Wichita State basketball battling inexperience in losses, as team seeks consistency
Nearly halfway through the season, progress for the Wichita State men’s basketball team has been stunted by many of the same issues.
Outside shooting, defensive rebounding and turnovers continue to plague the Shockers in their 7-7 start to the season, which includes an 0-2 record in American Athletic Conference play.
Head coach Isaac Brown believes WSU isn’t as far from a turnaround as its mediocre record suggests, pointing out that his team has been in position to rally for victory down the stretch in all seven games it has lost.
But devoting so much practice time in January to details that should be second-nature to players by now, like boxing out when shots go up, taking good shots and making smart passes, has been frustrating for everyone involved.
“It’s a little disappointing this late in the year, 14 games and two conference games, that we’re making the same mistakes,” Brown said. “I think our guys are playing hard; I don’t think we’re playing smart. I don’t think we’re communicating at the level we need to communicate at.
“Losing will not be tolerated here and we’ve got to play better and find a way to fix it.”
Many of those ailments come with the territory of drastic roster turnover like the kind WSU endured this past offseason with double-digit newcomers, which left Brown working with one of the most inexperienced (No. 273 in D-1 experience, per KenPom.com) and newest (No. 320 in minutes continuity) rosters in the country.
For every successful reload on the fly, like what Purdue, Arkansas, Duke, Alabama and Illinois have done, there is a team just like the Shockers struggling to find consistency with a new and inexperienced roster, like Washington State (6-9), South Carolina (7-7), Northern Iowa (6-8), Colorado (9-6) and Louisville (2-13).
“It’s a bunch of new guys, but we’re 14 games in. Guys have got to get out of their comfort zone and start talking,” Brown said. “The teams that are successful are the ones that communicate. We’re trying to show those guys that on film every day in practice. We’ve got to take that into a game and be able to talk to each other about who’s back, who’s picking up the ball, yelling out ball screen coverages. You have to be loud and intimidating with your voice.”
After the lack of communication led to several defensive miscues in a home loss to East Carolina this past weekend, the Shockers’ improvement from three days of practice will be put to the test in a big way when they host Cincinnati (10-5, 1-1 AAC) for an 8 p.m. game Thursday at Koch Arena with the broadcast on ESPNU.
Not only are the Bearcats one of the most experienced teams in the country (No. 43 in KenPom’s D-1 experience) with AAC veterans like David DeJulius, Landers Nolley, Mika Adams-Woods and Jeremiah Davenport, but they have won nine of the last 10 meetings in the series. With Cincinnati departing for the Big 12 this summer, Thursday’s trip to Koch Arena will likely be the former Missouri Valley rival’s last visit to Wichita for some time.
“Practices are harder than they’ve ever been since I’ve been here,” Brown said. “Guys are doing charge drills. The other day in practice we had guys diving on the floor for loose balls. We did a lot of conditioning (Monday) and we’re going to continue to do that. We’ve got to play with energy and make sure we’re winning all of those 50-50 plays.
“I think those guys are still bought in and still confident we can win games. We’ve just got to put together a good 40 minutes and put that loss behind us and continue to get better and better.”
After missing the UCF game and playing limited minutes in the ECU game due to an ankle injury, Craig Porter should be without limitations against Cincinnati, Brown reported.
The bad news is that Brown revealed starter Jaykwon Walton (11.7 points, 6.5 rebounds) reaggravated an ankle injury in Monday’s practice and did not practice on Tuesday, bringing doubt over whether he will be available to play on Thursday.
WSU sophomore walk-on Melvion Flanagan (7.8 points) remains in concussion protocol after missing the ECU game, but he has a chance to play in Thursday’s game if he clears the necessary hurdles. Quincy Ballard, a 7-foot sophomore center, has returned in limited fashion to practice after missing the last three games due to a back injury and his availability will be a game-time decision on Thursday.
This story was originally published January 4, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
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