‘He earned his stripes’: Chaunce Jenkins makes most of opportunity for Wichita State
The phone calls back home to Virginia during the first week of the college basketball season were rough ones for Wichita State freshman guard Chaunce Jenkins.
Frustration mounted when he did not play in either of the Shockers’ first two games of the season. Calls back home to his family and former coaches helped keep him level.
“I just kept my faith and listened to my camp around me,” Jenkins said. “I’ve got a great support system telling me to keep going. I just kept working. I knew the opportunity was going to come and I had confidence when I stepped out there. It was just natural.”
Jenkins certainly looked natural in his first action of the season in Wichita State’s 65-51 win over Tarleton State at Koch Arena on Tuesday. The 6-foot-4 guard in his second season at WSU capitalized on the opportunity presented with WSU star Tyson Etienne missing the game due to an illness.
It didn’t take long for Jenkins to make an impact, as he drilled a deep three-pointer in his first minute on the court. But his highlight of the night came on a dunk, beating his defender off the dribble, rising above another and flushing it home with two hands and pulling himself up on the rim, much to the delight of Shocker fans.
Jenkins went from not playing a single possession to playing the most at shooting guard (55% of possessions) for the Shockers on Tuesday. He finished with five points, two assists, two steals and one charge taken, as WSU outscored the opposition 38-26 in his 19 minutes.
“I’m so excited for that kid,” WSU coach Isaac Brown said. “We continued to tell him to trust the process. You’re playing behind Tyson Etienne, one of the best players in the country. When you get your opportunity, you have to come in and be ready to play. I thought he did a tremendous job of that.”
Jenkins has earned a reputation from his teammates in practices as a star-in-waiting on offense. Minutes are hard to come by playing behind Etienne, the preseason American Athletic Conference Player of the Year, but Jenkins showed on Tuesday he can be ready to provide a scoring punch off the bench in a pinch.
“We talk every night and I know he’s just waiting his turn,” WSU sophomore forward Monzy Jackson said. “When coach called his number, I knew he was going to show out. There’s more in store for him. It’s only going to get greater.”
Scoring was a known commodity of Jenkins, something the coaching staff was confident he could do. The path to more playing time going forward? Jenkins needed to earn the trust of the coaching staff with his play on the defensive end.
He made a compelling case on Tuesday that is sure to go a long way in that regard, as Jenkins played a near-perfect defensive game in his 19 minutes on the court.
Jenkins used the quickness and athleticism that make him so hard to guard on offense to contain would-be drives by Tarleton State. In fact, he moved his feet so well on defense that the ball handler turned the ball over five times trying to go at Jenkins, including once when he took a charge and another when he stripped Tarleton State’s star senior guard Montre’ Gipson.
He was consistent in making sure to box out his man and followed WSU’s team defensive help principles, digging down one pass away to force the driver to kick the ball out. Maybe most impressively, Jenkins never succumbed to the ball-watching lapses that are so common in players with little experience.
There was even one possession where a teammate was caught ball-watching and gave up a back-door cut that usually would have gone for a dunk. Instead, Jenkins had the awareness to identify the cutter and the anticipation to jump the passing lane, contest the catch and force the turnover when the ball bounced off the hands of the Tarleton State player. It was an advanced read that a junior or senior would be proud of, let alone a freshman.
“I’m definitely proud of that,” Jenkins said. “When I go out there, I take pride in my defense and executing.”
If Jenkins can replicate efforts like that on the defensive end, then he could force his way into WSU’s rotation this season even with Etienne back.
“He earned his stripes tonight,” Jackson said of Jenkins.
It was a two-way performance that Jenkins has been waiting on for a year-plus in his time with the Shockers.
He was ready when his opportunity came on Tuesday, but he wasn’t satisfied just yet.
“I know I’m going to get a lot of pats on the back, but I’m not getting complacent,” Jenkins said. “I know this is just the beginning. I’m going to keep going.”
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