Wichita State basketball tops Norfolk State in second double-digit win of the season
For now, winning a game by double-digits is a step in the right direction for the Wichita State men’s basketball team.
Earning style points, on the other hand, continues to be a work in progress for the Shockers.
It wasn’t always pretty, but Wichita State did manage to register its second double-digit victory of the season Saturday night in a 71-58 win over Norfolk State at Koch Arena.
“I want all of us to come out with a killer instinct and sustain it,” WSU star guard Tyson Etienne said. “We struck first, but then we let off the gears. I know I get frustrated with myself and I think the team also gets frustrated because we can be beating teams by 20 in the first half and not worrying about a nail-biter down the stretch.
“I think we’re due for a whole complete game at this point because ever since last year we’ve been playing like half-games. I know it’s going to come and then we’re going to carry it and sustain it. Any moment could be the moment.”
The Shockers (7-2) are still in search of a performance where they truly bury an opponent, but there were some things to like from how they played against Norfolk State (9-3).
WSU finished with a season-high 18 assists on 25 made baskets in a game where it made 45.5% of its shots and 14 of 16 free throws. The ball movement and made shots were a welcomed sight after the Shockers finished with a season-low eight assists and shot 35.2% from the field in a 65-59 loss to Kansas State on Sunday.
“It felt more fluid as a team because everybody was getting the touches they’ve been looking for,” said WSU point guard Craig Porter, who dished out a career-high seven assists. “The court definitely felt more open when we were moving the ball like that. We talked a lot in practice about swinging it and hitting the open man and making open shots.”
It was a return to efficient scoring for Etienne, who made four three-pointers and scored 16 points on 11 shots. WSU center Morris Udeze registered his fourth straight game in double-digit scoring, tying Etienne for a team-high 16 points to go along with a team-high seven rebounds. Freshman Ricky Council IV also logged a career-high in assists (six) and added nine points, four rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 23 minutes off the bench. Joe Pleasant added a season-high eight points, while Dexter Dennis chipped in 10 points and five rebounds and led another solid defensive effort that limited Norfolk State to 37% shooting and forced 14 turnovers.
“It makes a lot of difference,” WSU coach Isaac Brown said about his team’s ball movement. “Anytime you can move the basketball and it’s not sticking in one person’s hands and you’re not taking 10 dribbles, it’s hard for the defense to guard that. Anytime you can make the defense shift that helps your offense. We did a great job of moving the basketball, setting screens, rolling to the rim and playing inside-out.”
With four practices before Saturday’s game, WSU had plenty of time to work through its offensive issues this week. And for the game’s first nine minutes, the Shockers played just like how they want to — with the ball moving, drivers creating for others, generating and making open shots and even scoring in transition.
It was about as good of start as WSU could have asked for, as the team assisted on seven of its first eight makes and jumped out to a 22-7 lead.
“I thought those first six minutes of the game may have been our best six minutes of the year,” Brown said.
But all of those positives with how WSU started the half were tarnished by how it finished the half. When Norfolk State switched to a match-up zone defense, WSU’s bad habits of poor ball movement, poor cutting, poor screening and poor spacing came back.
The Shockers went nearly 10 minutes in between field goals and suffered through a nearly seven-minute scoreless drought, the exact type of offense they were trying to avoid after it cost them a win to their in-state rival on Sunday.
While it may not always be aesthetically-pleasing for fans, Etienne said those experiences of working through their problems can be valuable for the team.
“I know there was a Wichita State team that went 35-0, but it’s basketball and we’re going to lose basketball games,” Etienne said. “I don’t think it’s the end of the world if we take a loss. I don’t know how much you grow if you win every single time. In my personal opinion, I feel like my team and myself sometimes need to get hit in the mouth. Sometimes getting hit in the mouth means you lose a basketball game. I don’t think that makes us a bad team or a unresilient team.
“We have a great team. We’re going to take some losses, but it’s how we look at each other in the mirror and see how we can get better. I feel like we’re doing a great job of that in the locker room.”
WSU’s problems against the zone allowed Norfolk State to stick around — trailing 37-33 with 16:11 left in the second half — longer than warranted considering the talent gap.
The Shockers didn’t start to pull away until they started funneling the ball to Council in the middle of the zone defense and letting him attack, an adjustment Brown said was made in the locker room at halftime. Council finished with seven points and four assists in the second half.
Council scored or assisted on seven points during the 9-3 WSU run to build a 59-45 with 6:43 remaining.
“We wanted (Council) to catch in the middle and everybody else flatten out and he was able to drive and score,” Brown said. “He was able to make some good passes and scored it. I thought that took them out of their match-up zone.
“I wish we had called it earlier, but we called it and we went to it and were able to attack it.”
WSU was poised for its largest win of the season, building a 15-point lead with a little less than four minutes left. But the Shockers made things interesting with more empty possessions and Norfolk State catching fire, trimming the deficit to 65-58 with 1:41 remaining. Back-to-back threes by Dennis and Etienne officially put the game away.
The exclamation point came when Norfolk State’s Jalen Hawkins stole the ball from Etienne, who was dribbling out the clock with a 13-point lead and the shot clock off, and attempted to steal a layup only for Porter to come swooping in from behind to swat the shot away.
“That one definitely felt pretty good,” Porter said with a smile. “It was kind of a classless act, so I had to make sure Shocker fans know we’re not going to let anything like that slide here.”
WSU will have a somewhat quick turnaround, back in action at Koch Arena for a 7 p.m. Tuesday game against Alcorn State.
Wichita State 71, Norfolk State 58 basketball box score
This story was originally published December 11, 2021 at 8:02 PM.
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