As good as advertised: Craig Porter leads Wichita State basketball to season-opening win
Here is everything Wichita State men’s basketball fans need to know following the Shockers’ 79-55 win over Central Arkansas in the season-opening game at Koch Arena on Monday.
Player of the game
The only candidate was senior point guard Craig Porter, who finished with a career-high and game-high 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting to go with four rebounds, four assists, one block and three steals in just 20 minutes.
X-Factor of the game
Quincy Ballard, the 7-foot sophomore transfer from Florida State, once again showed tantalizing flashes of his raw ability in the second half for the Shockers. He finished the game with 10 points, five rebounds and two blocks in 13 minutes.
Most fans will remember the two blocks to close out the first half and also the ferocious slam dunk he had in the second half, but his presence around the rim on defense and rolling down the lane on offense looks like it will help WSU immediately.
Run of the game
A 20-5 extended run by the Shockers to finish out the final 10 minutes of the first half buried Central Arkansas for good, as the Shockers opened up a 20-point halftime advantage.
WSU jumped out to an 11-0 lead but played its worst stretch over the next six minutes, allowing UCA to claw back to within 14-10. A strong close to the first half erased those memories and took the pressure off WSU’s newcomers for the second half.
Three takeaways
Craig Porter: as good as advertised
Everyone in the program raved all offseason about the improvements of point guard Craig Porter entering his senior season. He was more explosive, more decisive, more aggressive.
Porter was all of those things in Monday’s season opener against Central Arkansas. He started the game in attack mode, scoring a layup less than 15 seconds into the game, and never left en route to a career-high scoring performance of 22 points.
It was a display of how to score on all three levels: by breaking down defenders and finishing at the rim, by making defenders fall with a crossover and draining a three-pointer, by penetrating the paint and then swishing a smooth fadeaway jumper.
Granted, UCA was one of the worst defenses in the country last season, but it was still encouraging for the Shockers to see Porter play exactly how they were hoping he would to start the season.
Wichita State’s starters deliver fast start
After a sluggish start to the exhibition game, where the starters trailed by three exiting the game for the first time and many finished the first half with a negative plus-minus, Wichita State’s starting five of Craig Porter, Xavier Bell, Jaykwon Walton, Gus Okafor and Kenny Pohto delivered an electric start on Monday.
Porter scored a layup less than 15 seconds into the game. WSU made its first three shots and four straight free throws while piecing together five straight defensive stands. The Shockers led 11-0 within the first three minutes.
Although the Shockers suffered through somewhat of a lull immediately following the strong start, the 11-point cushion right off the bat no doubt allowed newcomers like Bell, Walton and Okafor to ease into their first regular-season game at Koch Arena.
This time WSU took a 20-point lead, 41-21, into the locker room.
Defensive rebounding was a problem
There was one stretch in the second half where head coach Isaac Brown benched his starting five in less than a minute because they gave up two straight offensive rebounds.
Because WSU’s shot defense was so impressive — UCA finished shooting 30% from the field — there were a lot of rebounds available on that end of the floor. WSU’s 69% defensive rebounding rate was actually better than what it felt like during the game, but the Shockers will surely be disappointed about allowing UCA to grab 16 offensive rebounds.
This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 9:01 PM.
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