The emergence of Kenny Pohto gives WSU basketball most potent center tandem in years
The Wichita State men’s basketball team may have its most potent one-two combination at center in four seasons, thanks to a 6-foot-11 true freshman from Sweden who came to the Shockers late in the recruiting process.
The strong play of Kenny Pohto has been one of the brightest spots in Wichita State’s 8-2 start to the season, as the freshman delivered the best game of his young career in Tuesday’s 82-63 win over Alcorn State at Koch Arena with 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals — all career highs — in 19 minutes off the bench.
WSU had a known commodity at center in Morris Udeze, a fourth-year player who thrived last season in a starting role, and now it has a burgeoning star in Pohto. It’s a duo that WSU coach Isaac Brown believes is the best WSU has had since the senior years of Shaquille Morris and Darral Willis in the 2017-18 season.
“Both of those guys could really score the ball on the low blocks and they could shoot threes,” Brown said. “These guys can do the same thing. It’s a great one-two punch.”
The stats back up Brown’s assessment, as Udeze (11.3 points) and Pohto (6.9 points) are averaging a combined 18.2 points — the most for a tandem pairing at center at WSU since Morris (14.0) and Willis (10.5) averaged a combined 24.5 points.
On Tuesday, WSU’s centers had their best game together yet. Udeze finished with his fifth straight double-digit scoring performance, finishing with a team-high 15 points on nine shots and grabbed six rebounds. Together, Udeze and Pohto delivered WSU a combined 29 points, 14 rebounds, two blocks and four steals out of the center position against Alcorn State.
Afterward, Pohto’s teammates raved about his strong start to the season.
“He’s got a bright future ahead of him,” WSU junior point guard Craig Porter said. “He can do everything you ask him to do, the little things, the big things. He can hit big shots, defend ball screens, defend his own man. He holds his own. That’s been a big key for us.”
Although Pohto entered college with the ideal size (6 foot 11, 235 pounds) of a center, there were questions about how an international player would adjust to the physicality of the Division I level. After practicing head-to-head with Pohto since he arrived in August, Udeze can confirm that Pohto has been ready-to-go right away.
“I go against him every day in practice and he’s strong for a freshman,” Udeze said. “Bigs sometimes take a little time to progress at the college level, but he came in and had a great opportunity because we had a player leave during the offseason to come in and play right away. He’s taking advantage of that.”
Brown believes Pohto’s recent experiences have greatly helped his growth early in his college career.
Not only did he play two high-level years with Sunrise Christian Academy, but he also gained valuable international experience playing for Sweden’s under-20 national team this summer at the U-20 Nordic Cup, where he led his home country to a championship and was named the tournament’s MVP in the process.
“I think playing in European basketball int he summer time and playing travel ball all the time has helped,” Brown said. “He’s got a great basketball IQ. Going over to Sunrise with coach Luke (Barnwell), those guys do a tremendous job. They’re great teachers and when you get someone from their program, those guys come in ready because they play a college style over there. He’s just a smart, intelligent basketball player and he came in Day One ready to go on defense and on offense he’s getting his confidence down and he continues to get better and better.”
Talk to anyone on the WSU coaching staff and the first thing they rave about Pohto is how he’s almost always in the right spot. Whether it be in his positioning on defense, spacing the floor on offense or crashing the glass, Pohto is rarely caught out of position.
On Tuesday, Pohto’s nose for the ball helped lead to his best performance as a Shocker. He finished with a game-high five offensive rebounds, which not only extended possessions for WSU but led directly to eight second-chance points for the Shockers. Pohto was able to finish put-backs on three offensive rebounds, then dished an assist to Qua Grant for another basket.
“I just try to read the plays and on defense keep my head on a swivel,” Pohto said. “Back home, it’s a lot of fundamentals. So I’ve been doing this since a young age and I take it with me from Sweden to here.”
Through 10 games, Pohto has the best offensive rebounding rate (13.2%) on the team, which would rank fourth in the American this season if he played more minutes. Pohto has also been WSU’s most efficient scorer this season, posting a team-best 114.3 offensive rating despite shooting just 31.8% on three-pointers — a number coaches feel like could be north of 40%.
On Tuesday, Pohto was able to knock down two three-pointers on pick-and-pop plays partnering with WSU’s point guards. Defenses seem to be willing to risk him shooting wide-open set shots from the perimeter, so if Pohto can continue to connect at a rate like he did against Alcorn State, then the Shockers’ offense can expand even more.
Brown did mention that teams might try to gamble by sticking a smaller forward on Pohto to better cover him on the perimeter, whcih is why the coach wants to see his 6-foot-11 big man grow more comfortable scoring around the basket to counter that.
“A lot of times when he’s in the game, I try to pick and pop but when teams are playing us with smaller guys, I want him to try to start posting him up,” Brown said of Pohto. “He’s gaining more and more confidence. He’s great defensively. He’s always in the right spots and his offense is starting to pick up.”
Pohto’s pick-and-pop ability is a nice contrast for WSU to have off the bench to go to from Udeze, the starter who is a bulldozer more comfortable exerting brute force around the basket to score his points. Having the option of bringing Pohto into the game to drastically alter WSU’s ball-screen offense can be a valuable option to have as the season progresses.
“When Kenny gets his opportunity, we have no problem playing him long minutes,” Brown said. “He gives it up every day in practice. He’s in tip-top shape and he’s going to be a great player for us. He just continues to get better and better.”
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