Tyson Etienne is back and ready for ‘legendary season’ with Wichita State basketball
The reigning Co-Player of the Year in the American Athletic Conference is back in Wichita.
After spending the majority of this summer training for the NBA Draft, Tyson Etienne returned to the Wichita State campus on Monday in time for the start of the fall semester and to prepare for his third and likely final season with the Shockers.
With a veteran core of Etienne, Dexter Dennis and Morris Udeze, promising talents like Ricky Council IV and Monzy Jackson, and the addition of ready-now transfers Joe Pleasant and Qua Grant, the New Jersey native thinks the Shockers can do more than just repeat their AAC championship from last season.
“I’m enjoying being back and getting everything started off for what’s going to be a legendary season, in my opinion,” Etienne said. “I understand it’s going to take a day-by-day commitment and a day-by-day trust in the process, trust in the coaching staff and trust in each other for us to get to our ultimate goal. Every team has a goal of winning, but it’s how you approach each day that matters. I’m excited to be back with the guys and to start that process.”
Monday marked the first time this offseason that Etienne shared the court with his WSU teammates, some for the very first time ever, during a series of players-only pick-up games at Koch Arena.
Some might think that after so many months of training to be an NBA guard, Etienne would try to establish himself with the team as the No. 1 scoring threat. In fact, it was the opposite. The 16-point-a-game scorer from a season ago instead chose to play the role of distributor and did it so well, his team won both games despite him not scoring a point.
Instead of looking for his shot early, Etienne began the day deliberately running the high pick-and-roll with center Morris Udeze every time down. He would come off the screen, put his defender in jail with his backside, read the help defense and make the appropriate pass — whether that was slipping a bounce pass to a rolling Udeze to the basket, kicking it to the strong-side wing for a three or making the skip pass to the weak-side corner. Etienne and Udeze showed a strong chemistry already together with Etienne finding Udeze for easy baskets on rolls several times throughout the day.
In a game of pick-up where most players were looking to improve their shot-making, Etienne was already preparing for the type of passes he will have to make come November when he is expected to initiate WSU’s offense more than he did last season.
At the start of one game, another defender walked over to match up with Etienne, who quickly demanded Dexter Dennis, regarded as the team’s best on-ball defender, play defense on him instead. For Etienne, it wasn’t good enough to just practice his ball-handling and decision-making in a practice setting — he wanted to make sure he was executing it against the best competition.
There was another example of when Etienne caught a pass standing wide open in the corner, a shot he would pull without hesitation every time during an actual game. But in this setting, he instead skipped it over to freshman Chaunce Jenkins, who stepped into the three and swished it. Little details like that — a star player trusting his up-and-coming younger teammate to make the shot — are what makes players gravitate toward Etienne as a team leader.
“For me, everything has become a lot more detailed and a lot more fine-tuned,” Etienne said. “I tried to focus on a specific skill in each game, as opposed to trying to win the game each time. Today it was a lot of ball screens and making the extra pass. I didn’t shoot the ball a lot, so I was trying to understand my reads and how my new teammates move without the basketball and where they want the ball. I focused on the small details in each game and I think that will not only make me a better player, but I think that will improve our team chemistry overall.”
One newcomer who meshed well with Etienne right away was Pleasant, a fourth-year transfer forward from Abilene Christian. Whether it was spotting up along the perimeter ready to burn a three-pointer on a kick-out or cutting without the basketball for back-door passes, Pleasant had a strong rapport with Etienne running the offense and seemed to always be in the right spot.
Eventually, Etienne began to ease into the game and started hoisting up more and more shots. It wasn’t a particularly good shooting day for the 6-foot-2 guard, but he did show flashes of what made him the AAC Co-Player of the Year on an array of hand-in-the-face, can’t-do-anything-about-it fadeaway jumpers and even a 28-foot, pull-up three reminiscent of Dame Lillard.
Afterward, Etienne was more excited to talk about his teammates than he was about his own performance.
He liked the strength, shooting and tenacity of transfer guard Qua Grant. He noted the three-point shooting ability of freshman big man Kenny Pohto and how smooth freshman wing Jalen Ricks looks for just an 18-year-old.
But its the summer improvements of WSU’s returners that has Etienne most excited about this upcoming season.
“I can tell you right now that everyone has improved,” Etienne said. “I’m extremely impressed with Dexter. I can tell he’s put in a lot of work this summer. He’s moving with a confidence that I haven’t seen from him before. Big Mo is a lot more patient in the post. We all know that Ricky is a freak. He has a chance to be really, really special. I can tell Chaunce, Craig and Monzy have all been working hard this summer when I wasn’t here too. I’m excited because when everybody makes strides to improve their game, then as a collective we will improve as a team.”
This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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