‘Winning is No. 1’: How Craig Porter found role with Wichita State men’s basketball
Helping his team win in other ways besides scoring is a skill Craig Porter developed a long time ago.
It’s how he helped Vincennes College win an NJCAA national championship as a college freshman and how he earned the starting point guard role this season for the Wichita State men’s basketball team.
Porter, a 6-foot-2 junior from Terre Haute, Indiana, is averaging just 3.4 points this season, but has helped WSU to a 7-2 record entering Tuesday’s 7 p.m. game against Alcorn State with his averages of 4.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.9 blocks — all among the best on the team.
“All my life I’ve been a dude who does everything to make sure he wins,” Porter said. “Winning is the No. 1 thing for me. I know my personal goals are going to come, so any way I can affect the team and affect winning is good for me.”
When Porter is on the floor, the Shockers have a pass-first point guard who is always looking to set others up from his dribble penetration, whether that’s a kick-out to an open shooter on the perimeter or to the rolling big man off the pick-and-roll.
In WSU’s 71-58 win over Norfolk State last Saturday, Porter finished with a career-high seven assists and just one turnover to go along with three rebounds, one block and two steals. He didn’t score a point, but was still mentioned by WSU coach Isaac Brown as one of the key players in the win.
“We talk to the guys all the time about affecting winning without scoring,” Brown said. “That can be a guy who brings energy. That can be a guy that gives assists, giving your teammates around you confidence they’re going to get the basketball. That can be a guy defending. And (Porter) does all of that. He gives us energy. He gets other guys the ball. He does a good job rebounding. He was a great influence on both ends of the floor.”
While players like Tyson Etienne, Ricky Council and Morris Udeze give value to the team with their ability to score points, someone like Porter has earned the respect from his teammates for excelling in other things — like running an offense, soaring above crowds for rebounds, blocking shots and using his quickness for steals.
Basketball coaches love players who make those around them better and Porter fits the bill.
“I think the ultimate measure of a player is how he can impact the game,” Etienne said. “There’s plenty of of people who can score 20, 30 points, but they aren’t necessarily impacting the game elsewhere. Craig gives us a great balance. He’s able to find people and then on defense he’s able to get blocks and steals and give us extra possessions and extra chances (with rebounds). You’re used to guys doing that at the (forward) spots. He does that from a point guard position and that gives us an advantage because their point guard has to worry about (boxing him out), so now he can’t be up the court orchestrating stuff. I think Craig’s skill set is amazing for us.”
Porter’s fingerprints were all over WSU’s best offensive performance in terms of moving and sharing the basketball in the win over Norfolk State. Not only did Porter record a career-high in assists, but the Shockers finished with a season-high 18 assists.
There should be an opportunity for WSU to set a new season high in Tuesday’s game against Alcorn State, a 1-7 team with a defense that is allowing the third-highest assist rate in the country, per KenPom.
“We’ve all been talking as a team and everybody has been buying into what the coaches are telling us,” Porter said. “We’re really bonding as a team and building good relationships. We’re going to put a good 40 minutes together sooner or later. I think (the Norfolk State game) was just a glimpse. It was a good step in the right direction.”
Porter has proven the impact he can have in the other facets of the game, now the next step for him is to add a little more scoring punch to his game. Through nine games, Porter is only taking four shots per game and shooting 27.8% from the field. He’s struggling to finish in the paint and shooting just 22.2% on three-pointers.
He’s already making it work without scoring much, but Porter can level up his game and open the floor up even more for his teammates if he can become a threat scoring. Brown said he has challenged him to do just that in recent practices.
“Every day in practice when Craig gets the ball and they swing it to him and he has a wide-open shot, I’m yelling at him to shoot the ball,” Brown said. “If you’re not going to take that shot now, it’s hard to make those shots in a game. So he’s been doing a better job of taking those shots in practice. He’s just so unselfish, he’s always trying to get his teammates shots. But I need him to be shot prep ready in order to hit a wide-open shot, which I know he can make.”
Alcorn State at Wichita State basketball preview
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Koch Arena (10,506)
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 103.7 FM (Mike Kennedy and Dave Dahl)
Series: WSU leads 1-0 (1-0 in Wichita)
Last meeting: WSU won 77-59 at Koch Arena on Nov. 30, 2009
KenPom says: WSU 74, ASU 54
Projected starting lineups
Wichita State Shockers (7-2)
| Pos. | No. | Player | Ht. | Wt. | Year | Pts | Reb. | Ast. |
| G | 3 | Craig Porter | 6-2 | 185 | Jr. | 3.4 | 4.7 | 2.8 |
| G | 1 | Tyson Etienne | 6-2 | 200 | So. | 15.6 | 2.7 | 2.3 |
| G | 0 | Dexter Dennis | 6-5 | 210 | Jr. | 6.8 | 5.0 | 1.1 |
| F | 32 | Joe Pleasant | 6-8 | 220 | Jr. | 2.6 | 3.1 | 0.3 |
| C | 24 | Morris Udeze | 6-8 | 235 | Jr. | 10.3 | 5.8 | 0.3 |
Coach: Isaac Brown, second season, 23-8
Alcorn State Braves (1-7)
| Pos. | No. | Player | Ht. | Wt. | Year | Pts | Reb. | Ast. |
| G | 3 | Justin Thomas | 5-11 | 180 | Sr. | 5.8 | 3.1 | 3.6 |
| G | 2 | Byron Joshua | 5-10 | 185 | So. | 6.8 | 2.8 | 2.3 |
| G | 11 | Oddyst Walker | 6-3 | 175 | Jr. | 4.4 | 1.6 | 0.1 |
| G | 1 | Dontrell McQuarter | 6-7 | 180 | Jr. | 8.0 | 5.3 | 0.8 |
| F | 0 | Lenell Henry | 6-8 | 200 | Sr. | 7.1 | 6.9 | 0.5 |
Coach: Landon Bussie, second season, 7-20
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