of trouble, Etienne’s extended arms deflected the pass to force the turnover.
Throw in two more deflections that could have easily gone for steals and WSU’s defense brought the kind of energy during this stretch that the Shockers sorely needed coming into Tuesday’s game. WSU finished with a steal on 15.3% of defensive possessions, the third-highest rate its posted this season.
“We needed to do something to get them more energized, more juiced, more passionate,” Marshall said. “Tonight’s theme was more passion, energy and toughness. Play harder and smarter than the opposition.”
2. ‘It was hard, but winning is hard’
Dexter Dennis said he sensed a change in WSU’s demeanor after Monday’s practice. The team was determined not to return to Wichita on a three-game slide and Dennis said he made the commitment to himself before Tuesday’s game to doing the little things to help the Shockers win.
“It was hard, but winning is hard,” Dennis said. “You probably have the ball in your hands maybe three total minutes out of the whole game. So you have to do other things like defense and rebounding and helping teammates. I think we did a good job of that tonight.”
Dennis did his part. Not only when he had the ball in his hands — he scored 12 points on four three-pointers, the most he’s had from distance since the season opener — but also with his on- and off-ball defense against USF leading scorer Collins and his five rebounds and a steal.
Collins finished with a game-high 14 points, but most of that production came at the free throw line. He made just three of eight field goals against WSU, mostly because Dennis was shadowing him on the perimeter and not letting him catch at his preferred spots or not letting him catch swing passes at all.
“David Collins is a tremendous scorer, but Dexter Dennis is a very good defender,” Marshall said. “His length and his ability to move his feet and just his tenacity. Then he pursues the basketball pretty well when they get up on the glass.”
But shutting down an individual scorer is never just about one player. Dennis had help. On one possession, Dennis prevented Collins from catching on the right wing and forced him to loop around so he could catch a pass on the left wing. Collins used a high ball screen to drive middle and Dennis did well to make sure he was on his hip, but Etienne played his role to perfection, coming off his man in the corner to scrape at the ball and jar it loose from Collins.
Dennis sprinted the floor and USF’s defense lost him in transition. A simple pass ahead from Grant Sherfield gave Dennis a wide-open three he swished to cap the 10-0 run and up WSU’s lead to 11 points.
“We lost (Dennis) a couple of times when we gambled on defense and on those occasions that we left him open, he took advantage and that was the difference I thought,” USF coach Brian Gregory said.
3. ‘Sherfield had maybe his best game as a floor general’
At first glance, 56 points and 36.5% shooting doesn’t stand out as much of an improvement from last week’s averages of 53.5 points and 30% shooting. In fact, this three-game stretch is the first time WSU has failed to crack 56 points in three straight games since losing three straight from Dec. 28, 2008 to Jan. 3, 2009 in Marshall’s second year at WSU.
But it’s important to remember WSU had just 57 offensive possessions on Tuesday and Marshall was pleased with what the Shockers did with them.
“Our offense was a little better,” Marshall said. “The key of the game was we opened up the floor a little bit and let the guys penetrate a little bit more. I thought Grant Sherfield had maybe his best game as a floor general.”
Not only did Sherfield play solid defense during the crucial 10-0 run, but he also dished out two assists to help the Shockers. The first was his best of the night, a perfectly-lofted alley-oop pass over the top of a retreating defender and right at the rim where Jaime Echenique could catch and lay it in easily.
The floor was perfectly spaced with the three other WSU players all outside the three-point arc, which opened up the paint for the play to work. It also succeeded because WSU was attacking in transition after a USF turnover, an area where the Shockers outscored USF 18-8 in points off turnovers.
While WSU was playing superb defense, it still needed some traction on the offensive end to capitalize. Better decision-making by the Shockers in the halfcourt helped, highlighted by the play that helped kick-start the 10-0 run when Stevenson whipped a skip pass in the corner to an open Dennis who swished a three.
WSU’s offense was still far from operating at the level it had been, but Tuesday was a step in the right direction. With three days off before a home game against UCF on Saturday, WSU will have more practice time to work out the kinks after finishing a grueling five-games-in-13-days stretch.
This story was originally published January 22, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
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