COVID-19 has left Wichita State basketball practicing 4-on-4 ahead of Wednesday opener

The Wichita State men’s basketball team is slated to open its season this week with two games at Koch Arena despite missing five scholarship players and three walk-ons, all of whom are in quarantine following a positive COVID-19 test or identification as close contacts.

Interim head coach Isaac Brown confirmed that WSU will play with just eight total players at 6 p.m. Wednesday against Oral Roberts (ESPN+) and again at 1 p.m. Sunday against Missouri (ESPN2). Both games will be played at Koch Arena without fans.

Junior guard Craig Porter, redshirt freshman forward Josaphat Bilau, and all three freshmen — guard Chaunce Jenkins, wing Ricky Council and forward Jaden Seymour — are all expected to miss WSU’s first two games of the season.

The good news is that WSU’s probable starting lineup of Alterique Gilbert, Tyson Etienne, Dexter Dennis, Trey Wade and Morris Udeze remains unaffected. Junior guard Trevin Wade, sophomore forward Clarence Jackson and center Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler will be the team’s only reserves.

“It’s been a little different in practice,” Brown said on his radio show. “Normally we do a lot of 5-on-5 drills to show them the actions that you’re going to see in a game. We’re having to do those 4-on-4 now. We haven’t had a sub, so we’ve been trying to do a lot of shooting drills and make sure we’re in tip-top shape. Any time you’ve got eight guys, you’ve got to make sure you’re playing smart and staying out of foul trouble.”

WSU was forced to withdraw from the Crossover Classic last week when it had multiple positive COVID-19 tests in its traveling party upon arrival in Sioux Falls, South Dakota last Monday. It was uncertain whether WSU would be forced to suspend practices and undergo a team-wide, 14-day quarantine, like many college basketball teams have done this season.

But WSU has not had any additional players test positive since returning home and the Shockers have practiced four times since last week. WSU personnel have been tested five times in the last week and will be tested two more times before Wednesday’s game against Oral Roberts.

“Something could always come up,” Brown said Tuesday when asked if something could happen to cause cancellation of the game. “We did take another test (Tuesday). I”m not 100% on all that, but I’m pretty sure at any point something could come up. If the physicians said (Wednesday) we couldn’t play, that’s something that we have no control over.”

But on Tuesday afternoon, the Shockers practiced with the assumption that they will play their first game of the season Wednesday.

The limited numbers has forced Brown to alter the style of WSU’s practices. It’s the first time he’s practiced with just eight players in more than 20 years, he said.

“Our normal practice is about two hours and 15 minutes when we have a full team,” Brown said on his radio show. “We’re having to cut back to probably an hour and a half max. We’re doing a lot more shooting and a lot more conditioning and going without body-to-body because we don’t need any injuries right now.”

With talented shooters and play-makers like Gilbert, Etienne and Dennis, Wichita State’s guard play is expected to be the team’s strength this season. Brown said that’s the way it’s looked in practices so far, too.

“We got a lot of guys that can create shots off the bounce,” Brown told local media on Tuesday. “We’ve got a lot of guys that can make threes. We have a good inside game with Morris Udeze and Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler. Trey Wade can also post up inside. But overall, most of our team is guard play. I’m expecting a lot from our guards, but the big guys can also score the ball inside.”

While Oral Roberts is WSU’s lone “buy” game — the original contract had WSU paying Oral Roberts $85,000 to come to Koch Arena — the Golden Eagles are more than capable of pushing the short-handed Shockers. In last season’s meeting against a full-strength WSU team, Oral Roberts trailed by just three points at Koch Arena with 4:47 remaining in the second half of an eventual 68-59 victory for WSU.

ORU was picked to finish second in the Summit League and features a pair of all-league players in 6-foot-8 junior forward Kevin Obanor (12.3 points, 6.9 rebounds last season) and sophomore sharpshooter Max Abmas, who made 38.3% of his three-pointers last season.

“The eight guys we have, they’re coming to practice with a lot of energy, having a lot of fun, and they’re picking their teammates up,” Brown said. “They’re just excited. They’re ready to play They’ve been going against each other since June. Those guys are finally ready to compete against someone else.”

Oral Roberts at Wichita State

Records: ORU 1-1, WSU 0-0

When: 6 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Koch Arena (no fans)

Radio: 103.7 FM

Television: Streaming on ESPN+

Head coach: Isaac Brown, 0-0

Head coach: Paul Mills, 40-57

This story was originally published December 1, 2020 at 8:43 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.