The defining quotes of a Wichita State hoops season filled with off-the-court drama
For a season that began with such promise, a 15-1 start and climb as high as No. 16 in the national rankings, Wichita State men’s basketball endured more turbulence and off-the-court drama than any other team in Gregg Marshall’s 13 years.
After the abrupt ending to the season last Thursday because of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, that dissension came to light when five scholarship players decided to transfer. Three of those players, Erik Stevenson, Jamarius Burton and Grant Sherfield, played at least 24 minutes per game for the Shockers. It will be the largest offseason turnover in Marshall’s tenure at WSU.
Shocker fans were blindsided by the sheer number of the transfers. There had been two, even three transfers leave the program over the years, but usually end-of-the-bench players. Never three players who were playing significant minutes or five players at the same time.
But the signs of the lack of cohesion between the players and the WSU coaching staff were evident throughout the season.
The Eagle went back and found these quotes that best summarize the up-and-down, emotional rollercoaster of a season the Shockers just concluded.
‘He’s struggling and there’s nothing we can do about that’
The first time a non-basketball issue became a story for WSU was less than an hour before its game against VCU on Saturday, December 21 when it announced Dexter Dennis would take an indefinite leave of absence.
WSU won the game, 73-63, but Dennis’ sudden departure was stunning for WSU fans. In the previous eight games, he had averaged just 4.4 points and his shooting percentages plummeted to 19.6% from the floor. According to sources with knowledge of the situation, Dennis’ decision to leave was due to personal issues and not related to the coaching staff or teammates.
“Dex is one of the best teammates you can have,” Marshall said at the time. “But he’s struggling and there’s nothing we can do about that. I’m not a doctor.
“He was struggling, but I didn’t know to what degree he was struggling. He’s got some things going. He’s got to figure it out on his own time. We’ll be patient and support him in every way. We’re thinking about him and praying for him every day.”
‘If we don’t allow good to become the enemy of great’
Off to an 11-1 start, WSU returned to the top 25 rankings at the start of the new year. Ahead of the January 1 opener in American Athletic Conference play, Marshall had a prophetic message.
“If we don’t allow good to become the enemy of great, we can make a statement this year,” Marshall said. “We don’t have to wait for next year or the year after because we have 10 underclassmen. We can be good this year if we continue to work and dream it and make it happen.”
‘He needs someone there with him showing him that love’
At halftime of WSU’s 75-69 win over East Carolina on January 1, Dennis made a surprise appearance, much to the delight of the WSU fans when he emerged from the locker room after a 10-day absence.
“When he left, before that you could tell something was up with him,” Erik Stevenson said. “Just looking in his face during games and practices. I’m his roommate, so I knew something was up.
“I’m just happy the crowd showed him the love that they did at halftime. That’s what he needs. He needs someone there with him showing him that love. And he’s got 10,000-plus doing it.”
WSU improved to 12-1 and Dennis made his return to the court three days later against Mississippi after missing three games.
‘We feel like we could beat anybody in the country’
In a showdown of top 25 teams on national television with a black-out crowd at Koch Arena, WSU prevailed 76-67 over Memphis, improving to 14-1 and grabbing early control of the AAC.
It would arguably become the high point of the season for the Shockers.
“We feel like we could beat anybody in the country, home or on the road,” Stevenson said. “It doesn’t matter where we’re at, we feel like we can play with anybody.”
’We’ve got some things to iron out and get better at’
In hindsight, the first sign of trouble was at the tail end of WSU’s 15-1 start to the season in an 89-86 double-overtime victory at Connecticut. At the time, it was celebrated as a gritty road win by a WSU team who the next day would climb to No. 16 in the rankings.
But allowing a nine-point lead to slip away in the final 65 seconds of regulation was a better indicator of things to come.
“We kind of gave the game away at the end of regulation,” Marshall said. “(UConn) did a wonderful job making plays to come back, but my young guards struggled a little bit with the pressure for the first time.
“We’ve got some things to iron out and get better at, but that’s why I’m gainfully employed.”
‘I hope this game doesn’t define our season’
In its first game ranked No. 16, WSU had its biggest no-show performance of the season to date in an ugly 65-53 loss at Temple. The Shockers shot 30.2% from the field and 22.6% in the second half, as they missed 14 of their first 16 shots after halftime and watched their six-point lead slip away.
“I hope this game doesn’t define our season,” Marshall said. “We’ve been playing some really good basketball and tonight, for whatever reason, we didn’t. We looked mentally and physically tired and I’ll have to figure out why that is.”
‘You guys have got to get over your feelings’
A couple days off and a return to Koch Arena didn’t solve the issues for WSU, which lost its second game of the week in a 65-54 defeat to Houston three days later.
The second straight double-digit loss following the team’s 15-1 start led Marshall to question WSU’s chemistry publicly for the first time.
“I don’t know what’s crept into the ointment, like a fly in the ointment,” Marshall said. “All I can say is that I’ve told them, ‘You guys have got to get over your feelings. If you’re worried about you and you’re worried about how many points you’re scoring or how many shots you’re getting or how many minutes you’re getting, then that’s not healthy.’ And we’ve got a lot of guys doing that. I feel that and I know that.
“Until we work that out, we’re not going to be as good as we can be. But we’ve got more things going on behind the scenes that I’m not familiar with and it’s spread. It’s like a crab grass in your beautiful lawn.”
Immediately following the loss, Marshall and the players had a long meeting in the locker room. The coach confronted his players about their lack of energy and effort in the two losses. He even asked if the players wanted him and his coaching staff to change the way they coach them.
“We can get as gnarly as you want,” Marshall said. “We really haven’t been (so far) because these guys take care of their business on and off the court.”
After the loss, Stevenson even said that something had to change for WSU.
“Do we want coach to do something different? Do we need to do something different?” Stevenson said. “(Something different) obviously needs to happen. We’re going to figure it out. We’ve got to look in the mirror and take it like a man. We’re still a young team, but it’s time for us to grow up. We have some adversity now, so how are we going to handle that?”
‘You don’t know next year if we’re going to be better than we are this year’
WSU ended its losing skid with a 56-43 win at South Florida and an 87-79 win over Central Florida at home. Despite the emotional losses, WSU was 17-3 and ranked No. 23 entering a Saturday showdown against a Tulsa team off to a strong start in conference play.
“There’s enough talent in this room to make a little run in the NCAA Tournament,” Marshall said. “But you have to decide, do you want to wait until next year? As we know, there’s no guarantees in life. You don’t know next year if we’re going to be better than we are this year. Who knows what could happen? So take advantage of today. Seize the opportunity we have Saturday at Tulsa.”
‘I can’t get anything from (the players)‘
What came next would become a brutal what-if exercise for WSU.
What if Elijah Joiner doesn’t make a miraculous three-pointer at the buzzer in Tulsa’s 54-51 win? What if Jarron Cumberland doesn’t make a difficult shot, get fouled and sink the go-ahead free throw in the closing seconds of an 80-79 win for Cincinnati at Koch Arena? What if one or both of those games were reversed in WSU’s favor?
How much differently would the season have gone for WSU?
“College basketball is cruel sometimes,” Marshall said.
Instead, WSU had to deal with the reality of losing back-to-back heartbreakers, which led to an embarrassing showing in a 76-43 loss at Houston for Marshall’s worst loss in his 13-year career at WSU. The third straight loss proved to be rock bottom.
“I don’t know how to explain it honestly at this point,” Marshall said. “I can’t get anything from (the players). So I don’t know.”
When asked if there was a disconnect between the players and the coaching staff, Marshall replied, “Yep. I guess, I have no idea. I’ve never experienced this.” When asked what needed to change, he replied, “I’ll take all suggestions.”
Afterward, Stevenson confirmed that egos had indeed become an obstacle within the team.
“We’ve got some things going on with the team,” Stevenson said. “We’ve got to put our egos aside. We’ve got to put our wants aside and put the team needs ahead of all of that.”
Dennis tried to promote positivity, but admitted the team had a difficult time of doing that with such a dismal performance.
“You have to be positive in dark moments, but not that many people are,” Dennis said. “Everybody is thinking about all of the negative things. You have to be positive because being more negative is not going to fix the situation. Hopefully positivity will.
“There’s not really a lot to say after a game like that. We just have to look ourselves in the mirror and ask ourselves, ‘What do I need to do to help this team?’ We have to want to turn it around. It’s not just going to turn around unless we want it to turn around. We have to want to play the Shocker way again. We were doing that, but... I don’t know man. I don’t have any words.”
‘We got out some pent-up anger, jealousy, selfishness’
WSU wasn’t supposed to practice the following day after its 76-43 loss at Houston, but Marshall couldn’t sleep the previous night and decided it was in the team’s best interest to schedule an impromptu practice and try to get to the bottom of what was ailing the team. After a 15-1 start, WSU had lost three in a row and five of seven.
When the team assembled in the practice gym at Koch Arena, Marshall had them run wind sprints until the players wanted to open up about what was going on. After three up-and-downs, WSU’s players finally started to speak.
“We got out some pent-up anger, jealousy, selfishness, guys called each other out,” Marshall said.
“Just the raw emotion that they spoke with, they were pointing out things that they didn’t like. There was a tear or two shed and some very, very pointed comments. Guys are angry at how they’re playing and then they’re angry at me because they’re not playing more because of how they’re playing. And they’re angry at their teammates that they think they should be playing in front of.”
WSU never picked up a basketball in the practice, as it instead become something of a two-hour therapy session for the Shockers.
“It’s just a matter of being a young team and having some thoughts of selfishness, honestly, that’s what it is,” Marshall said. “The 16 young men in our program, you would be happy to have them in your home for a meal. They are fantastic young people, but like so many young people right now, they’re just conflicted in the ‘me, me, me’ thing opposed to ‘us.’
“I think they figured that out today because their colleagues, their brothers were the ones calling them out, not me.”
The meeting was confrontational, but therapeutic and Marshall went home feeling better about his team than he started the day.
“Maybe it was overdue, maybe I should have done it before this,” Marshall said. “But I think in the end, after a very difficult two hours, we all came out of it feeling cleansed. So I hope that it’s done.
“I think (Monday) was a step in the right direction, maybe two or three steps in the right direction.”
‘We’re going to work with him’
WSU won its next three games — at UCF, then at home against Tulane and South Florida — before losing another close game to Cincinnati, 67-64, on the road.
Freshman point guard Grant Sherfield started the game at Cincinnati, but was pulled at the 16:41 mark of the second half and did not play again. Marshall was aggravated with the freshman about his poor body language following a turnover that directly led to a three-point play for Cincinnati at the other end.
Sherfield and Marshall had a meeting two days after the game and came to an agreement on what the freshman needed to do to play for the coach. Marshall essentially issued a one-game suspension for Sherfield, who sat out the next game against Temple.
“I want him to do some things a little different and he’s going to try to do that,” Marshall said after WSU’s 72-69 win over the Owls. “We’re going to work with him. He’s a great kid. I love him in my program, but there’s got to be a couple things he’s got to adjust, tweak. It’s not going to be hard if he wants to do it and I think he does. So we’ll move on.”
After the game, Sherfield returned to the court at Koch Arena, still wearing his warm-up shirt and uniform, and practiced shooting for nearly 30 minutes on his own.
‘I’m not used to that and I’m at the end of my rope’
What came next was one of the greatest road comebacks in Division I history, a feat made even more impressive considering that two weeks later five players would announce their departure from the program.
Not that you could tell when the Shockers outscored SMU 50-26 in the final 14 minutes, rallying from a 24-point deficit and winning 66-62. It was the largest come-from-behind victory in program history and the second-largest comeback in Division I this season. ESPN calculated WSU’s winning probability at two-tenths of one percent when it trailed by 24 points with 14 minutes remaining.
“We had a lot riding on this game and when we got down big, the easy thing to do was just quit,” Dennis said. “I think a lot of us said to ourselves we’re not going to go down like this. We’re going down sluggin’, not in the fetal position.”
But following the game, in what should have been a triumphant news conference, Marshall was irked once again by poor body language from certain players on his team. Although he did not name any players, it’s not a stretch to assume the comment was directed at Stevenson, who started the game but only played nine minutes and did not play the second half.
“Not everyone 100% of the time is giving me positive vibes and positive energy, and I’m not used to that, and I’m at the end of my rope,” Marshall said after the historic comeback.
Sherfield returned to the court for WSU and played a pivotal role in the comeback, scoring 14 points and handing out six assists off the bench. But two weeks after the performance, Sherfield would enter his name in the transfer portal.
“Coach Marshall is pushing me to be the best that I can be,” Sherfield said after the game. “I’m going to keep taking on that challenge and keep trying to get better every day.”
“Once again, I credit Gregg Marshall for being transparent and having a great conversation with him and those two for growing their relationship,” Sherfield’s father, Antione, said.
WSU ended the game on a 40-12 run for the improbable victory with a team that would end up splintering in two weeks’ time. Whether the players decided to play for their own individual pride or for each other, WSU was able to put its differences aside under Marshall and turn the near-impossible into reality.
“I just told them how proud I am of them,” Marshall said. “I’ve been very fortunate I’ve won a lot of games as a coach because I have had players that have this type of character.”
“Winning is hard and it’s easy to throw in the towel and give up,” Dennis said. “I think we showed a lot of character and toughness in the last 15 minutes of the game to pull out a win when it really looked like it was over.”
‘These guys have so much going on, it’s amazing’
WSU dropped its next game on the road to Memphis, which left the team in a must-win situation for its NCAA Tournament at-large hopes in the regular-season finale against AAC champion Tulsa.
According to those in the program, Jaime Echenique had been the glue trying to hold the team together. The 6-foot-11 senior from Colombia was so desperate to play in the NCAA Tournament that he offered to redshirt in October, so he could come back when WSU’s underclassmen had another year of experience to make an even stronger run next season. When Marshall quickly dismissed that idea, Echenique, a jovial figure but one who was mostly silent last season, developed into a fiery vocal leader on the team as the lone senior.
In the emotional practice following the 33-point loss at Houston, Echenique was the first player to speak up and address the issues with his teammates.
“He said that to the guys, ‘I don’t have a next year now, this is it for me. I’m begging you to put aside whatever pettiness and jealousy you have and play for me just as I play for you every night,’” Marshall recalled. “It was pretty powerful stuff. It was very, very well-spoken.”
With all that Echenique had done for the team — on and off the court — through the season, WSU’s players were able to once again discard their differences and unite to play for their lone senior. WSU delivered one of its most crisp performances of the season in a 79-57 drubbing of Tulsa, a rival and conference champion.
“For him, the guys rallied,” Marshall said. “We’ve played here and there, but today it didn’t matter, today on his senior day, we honored him with that effort.”
Without their knowledge, it would be the team’s final game together.
“It was our last opportunity to put on a show for our fans,” WSU sophomore Jamarius Burton said. “We wanted to go out on a victory, a high note, and we wanted to send Jaime off the right way with a win.”
In what would be his final game as a Shocker, Stevenson snapped out of his late-season slump and scored a team-high 18 points off the bench. Stevenson was not made available to speak with reporters after the game.
When discussing Stevenson’s breakout performance, Marshall brought up all of the potential distractions that college basketball face in today’s society.
“He looked like the Erik from earlier in the year,” Marshall said. “Didn’t look like any ailments, physically or mentally. I’m just glad he was able to rally.
“These guys have so much going on, it’s amazing what we deal with now from just a personal perspective. All of them have so much going on with the social media and the families and the friends and coaches.”
‘That’s when things started to go downhill’
WSU traveled the next week to Fort Worth, Texas in preparation for the AAC Tournament, which the Shockers hoped to use as a springboard into a return to March Madness. That feel-good ending was never possible, as all postseason play was canceled — first, the American; later on the same day, the NCAA Tournament.
It was an unceremonious end to a 23-8 season for WSU and the collegiate career for Echenique. WSU returned to Wichita last Thursday evening. The next day, Stevenson, Burton, Noah Fernandes, DeAntoni Gordon and walk-on Tate Busse entered their names into the NCAA transfer portal. On Monday, Sherfield followed and became the fifth scholarship player to decide to leave the program.
On the same day he announced he was leaving, Stevenson gave The Eagle an exclusive interview and stated a deteriorating relationship with the coaching staff as the reason behind his transfer.
“I felt like I showed what I could do at the highest level,” Stevenson said. “When I had the confidence from Coach (Marshall) and the staff and I wasn’t looking over my shoulder after every mistake, I was the leader of the team and we were winning games and winning by big margins.
“But when the confidence from the staff went away and the one-mistake, come-out rule went into place, that’s when things started to go downhill. I think the former players know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Stevenson did not want to speak for the other players who had also decided to leave, but he said thought WSU’s coaching staff should also share a portion of the blame for how turbulent the final two months of the season were.
“Coach (Marshall) kind of covered up a lot of stuff and kind of put it on the players having problems,” Stevenson said. “I’m not going to say it was only the players who had problems. Obviously we had an up-and-down year, but the coaching staff had a big part in that too.”
But Marshall received a strong endorsement from WSU freshman Tyson Etienne, who posted on his Twitter that he was staying.
“Sad to see my brothers go,” Etienne wrote. “I will cherish the bond I created with them forever and I wish them all the best in their next chapter. As for me, I truly believe in coaches’ vision for this program and his vision for me. I will have his back and our programs’ back. And do whatever is needed for us to be successful in this upcoming season. I made a promise to him, to Shocker Nation, and to myself to win in black and yellow. I will be returning to the Roundhouse next season to play in front of the best fans in all of college basketball.”
In hindsight, WSU’s 23 regular-season wins were even more impressive considering the off-the-court drama that Marshall and his players were sorting through for the entire second half of the season.
“We got 23 wins, that’s a lot of basketball wins,” Marshall said. “I don’t know how many teams in the country that have 23 wins, but I bet it’s not 40 or 50.”
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