Opponents are blocking a lot of WSU’s shots. Here’s how much that hurts the Shockers

When it comes to finishing around the rim, Wichita State has a problem.

Has it seemed like WSU has been blocked an extraordinary amount of times lately? That’s because the Shockers have. In six conference games, WSU has had 37 shots blocked — the most in the American Athletic Conference. Another harrowing statistic: 15.8% of WSU’s two-point shots in conference play are being smothered. To put that in perspective, Saint Peter’s, with a block percentage of 13.9%, ranks last in the country.

Wichita State (16-3, 4-2 American) has masked its inexperience well entering Saturday’s 7 p.m. game against Central Florida (11-7, 2-4 American) at Koch Arena, but its youth is showing with its shot selection around the rim. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU and streamed on WatchESPN.

“There’s collisions and we just aren’t very smart or we’re not big enough or athletic enough or whatever to finish those plays,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said after Houston swatted nine shots.

“Maybe we should have got a call sometimes. Maybe we were ill-advised to go in there. Maybe we’re not explosive enough or big enough against their athletes. It looked like they were spiking the ball a couple of times and then it looked like it could have been assault and battery.”

That lack of whatever has been the chief culprit in why WSU has failed to crack 56 points in its last three games, the first time the Shockers have done that since Marshall’s second season. In WSU’s last three games, it is a combined 22 of 49 (44.8%) on shots at the rim. WSU is shooting a conference-worst 36.2% from the field, dragged down by a conference-worst 39.7% accuracy on two-pointers. For perspective, WSU is shooting 45.2% on two-pointers this season and finished last season at 47.1% inside the arc.

A lot of those two-point struggles has to do with nearly 16% of those shots being stopped before they ever have a chance of going in. For the season, WSU ranks 309th in the country in two-point shooting percentage and 326th in getting its shots blocked.

It’s a credit to Marshall’s defense-and-rebound ethos that WSU has managed a 4-2 record with the conference’s worst-shooting offense. But if the Shockers are going to stay in the hunt for an AAC championship, their offense must improve — and more specifically, their finishing around the rim must improve.

To put in perspective how much WSU’s struggles around the rim is holding back the offense, The Eagle examined Synergy data on shots around five feet from the basket for every team in the American in conference play. The data shows WSU is generating an above-average number of close looks (26.5 per game), but is finishing just 45.3% of them for the worst rate in the conference.

Compare the production of WSU and Tulsa, two teams that both take 27 shots close the basket: Tulsa makes 58.4% of those shots and averages 31.4 points per game, while WSU makes 45.3% of those shots and averages 24.0 points per game. That’s a seven-point difference for WSU simply on finishing close shots.

Another Eagle study revealed that almost all (71 of 84) of WSU’s blocked shots this season have come within five feet of the basket with the majority of those taken by WSU’s guard group comprised entirely of freshmen and sophomores. It’s further evidence of the learning curve WSU is battling on the fly with no veterans in its backcourt.

Even though the sophomore trio of Jamarius Burton, Erik Stevenson and Dexter Dennis gained experience last season, they’re garnering more defensive attention and being forced to finish over better defenders. And freshmen like Grant Sherfield and Tyson Etienne are sometimes too naive when attacking the basket against taller, more athletic and higher-jumping athletes than they’ve ever faced.

Too many times a WSU guard will beat one defender, then stubbornly challenge two more defenders at the rim. Right now WSU lacks the savvy tricks of veterans, who know just how to angle their bodies or use their off-arm and the rim to protect their shots.

Those tricks are learned over time and WSU’s guards are getting a crash course at the moment. If WSU is either able to be more picky about the shots it does take near the rim or improve on finishing those shots, then the Shockers’ offense should come to life.

Saturday’s opponent, UCF, presents an ideal game for WSU to gain confidence around the rim before a challenging three-game stretch against the top three teams in the American (at Tulsa, Cincinnati, at Houston). UCF is 10th in the conference in defensive block percentage and opponents have made 50.6% of shots close to the basket this season.

Shocker Sports Hall of Fame inductions at halftime

WSU will induct five new members into the Shocker Sports Hall of Fame at halftime of Saturday night’s game: men’s basketball player Jamar Howard (2001-05), longtime men’s golf coach Grier Jones (1995-2019), distance star Tonya Nero (2009-11), women’s tennis star Lutfiana Budiharto (2009-12) and early women’s athletics pioneer Janet Kohl Hoskins (1968-72).

Central Florida at Wichita State

Records: UCF 11-7, 2-4 AAC; WSU 16-3, 4-2 AAC

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Koch Arena (10,506), Wichita

TV: ESPNU

Streaming: WatchESPN

Radio: KEYN, 103.7 FM

Series: WSU leads 3-0 (2-0 in Wichita)

Projected starters

Coach: Johnny Dawkins, fourth season, 78-41

Coach: Gregg Marshall, 13th season, 324-116

This story was originally published January 24, 2020 at 6:15 AM.

Taylor Eldridge

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6270

Wichita State athletics beat reporter. Bringing you closer to the Shockers you love and inside the sports you love to watch.