‘Bite the rim’: Gregg Marshall’s challenge to Dexter Dennis to realize NBA potential
Wichita State basketball coach Gregg Marshall has made it no secret that he believes that Dexter Dennis can be the program’s next player to reach the NBA.
Dennis, a 6-foot-5 sophomore wing from Baker, Louisiana, is still early in his development of becoming an NBA-caliber prospect, but he showed his coach something new in his last time out in WSU’s 87-79 victory over Central Florida on Saturday.
It started in anger when Marshall was furious at his budding sophomore star during halftime. The coach has stressed to Dennis how important it is that he attacks the basket with aggression. Marshall saw three times where Dennis failed to finish near the rim.
“I told him at halftime, ‘Bro, when you go in the there... I know you aspire to play in the NBA,’” Marshall said. “’I know that, and I think you will one day, but that day will come when you start going into the basket and either one or two feet, I don’t care, jumping up and trying to bite the rim. And throwing your arm through the goal. Because that’s what those dudes do.’”
Up until that point, almost all of Dennis’ highlight-reel dunks were uncontested and on breakaways. Marshall desperately wanted to see Dennis display the killer instinct in a halfcourt setting that might lead to him dunking over a defender.
Marshall got his wish on an inbounds play with 1:29 remaining and WSU clinging to a 75-67 lead. Dennis came around a screen to receive the inbounds pass. Upon catching it, Dennis took two power dribbles to the middle of the floor, gathered himself for an explosive launch, skied over a defender and viciously slammed the ball through the rim with two hands.
“He just ripped it and it was over,” Marshall said.
And that’s Marshall’s point: when Dennis attacks the basket with that ferocity, it’s over for the defense. Few, if any, defender is going to be able to stop that kind of aggression from a player like Dennis. In Marshall’s opinion, that’s what was missing from Dennis in those three first half misses.
For Dennis, this is the most important step in his evolution of becoming an NBA player. He has proven he can defend multiple positions and can stroke three-pointers at a high percentage (he’s made four in each of the last two games). The only thing left to prove is that he can make plays off the dribble.
“I think it’s easier to guard a guy who can only do one thing,” Dennis said. “If you can do a lot of things, though, it’s way harder to guard. If he can move without the ball, rebound, drive it, if he can shoot it, then it’s way harder to guard than just a catch-and-shoot shooter. I’m still working on that and I’ve still got a lot of things to fix, but it’s a process and I’m trusting it.”
There are worse things than to be labeled a defensive stopper and catch-and-shoot specialist, which is what Dennis has already earned in less than two seasons at WSU. After drilling 40% of his threes as a freshman, Dennis’ slump to start his sophomore year has his three-point percentage down to 30% this season.
But since returning from his three-game leave of absence earlier this season, Dennis has made at least one three in six straight games and is shooting 39% in those seven games. In WSU’s last two wins, Dennis is a combined 8 of 17 from beyond the arc.
“It makes a big difference for us,” WSU point guard Grant Sherfield said. “It really makes it easier on us guards when we’re trying to penetrate the gaps and we’ve got a dude that we know can knock down the shots. So it really helps having Dex back.”
Dennis has become an even bigger matchup problem for opponents this season because Marshall has been playing him almost exclusively at the power forward position. Dennis has the defensive ability to guard bigger players than him, then puts the pressure on opponents to find someone who can stay out on the three-point line with Dennis and also be able to prevent him from attacking the rim.
After Dennis scored 18 points, his second-highest output of his career, to go along with 11 rebounds against UCF, Knights coach Johnny Dawkins said he knew that Dennis would be a problem.
“No matter what position they play him at, he’s a really good player,” Dawkins said. “He had a terrific year last season and I anticipate him having a very good year this season. We have a lot of respect for who he is as a player and he had a really good game against us (Saturday).”
Dennis has already seen plenty of adversity this season. After scoring 36 combined points in WSU’s first two games, Dennis hit a prolonged slump that eventually led to him taking a three-week leave of absence from the program to reset himself.
Even when Dennis returned for WSU’s 74-54 win over Ole Miss on Jan. 4, Dennis didn’t score and committed four fouls in 10 minutes. In WSU’s two most recent losses, he scored a combined eight points.
But Dennis has persisted through the struggles and the last two games he has been the player that he has wanted to be for the Shockers as a sophomore. He hopes his double-double against UCF is just the start of a breakout month of February for him.
Even with the double-double, Dennis was critical of his play. He’s always looking to get better, to be better.
“The main thing honestly is just effort,” Dennis said. “Just playing as hard as I can. I still took a couple of plays off (Saturday), so I’ll have to watch the film but I think we’ll be all right.”
This story was originally published January 27, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
.jpg)