Dexter Dennis has a new favorite skill and it’s helping unlock Wichita State’s offense

Dexter Dennis has a new favorite hobby and it’s helping unlock the offense of the Wichita State men’s basketball team.

His entire life, Dennis has been on the receiving end of passes that have allowed him to harness his athleticism to finish baskets. And for most of his brief two-year career at WSU, that has been the case — evident by his 48 career assists in 55 games before last week.

But Dennis is rapidly leveling up his ability to create plays off the dribble, which has translated to eight assists (including a career-high five at Central Florida) in the last two games entering Thursday’s 6 p.m. game against South Florida at Koch Arena. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Dennis said. “In high school, I was always the one getting the lobs and the passes but I think throwing them is actually more fun. Getting your teammates involved and getting great shots for each other is always fun. It creates that togetherness.”

Dennis’ evolution coincides with a resurgence in WSU’s offense, which has finished with 41 assists on 59 made baskets (69% assist rate) in its last two games. While Dennis also scored a career-high 21 points against Tulane, Gregg Marshall and the WSU coaching staff are more excited about the sophomore’s growth in his ability to create for others — a process that’s been one year in the making.

“That was the biggest thing we emphasized in the offseason with him,” Marshall said. “Really last year he was a ‘3-and-D’ guy. He could shoot the three and he was a great defender, but he didn’t have much off the bounce. With his size, you need to be able to bounce it and attack the rim and get to the free throw line. Maybe not score all the time, but create scoring opportunities for others. He’s still in the developmental stage, but he’s way better than he was last year and he’s starting to see some of his hard work pay off.”

In his career-high five-assist performance at UCF, Dennis created four of the assists by his dribble penetration. His best work came midway through the first half when Noah Fernandes passed to him on the left wing and Dennis had enough of an opening that would allow for a pretty good shot. But Dennis pump-faked to send the defender flying by, took a dribble in to draw a second defender and kicked back to Fernandes to upgrade a pretty-good shot into a great, wide-open look that Fernandes drilled for three points.

In the 25-point rout of Tulane at home, Dennis’ favorite play of the game came in the final minute of the first half when he tracked down an offensive rebound, dribbled toward the basket and elevated to draw two defenders in the air, only to flip a no-look, wrap-around pass to the other side to Erik Stevenson for an easy lay-in. There was also an example of Dennis creating separation off the dribble late in the shot clock to free himself for a jumper that he buried.

Opponents used to consider it a victory if they could run Dennis off the three-point line and force him to dribble, where they considered him a non-threat. His handles had yet to catch up to his supreme athleticism. Dennis is starting to change that narrative.

“I have to give credit to the coaching staff and my teammates for pushing me every day in practice trying to work on it,” Dennis said. “They want me to be the best version of myself. So it’s a lot of repetition. We work a lot on ball handling and decision-making in practice. It’s just me being confident in myself and knowing that my coaching staff and teammates have confidence in me. It’s definitely more of a mindset.”

After a promising end to his freshman season, Dennis had a slow start to his sophomore campaign and took a three-game leave of absence in the middle of the season. In the eight games before he left, Dennis shot just 19.6% (11 of 56) from the field and 13.5% (5 of 33) on three-pointers. He returned in early January and has recently began playing like the all-conference player that WSU expected him to be this season.

Since returning to the starting five Jan. 21 at South Florida, Dennis has averaged 12.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists and shot 46.5% (33 of 71) from the field and 44.2% (19 of 43) on three-pointers in WSU’s last seven games.

“He’s playing the way we thought he would play,” Marshall said. “He’s got that fervor back.”

Dennis is aware that a two-game stretch hardly proves anything. Adding an off-the-dribble aspect to his game would be a step closer to Dennis fulfilling his potential as an NBA-caliber prospect, but the sophomore knows it’s still a work in progress.

“I still have a long way to go, so I’m definitely not going to be satisfied or complacent,” Dennis said. “I’ve just got to keep working hard and making progress. I’ve come a long ways since last year definitely, but if you look at it, I think I still have a lot more that I can really do to bring to this team. So I’m just going to focus on trying to do that.”

South Florida at Wichita State

Records: USF 11-14, 4-8 AAC; WSU 19-6, 7-5 AAC

When: 6 p.m. Thursday

Where: Koch Arena (10,506), Wichita

TV: CBS Sports Network

Radio: KEYN, 103.7 FM

Series: WSU leads 2-1 (1-0 in Wichita)

Projected starters

Coach: Brian Gregory, third season, 45-50

Coach: Gregg Marshall, 13th season, 327-119

This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 4:40 PM.

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.