WSU’s shooting numbers starting to catch up to accuracy Marshall sees in practice
If all 13 of Gregg Marshall’s Wichita State teams were to have a shoot-off, the coach is confident that this year’s Shockers would be a strong contender to win the fictional event.
“I’ve thought all along that if we played Horse, this would be one of our better shooting teams,” Marshall said. “If you line them up one through 13, we would be a very good shooting team relative to my other teams. I’m not talking nationally, but relative to other Wichita State teams.
“We don’t have a Conner Frankamp, who is probably the best shooter I’ve ever coached. If you play Horse with him, you’re never going to win. But these other guys, we’ve got good shooters all the way down. Who’s not a good shooter with our (guards)?”
So why is Wichita State (19-6, 7-5 AAC) shooting just 32.5% on three-pointers, slightly below the national average, entering Thursday’s 6 p.m. game against South Florida (11-14, 4-8 AAC) at Koch Arena? If that mark holds, the 2019-20 Shockers would finish as the ninth-best outside shooting team of the Marshall era.
Tyson Etienne (41.4% three-point shooter) is in the midst of a historic freshman campaign. Dexter Dennis (32.7%) and Erik Stevenson (33.1%) have both proven dangerous from the outside. Jamarius Burton (34.7%) is improved from deep. Grant Sherfield (26.2%) has delivered a timely three several times this season.
While Marshall believes them all to be more than capable shooters, he says there’s a simple answer to why their shooting in games hasn’t aligned with their shooting in practice this season.
“The problem is they’re freshmen and sophomores,” Marshall said. “Sometimes they don’t know when to shoot. That’s the deal. There are times where they’re open and they wouldn’t shoot. They’re not ready to shoot. And then other times when they’re not open and they’re ready to shoot. So that’s not good. They’ve got to figure that out. And that’s where experience comes in. You can’t buy it. You just have to let it happen.”
That indecision was never more evident than during WSU’s recent 2-5 slide, when the Shockers connected on just 21.1% of their three-pointers on nearly 25 attempts per game in their five losses.
The past two games — a 17-point win at Central Florida and a 25-point win against Tulane at home — have been displays of what can happen when WSU’s young guards shoot confidently and at the right times. After drilling eight threes at UCF, the Shockers returned home and scorched the nets for 13 three-pointers on 54.2% accuracy Sunday.
Etienne made a career-best six threes and Dennis made four.
“Coach (Marshall) told me to just be me,” Etienne said. “Play my game. Have fun. And that’s what I did. I shot the ball with confidence. My teammates found me. They told me to get open and they’ll find me. (Burton) did a great job with that.”
After WSU struggled to convert its open chances, most notably in the loss at Tulsa, the team has been excellent at making defenses pay the last two games. A video review showed that the Shockers made 24 of their 33 open shots against UCF, including 9 of 15 beyond the arc, and 26 of 36 open shots against Tulane, including 12 of 18 from deep.
That’s the type of sharpshooting Marshall and the coaching staff have been expecting. Now the challenge for WSU will be to prove that it can continue making teams pay for leaving shooters open and that this recent surge isn’t just a two-game blip.
“We just need to keep getting better,” Marshall said. “That’s the emphasis for this team from this point forward. Just find a way to get better each day, individually and collectively and if we do that, then everything else will take care of itself.”
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