Eleven observations from Wichita State basketball’s season-opening exhibition win
Following a 90-58 exhibition game victory for the Wichita State men’s basketball team over Missouri Southern State, the Eagle has compiled 11 observations from the debut performance of the Shockers to begin the 2021-22 season.
1. Qua Grant makes a difference in his first game
The teammates of Qua Grant, the Division II transfer from West Texas A&M, spent the entire summer raving about his abilities.
On Monday, WSU fans finally got to see what they were talking about. Grant, a 6-foot-1 guard who was a two-time Division II All-American, proved to be the biggest difference-maker for the Shockers and finished his first game in a WSU uniform with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting and a team-high four assists off the bench.
“He was able to go out there and show everybody what we see in practice every day,” WSU star Tyson Etienne said. “He definitely brings a competitive nature. He pushes me. I like it when he guards me in practice. I know I’m getting better. He was able to do that to someone else not wearing Wichita State, so I’m glad he was able to play and get his feet wet playing in front of Shocker nation.”
When WSU was stuck in a rut in the first half, leading by a slim 26-24 margin with a little more than six minutes remaining in the first half, it was Grant’s electric play that sparked the Shockers.
He kicked off a dominant 20-4 stretch to close the first half with an aggressive drive toward the basket for a lay-up. He then brought the crowd to its feet with another drive and this time a slick dump-off pass to Morris Udeze for a thunderous slam. A few plays later, Grant showed off his court vision by pushing a fast break, collapsing the defense in the paint, then whipping a one-hand pass to find a wide-open Chaunce Jenkins in the corner for a three-pointer.
Grant ended the half showing his ability to be a one-man fast break, taking an outlet pass and weaving past a defender for a foul and a basket with eight seconds left.
“I just played my game,” Grant said. “Take what’s given.”
Grant’s ability to break down a set defense in the half-court could prove to be a valuable tool for the Shockers this season, whether he ends up starting or coming off the bench.
According to coaches and teammates, Monday’s performance was exactly what Grant has been doing in practice and exactly why he figures to be an impact player right away for the Shockers.
“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.”
2. Freshman Kenny Pohto continues to impress
Many fans will gravitate toward what Kenny Pohto can do on the offensive end, which is natural when a 6-foot-11 center can shoot the three-ball like the Sweden big man.
But WSU coach Isaac Brown has made it clear Pohto has earned a significant spot in WSU’s rotation not for his shooting, but for his defense. Earlier this summer, Brown told The Eagle that Pohto was the most advanced true freshman on the defensive end at WSU since Dexter Dennis arrived as a defensive stopper from the time he arrived in 2018.
On Monday, Pohto played 18 minutes off the bench as the team’s back-up center and finished with nine points, including a three-pointer, a team-high six rebounds and a team-high two blocks.
“I love Kenny Pohto,” Brown said. “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.”
Ask around and every WSU coach or player will tell you they can’t believe that Pohto is a 19-year-old true freshman.
“He’s mature for a freshman, especially playing big,” WSU star Tyson Etienne said. “I see him competing every day in practice. I pay attention to the stuff he picks up quickly. There’s a lot of tips and tricks we try to teach him and it really doesn’t take him long to pick them up.
“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. I know that. I have 100% confidence in that.”
It’s almost unheard of for a true freshman to arrive at this level of Division I and already be well-versed in a center’s responsibilities in the structure of team defense. Pohto understands post positioning, help defense and when to rotate — details that usually take big men a full season, if not years to grasp.
Perhaps most importantly, at 6-11, Pohto gives WSU some much-needed size around the basket. He showed on Monday that he has the ability to be a shot-blocking presence around the rim, swatting away two shots, and also the ability to suck up defensive rebounds (he grabbed five) with his height advantage.
“He’s a smart player,” Brown said. “He played all summer long with his international team. And anytime you can go to a prep school like Sunrise and get that great coaching, it puts you ahead of schedule. He understands angles. He does a great job of listening to the scouting report and he’s a grown man. He’s been over in the U.S. for (three) years on his own and that helped him mature a little faster.”
WSU was near its best with Pohto on the court, as the Shockers scored 1.27 points per possession and allowed just 0.73 points per possession — both above the game averages for WSU.
While starting center Morris Udeze is likely to play somewhere between 25 and 30 minutes per game, barring foul trouble, Pohto’s emergence as a reliable option immediately solidifies what was once considered a question mark in the rotation.
“Ever since he got here, I knew he was going to be a really good player,” WSU wing Ricky Council IV said of Pohto. “I remember when he got here, I took him to the Y and we were playing 1-on-1 and I was like, ‘He’s going to be really good.’ Just learning the college game and getting a feel is going to help him. I think he’s ready. You’re going to see a lot of that this season.”
3. WSU changes the game with a press in potential sign of things to come
WSU coach Isaac Brown didn’t plan on employing the team’s full-court press in the exhibition game.
Then again, he probably didn’t plan on the Shockers falling behind, 19-18, midway through the first half to Missouri Southern State, either.
“I thought we had to do that,” Brown said. “When they went up one point, I decided to go ahead and press. I didn’t want to press coming into the game, but after they took the lead, I felt like we had to make it a full-court game.”
The press sped the game up and allowed WSU’s athleticism advantage to take over. Even when Missouri Southern State didn’t turn the ball over, the Lions often took quick shots and rushed their decisions.
WSU outscored MSSU, 28-9, after switching to the full-court pressure and turned 16 turnovers into 24 points in the game.
“I thought our guys did a tremendous job in traps and protecting the rim and forcing them into turnovers, which allowed us to get a lot of easy baskets,” Brown said.
“That’s what we like to do,” WSU’s Ricky Council said. “We’re a transition team. When we get in transition, we’re hard to stop. That’s what got us going (tonight).”
The Shockers were successfully able to swing a handful of games last season with their full-court pressure. With an even more athletic team that wants to play faster, it’s likely Brown will turn up the pressure more often this season.
“You can’t continue to do the same things. The opposition is going to scheme against that,” WSU star Tyson Etienne said. “You have to throw a wrench out there to throw them off. When you throw pressure in a game, it changes the pace. We want to dictate the pace of the game. We don’t want to be dictated by the other team. I think us adding a little pressure wrinkle definitely changed how the game moved. We were able to get to the open floor and get some turnovers. That stopped their rhythm and helped us get some momentum.”
4. Defensive rebounding still a work in progress
It may seem concerning that Missouri Southern State was able to grab 11 offensive rebounds against Wichita State, but a clearer picture can be gained by looking at the total numbers.
Yes, WSU gave up 11 offensive rebounds, but it secured 38 defensive rebounds for a 77.6% board-out rate, a mark that would have made the best of Gregg Marshall’s teams proud.
After finishing as one of the worst Division I teams in defensive rebounding last season (WSU ranked No. 332 out of 347 teams), the Shockers are determined to improve that facet of their defense this season.
“I don’t know how many times coach (Isaac) 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.”
On Monday, WSU at times struggled to corral long rebounds following missed three-pointers by Missouri Southern State. In fact, seven of MSSU’s 11 offensive rebounds came following a three-point miss and eight of them were grabbed by players who were 6-foot-5 or smaller.
“We told our guards, ‘You’ve got to do a better job of checking your guy out and picking up those loose balls at the three-point line,’” Brown said.
In order for WSU to improve its team rebounding, every player — maybe even guards especially — will need to pitch in. On Monday, the point guards and shooting guards combined to grab more defensive rebounds (14 to 12) than the power forwards and centers.
“It’s extremely deflating to play as hard as we play on the defensive end, then to let up an offensive rebound,” said Tyson Etienne, who had five defensive rebounds. “I think the guards need to be rebounding at the elbows and not getting so deep in the paint. Playing back because most of the shots are long rebounds.”
5. WSU shows off balanced scoring in win
For a team that relied upon perhaps a little too much on Tyson Etienne last season, it was an encouraging start to the new season to see eight different players score at least seven points in the exhibition game.
WSU received steady contributions from its trio of veterans in Etienne (10 points, three assists), Morris Udeze (11 points) and Dexter Dennis (seven points, five rebounds, one steal, one block) and super sub Ricky Council (15 points, four rebounds) once again showed his scoring punch off the bench.
But coach Isaac Brown was ecstatic to see some new names fill up the stat sheet, like transfer Qua Grant (11 points, four assists), Craig Porter (nine points, six rebounds), freshman Kenny Pohto (nine points, six rebounds, two blocks) and Chaunce Jenkins (seven points).
“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.”
Brown was able to spread the playing time out, as no one played more than 25 minutes and 10 players were able to log at least 13 minutes. It was also encouraging for WSU to see 11 different players score, as Monzy Jackson was the only scoreless Shocker but still found a way to make a difference with a team-high six rebounds and two steals while posting a plus-21 in his 17 minutes.
“We showed we have a balanced attack,” Etienne said. “Everybody was able to touch the basketball and we made the right looks, even some of the extra passes where the shot didn’t drop, but the fact we made the extra pass was important. At the end of the day, we’re still getting used to playing with each other in a full-game setting. Obviously there’s going to be some learning curve.”
6. Here was the best lineup for the Shockers on Monday
The box score shows that the most good things happened for WSU when Qua Grant was on the floor, as the Shockers outscored their competition by 24 points in his 18-plus minutes.
But it’s important to examine who Grant was sharing the floor with when the Shockers were at their peak.
The lineup that proved to be the most potent from the exhibition game saw Grant playing alongside the four other starters — Tyson Etienne, Dexter Dennis, Joe Pleasant and Morris Udeze. That unit played three stretches together, dominated each time and outscored Missouri Southern State 18-4 in their 5 minutes, 59 seconds on the court together.
Grant proved to be at his best when sharing the floor with Udeze, as the duo posted a plus-19 rating in just under seven minutes together, while the backcourt pairing of Grant and Etienne yielded WSU a 17-point advantage in the duo’s nine minutes together.
7. Ricky Council’s unwavering confidence wins out
You would be hard-pressed to find a player more confident in their ability to get a basket than Ricky Council IV.
But even his confidence was shaken a bit on Monday when his first shot of the game, a wide-open corner three, hit the side of the backboard.
“That almost three me for the rest of the game,” Council said. “But I told myself at halftime, ‘I got to lock in.’ After that, I just took off.”
After a promising debut season for the Shockers where he showed at times he could be a microwave scorer, Council flashed that same ability on Monday. Even with the slow start, Council’s tenacity for scoring could not be denied and he scored 11 of his game-high 15 points in the second half on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor and 4-for-4 shooting from the foul line.
Council displayed his prowess for scoring from all three levels in the second half. It started when he took his defender off the dribble, backed him into the paint, then turned and perfectly floated a 12-foot rainbow shot into the net. The next time he touched it, Council once again attacked and this time didn’t stop until he finished a layup. And finally, he redeemed himself for the bad corner miss in the first half when he took a skip pass from Tyson Etienne and swished a corner three this time.
To top things off, Council provided his usual highlight-reel dunk near the end of the game to cap off a fast break with an alley-oop slam from Morris Udeze.
Council averaged 18.2 points per 40 minutes last season, second on the team only to Etienne. He has the ability to become WSU’s second-leading scorer behind Etienne this season, but consistency from game-to-game will be the challenge in year two for the North Carolina native.
8. Shockers improving from the foul line
The number in the box score that made WSU coach Isaac Brown the happiest after Monday’s exhibition? WSU making 15 of 18 free throws to shoot 83.3% from the foul line.
After the Shockers shot 50% (17 of 34) from the foul line in their two losses to end last season, Brown has been haunted this offseason by the missed freebies. WSU shot 68% from the line last season, its worst mark since the 2013-14 season.
“I’m really excited going 15 of 18 from the free-throw line,” Brown said in his opening remarks of the game.
WSU had six different players make a free throw, as Ricky Council (4 for 4), Jalen Ricks (3 for 3), Tyson Etienne (2 for 2) and Kenny Pohto (2 for 2) all went perfect from the charity stripe.
9. Udeze experimenting with the three-point shot
Ahead of his fourth season at WSU, Morris Udeze told The Eagle a big focus of his this summer was expanding his range out to the three-point line. It was a bold proclamation for a center who had never made a three-pointer (and only taken two) in his collegiate career that spans 66 games.
But Udeze has made enough three-pointers in practices to earn the green light from the coaching staff to shoot them in games, evident by him attempting two in the exhibition game. The early returns weren’t promising, as Udeze’s first attempt on a pick-and-pop that left him wide open on the right wing barely grazed the side of the rim and his second — at the end of the shot clock — was also a misfire.
Udeze knows his bread will be buttered this season when he’s battering his way to the basket for an array of hook shots, spin moves and foul calls. It may not always be pretty, but don’t be surprised if Udeze hoists the occasional three this season much like Jaime Echenique used to do.
It’s not likely to be a large sample size and all of Udeze’s three-pointers should be completely stand-still, wide-open looks, so it will only prove to be a worthwhile experiment if Udeze can maintain around 40% accuracy.
10. A mixed showing from Craig Porter as starting point guard
After a miserable first season with WSU that saw him spend 60 days in COVID-19 protocol, Craig Porter’s perserverance has paid off with the junior earning the nod as WSU’s starting point guard to start the season.
His first showing as the team’s starting point guard came with some good and some bad.
First, the good: Porter scored nine points, made all four of his shots, and grabbed a team-high six rebounds. At his best, Porter was decisive in attacking out of the high ball screen and showing off an impressive knack for burying his body into the big man, bumping him off, hanging in the air and finishing at the rim. He drew gasps from the crowd when his crossover toppled over a defender, as Porter stepped back and swished a three-pointer.
But the bad was noticeably bad, as Porter committed four turnovers — all having the ball stripped from him — that Missouri Southern State turned into eight points and two missed free throw attempts. Porter failed to record an assist in 17-plus minutes and WSU’s offense struggled to hit its stride (0.82 points per possession) in the 33 possessions with Porter running the point.
While it’s clear Porter must improve upon those numbers, it should be encouraging for him that he found the scoring success he did when he was decisive and aggressive. He ran into problems when he played timidly, something that should be fixable moving forward.
11. Freshman Isaac Abidde held out as a precaution
The only Shocker not to play in the exhibition game was 6-foot-9 freshman Isaac Abidde, who coach Isaac Brown said afterward was hampered by an ankle injury.
Abidde fully participated in warm-ups for WSU before the game, throwing down a handful of dunks and working on his three-point stroke, but he was far enough from 100% where Brown decided not to play him in the tune-up game as a precaution.
The injury isn’t considered serious and with eight more days to go until the regular-season opener, Abidde has enough time to rehabilitate and potentially be ready in time to potentially make his WSU debut against Jacksonville State.
This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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