Why Gus Okafor believes he can be a matchup problem for Wichita State basketball team
Playing bigger than his height has never been a problem for Gus Okafor on the basketball court.
It all started for the Wichita State newcomer when he was growing up in the suburbs of Baltimore in a household that featured another future Division I basketball player. Okafor became used to always looking up, both figuratively and literally, to his older brother Victor, who would grow to be 6 foot 8 and 230 pounds.
Battling against his brother helped instill a mentality that Okafor, who is 6-6 and 230 pounds, used to become a star player at Southeastern Louisiana splitting time at small forward, power forward and center the past two seasons. He is coming off his best college season to date when he averaged 14.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.8 made three-pointers to earn first team all-Southland Conference honors, which attracted recruiting interest from Georgetown and Mississippi State when he entered the transfer portal in April.
But Okafor picked Wichita State because he believes he can be the ideal stretch power forward for head coach Isaac Brown. With no returners at power forward, Okafor could help fill a need for the Shockers this upcoming season.
“I was for sure a matchup problem at the four at Southeastern,” Okafor said. “The advantage I have is that I’m usually stronger than the average four and then I’m also quicker than them. I feel like I can guard anyone on defense and then on offense they’re going to struggle to guard me.”
Wichita State is no stranger to starting undersized power forwards in its lineups after the last three seasons with Trey Wade (6 foot 6) and Joe Pleasant (6 foot 7). But the lack of height at the position seems to correlate with WSU’s rapid decline in defensive rebounding the last two seasons.
Can Okafor hold his own down low? He believes his 7-foot-1 wingspan and quick second jump give him the tools to compete for boards with bigger, stronger, more athletic players in the American Athletic Conference. Okafor does have a solid track record, as he grabbed 18.2% of available defensive rebounds while on the floor last season, a rate just higher than WSU center Morris Udeze posted.
Not only does he believe he can hold his own on the low block, Okafor says his wingspan and mobility will allow him to guard comfortably on the perimeter and switching in pick-and-roll exchanges. That kind of defensive versatility has been something Brown has identified in recruiting as an area to upgrade for this season.
While Wade and Pleasant did almost all of their work behind the scenes, Okafor could be WSU’s most impactful starting power forward, from a statistical standpoint at least, since Markis McDuffie in his all-conference 2018-19 season. Averaging 13.7 points and drilling 106 three-pointers in 58 games at Southeastern Louisiana is a nice body of work, but Okafor knows he will have to elevate his game because the tricks that worked in the Southland, the 31st-ranked conference in the country by Ken Pomeroy, won’t translate in the American.
“I just want to focus on showing how efficient my game can be,” Okafor said. “I’m trying to take less dribbles and take more efficient shots.”
For Southeastern Louisiana, Okafor had to do a lot of the heavy lifting on offense and finished with a 23.7% usage rating (similar to Ricky Council IV’s usage at WSU this past season). He won’t be required to take on that kind of burden for the Shockers, which is promising for him to be able to focus on what he does best: use his athleticism to run the floor, make explosive cuts toward the rim and hunt open jump shots.
Okafor relied a little too much on being a high-volume jump shooter last season for the Lions, which wore him down over the course of the season. He was shooting 45.9% from the floor and attempting 4.6 threes per game on 41.5% accuracy through the season’s first 14 games, but finished the season shooting 42% from the floor and attempting 5.6 threes per game on 32.6% accuracy with the heavy workload eventually wearing him down.
“I watched the film and I started to notice the things I didn’t do on my shot when I missed,” Okafor said. “Usually I wasn’t holding my form. So I’ve been practicing hard this summer on making sure I keep the same form every time I shoot, even when I’m tired.”
Okafor hopes by improving the quality of his shot selection it will allow him to hover around the 40% mark on threes for an entire season with the Shockers. Anything close to that would be a significant improvement for WSU on recent production from the position, as Wade and Pleasant combined to make 0.6 threes per game on 31.8% accuracy on mostly wide-open attempts the last three seasons.
Okafor has proven he can be successful against the likes of Nicholls State, McNeese State and Houston Baptist, the kind of teams that show up for November blowouts at Koch Arena. Can he be effective against the likes of Houston, Memphis and Cincinnati in February and March? Brown believes Okafor is up for the challenge.
In a small sample size of five games against top-100 KenPom opponents last season, Okafor’s shooting percentages dipped to 31.9% from the field and 28.6% on three-pointers with averages of 10.4 points and 6.4 rebounds.
“Shocker fans are going to fall in love with Gus because of his toughness,” Brown said in a statement when Okafor signed with WSU. “He can score from all over the court. He rebounds well and has the ability to guard multiple positions.”
While Okafor is capable of playing small forward, it’s likely he’ll play most of his minutes at power forward. Who he will be competing for minutes with remains up in the air, as senior Alabama transfer James Rojas or returning sophomore Kenny Pohto could potentially slide down to play minutes at power forward and freshman Isaac Abidde, who redshirted last season, also could be an option.
Answers to those questions are still nearly five months away with the start of the college basketball season, but Okafor knows one new advantage will be on his side for his final season: the excitement of playing for a proud program in front of a strong fan base.
“I walked inside the locker room for the first time and I saw all of the conference championships and the whole list of NCAA Tournaments and I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m here now,’” Okafor said. “I can’t wait to play in Koch Arena. Everywhere I’ve been before, I’ve had to bring my own energy because the crowd wasn’t ever too crazy. So I’m used to that. I feel like I’m going to have even more energy with the Wichita fans behind me.”
This story was originally published June 13, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
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