As Wichita State basketball returns home, the Shockers must fix their assist problem
Taking two of the last three games away from home can be chalked up as a victory, but a problem has emerged on the Wichita State men’s basketball team.
The Shockers’ offense is almost completely devoid of assists, the result of a combination of the team struggling to create assist-worthy plays and the players struggling to make shots on the few they do generate.
Add it all up and Wichita State (3-2) is averaging just 7.8 assists per game, the ninth-lowest total in the country, ahead of its return to Koch Arena for Saturday’s 3 p.m. game against Tarleton State (3-2) that will be streamed on ESPN+.
WSU is assisting on just 34% of made baskets, which ranks No. 358 nationally, a stark drop-off for a program that has produced at least a 51% assist rate in every season since 1987. Even more troubling is that the team has almost no one else making plays for others outside of star point guard Craig Porter, who essentially has half of the team’s assists.
Assists have been at a premium this season for a team that ranks in the bottom-50 nationally in effective field goal percentage (44.5%) and is one of the worst jump-shooting teams in the country; WSU is shooting 25.5% beyond the arc and 25.7% on catch-and-shoot jumpers, a bottom-15 mark nationally.
“We’re just not moving the ball as well as we should,” WSU head coach Isaac Brown remarked after losing to San Francisco in the Hall of Fame Classic championship game.
Some of WSU’s flaws are covered up by its tenacity, which has translated to second-chance points through offensive rebounds and timely defensive stands, but an improvement in the half-court offense must be made to avoid mediocrity.
The Shockers are coming off their two worst performances of the season in terms of efficiency in the half-court (0.76 points per possession vs. Grand Canyon and 0.68 points per possession vs. San Francisco, per Synergy) and The Eagle has selected clips to highlight the ways the team can improve.
Wichita State takes the easy way out on offense too often
A reason why WSU’s ball-screen offense lacks punch is because the Shockers rarely create an advantage for the ball handler from the screen.
This was evident on a second-half possession against San Francisco when WSU ran Kenny Pohto out to set a high ball screen for Craig Porter, but Pohto’s screen failed to connect with Porter’s defender, who easily sidestepped the pick to stay with Porter.
USF was also mostly playing drop coverage on ball screens for Porter, instructing its bigs to stay back on defense at the foul line to try to prevent WSU’s star point guard from driving the lane. The trade-off is that it left Pohto wide open for pops to the perimeter, but the 6-foot-11 Swedish big man showed no interest in launching threes, seemingly deterred from an icy 2-for-14 start from beyond the arc this season.
That played right into the hands of the Dons’ defense, as they were able to wall up against Porter and not risk any threat of Pohto hurting them from deep.
That was the case on this second-half possession, as Porter passed back to an open Pohto, who turned down the three and allowed USF’s defense to recover. The ball went to the other side for a half-speed pick-and-roll between Gus Okafor and Jaron Pierre that ended with Pierre pulling a contested off-the-dribble three with 11 seconds left on the shot clock.
Instead of running through its sets with a purpose, which could lead to three or four different chances to create a good shot, WSU is locked in to its first look (without the attention to detail to create it). And when it isn’t there, the Shockers almost always take the easy way out with side-to-side swing passes for contested jumpers.
When the first option on a play isn’t there, WSU needs to learn better discipline to keep hunting a good look on the second or third option before settling for those jumpers at the end of the shot clock.
Lack of attention to detail derails the Shockers’ offense
Wichita State’s problem isn’t a lack of creativity right now; it’s a lack in execution.
Take this early possession against San Francisco for example, when WSU cleared the left side of the floor to set up an empty-side pick-and-roll between Jaykwon Walton and Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler.
In theory, WSU should be able to put the Dons’ center in a bind with no help defense: Either corral Walton, the ball handler, or cover the rolling big, Poor Bear-Chandler, to the rim.
In reality, WSU put no strain on USF’s defense.
Craig Porter didn’t vacate the left corner on time, which kept the paint clogged — not that it mattered, because Poor Bear-Chandler was unable to set an effective screen above the arc, failing to find the right angle to take out the on-ball defender and allow Walton to attack the USF big in drop coverage.
WSU’s other three players stood planted and motionless along the three-point line on the right side of the court, presenting no threat and allowing USF’s help defense to form what must have looked like an impenetrable wall to Walton. The only choice was to kick to James Rojas, who hoisted a contested three well behind the line that missed.
The play should have been a quick-hitter that put the defense in an uncomfortable spot. Instead, the Shockers’ lack of attention to detail derailed the play and let USF dictate the shot.
Crisp cuts, screens and passes are a rarity for WSU
A major problem with WSU’s offense in Kansas City was the overall lack of intensity. Crisp cuts, screens and passes were a rarity, which made creating assists even more difficult.
An early possession against San Francisco highlighted the issue, as WSU wanted to run Craig Porter off a UCLA screen to try to establish position for a post-up feed, but the Shockers looked like they were running through the motions less than four minutes into the game and failed to get the look they wanted.
The first look was blown up when Porter jogged across the floor and center Kenny Pohto didn’t attempt to set a screen, but WSU still could have found success on the possession because of some sloppy defense from USF.
Miscommunication by the Dons briefly left Jaykwon Walton wide open on the perimeter and ultimately forced their 7-foot-1 center to guard Walton and their 6-foot-5 wing to guard Pohto. WSU tried to exploit the mismatch in the post, but the problem was that James Rojas’ defender did not hesitate to completely leave him to camp out in the lane to discourage the post feed.
WSU has to find some way to make defenses pay for completely leaving players on the perimeter, either by quickly swinging the ball to find an open three or by having Rojas cut into empty space for a pass to collapse the defense.
On a play call that should have featured at least one pass inside the arc, WSU made none and chose instead to swing the ball around the perimeter before Walton settled for a deep three over a 7-1 contest with 13 seconds left on the shot clock.
The difference between winning and losing comes down to details
A perfect example of the difference in execution came in the Hall of Fame Classic championship game when Wichita State and San Francisco ran the same exact play to much different results.
The play is known as Spain pick-and-roll, which is a normal pick-and-roll that features the twist of the screener receiving a back screen when he rolls to the basket.
The Shockers tried to run this play in the second half with Kenny Pohto setting a high ball screen for Craig Porter, then shooting guard Jaron Pierre creeping up to set the back screen on Pohto’s defender. WSU’s issue once again existed in the details.
With USF’s center camped out at the free throw line in drop coverage against the ball screen, there was no reason for Pohto to set the ball screen five feet past the three-point line. Instead, he could have set the screen right on the line and allowed Porter to apply more pressure on the defense coming off the screen closer to the basket.
Because USF’s center was so far back and the screen was set so far up, the timing of the play was thrown completely off and Pierre failed to make contact on the back screen to Pohto’s defender. Even with the lack of screening, Pohto was still open underneath the basket, but Porter couldn’t slot the pass around the reach of USF’s 6-foot-9 center Zane Meeks. The play resulted in a turnover.
Compare that to the time when USF ran the Spain pick-and-roll in the first half and the differences came to light.
Granted, WSU played a different defensive coverage on screens, which made it easier for USF, but there’s no denying the Dons ran the play with a more crisp pace and with more crisp execution.
The key is that the back screen was actually delivered, which allowed 7-foot-1 center Saba Gigiberia to roll freely down the lane and score while being fouled for a three-point play — a blueprint for the Shockers in future games.
This story was originally published November 25, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
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