Wichita State basketball is back at Koch Arena: Shockers roll to exhibition game win
The depth of the Wichita State men’s basketball team was on full display on Monday night in its public debut with a 90-58 win over Missouri Southern State at Koch Arena in an exhibition game.
Not only did 11 of the 12 Shockers score, but eight players finished the game with at least seven points with Ricky Council IV leading the way with a game-high 15 points. Even more impressive was how bench players scored 45 of WSU’s final 60 points to help turn a 13-point, second-half lead into a 32-point blowout win.
WSU will have a full week to prepare for its regular-season opener on Tuesday, Nov. 9 against Jacksonville State in a 7 p.m. game at Koch Arena.
“I was just excited about the fact that guys were cheering for their teammates on the bench,” WSU coach Isaac Brown said. “I told them we wanted to play smart, we wanted to share the basketball and we wanted to take good shots. Everybody is going to play, but we’ve got to take good shots. I feel like they did a good job of passing the ball, making the extra pass to try to get a teammate a shot.”
In many cases, WSU’s athleticism simply overwhelmed their Division II counterparts, evident by the Shockers converting 24 of their 36 two-pointers for a 66.7% success rate. WSU finished the game shooting 52.4% from the field, which included a 9-for-27 performance from beyond the arc, with Brown particularly proud of the Shockers draining 15 of 18 from the foul line.
It was encouraging balance from a team that sometimes relied too much on the individual brilliance of Tyson Etienne, the preseason Player of the Year in the American Athletic Conference. Etienne provided some fireworks early, including a 28-foot pull-up from the Shocker logo, but only scored two points during the final 26 minutes of the game when WSU played its best basketball.
“There’s going to be some nights and some schemes where their whole mission is to stop number one,” said Etienne, who finished with 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting. “There’s going to have to be other people that step up and score buckets, so knowing that we have people capable of doing that is very important to me and my team.”
While veterans like Morris Udeze (11 points) and Dexter Dennis (seven points, five rebounds, one steal, one block) provided their usual consistency, many of the highlights of the night came from newcomers.
Playing in his first Division I game after an All-American career at Division II West Texas A&M, transfer guard Qua Grant lifted the Shockers out of their rut midway through the first half with electric play. The quickness his teammates have raved about all summer was on full display, as Grant knifed his way to the basket almost at will and made positive things happen for the Shockers.
Grant was the engine behind WSU’s dominant 20-4 close to the first half in the final six minutes, highlighted by a drive and a slick dump-off pass to Udeze for a dunk and then an all-out, full-court blitz to the rim in transition that ended with a layup and a foul. In total, Grant made 5 of 7 shots, scored 11 points, dished out a team-high four assists without a turnover and logged a team-best plus-24 in his 19 minutes on the floor.
“Really, it was just taking what the defense gives me,” Grant said. “They weren’t really guarding the paint like that, so we made adjustments and realized we needed to get to the rack.”
“Qua made a difference,” Brown said. “Qua is one of those guys when the other team has elite defenders that want to crawl up in your space, he’s able to create shots off the bounce. I think that opened up everything up for us. The fact he kept getting in the lane and creating shots for himself and getting others shots. He did a tremendous job off the bench and that’s why we recruited him. We thought he was one of those guys who could help impact our team from day one.”
Grant was expected by many to be this good right away for the Shockers. A player that continues to take the team by surprise is 6-foot-11 center Kenny Pohto, who is proving mature beyond his status as a 19-year-old true freshman.
Pohto was solid throughout and superb late, finishing his first game with the Shockers with nine points, including a three-pointer, a team-high six rebounds and a team-high two blocks in 18 minutes off the bench.
“I love Kenny Pohto,” Brown offered up afterwards. “He’s playing a lot of minutes because he can defend. That’s what I try to tell all of the young guys: ‘If you defend and play smart, then you can gain the coaching staff’s trust and you will play.’ He played an excellent game tonight. He can shoot threes. He can score it around the rim. He just understands how to play.”
“He’s a baby if you look at him, but when he continues to develop and continues to get stronger, he’s going to be a monster,” Etienne said. “I know that. I have 100% confidence in that.”
The first 11 minutes of the game were about as sloppy as the offense could be in an exhibition game against a Division II opponent, as WSU piled up seven turnovers in its first 19 possessions and fell behind, 19-18, to Missouri Southern State.
Brown had to resort to employing a full-court press to snap WSU out of its funk, but it did its job: the change of pace swung momentum the Shockers’ way and they rolled without much resistance for the final 25 minutes.
That’s not to say WSU didn’t have its problems, mainly the 15 turnovers — 10 of them coming from the starting five, almost all of them careless mistakes, including four from starting point guard Craig Porter, who managed to negate most of the damage by making all four of his shots for nine points and tying for the team lead with six rebounds.
“I’m happy that we messed up,” Etienne said. “There were some things we messed up. I’m glad that we did that because you won’t learn if you don’t mess up. So we go to the drawing board and handle what we did wrong and go back and improve it. I’m grateful that we did have some mistakes.”
Another issue was allowing Missouri Southern State to grab 11 offensive rebounds, a total that may sound alarming until you consider WSU secured 38 defensive rebounds, which was good for 77.6% — an elite defensive rebounding rate. After giving up four offensive rebounds early in the first half, WSU managed to grab every defensive rebound for the final 13 minutes.
The topic is a bit of a sensitive subject after a season where WSU ranked No. 332 out of 347 Division I teams last season in defensive rebounding.
“I don’t know how many times coach Brown has talked about rebounding,” Council said. “He says it over and over. It’s kind of annoying, but it’s true. So getting on the defensive glass against this team was good for us and it gives us confidence to do that through the whole season.”
This story was originally published November 1, 2021 at 7:48 PM.
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