How past failure helped Wichita State’s Craig Porter on game-winning free throws at SMU
Before Craig Porter stepped to the free throw line to potentially decide the game between Wichita State and SMU this past Sunday, his mind raced back to his failures on a big stage.
He can’t explain why, but when he was fouled shooting a three-pointer with 35.6 seconds and the Shockers trailing by two points, of all the choices in his memory vault, his mind raced to the 2019 NJCAA national tournament when Porter clanked 10 of 14 free throws as a college freshman at Vincennes.
To some, thinking about failure of any kind right before shooting critical free throws would put them in the wrong head space. For Porter, it motivated him.
“There honestly wasn’t really a lot of nerves,” Porter said. “I missed all of those (at the NJCAA national tournament), so I just try to learn from experiences like that.”
It was clear Porter was loose in the pressure-packed moment when he swished his first free throw and then, even though his four teammates on the floor were standing behind him watching from halfcourt, stepped forward and pretended to slap his teammates’ hands on either side of him.
On the second try, Porter did the same routine he’s adopted this season working after practices with WSU assistant coach Billy Kennedy: toe the line with the ball nestled in his left hand, two rhythm dribbles with his right hand, a quick dip and then the release. Nothing but net. Game tied.
The third free throw barely moved the net for a third straight time. It proved to be the game-winning shot in what would become a 71-69 Wichita State victory, the team’s third in its last four games.
“Credit to (Porter) for making all three of those free throws. That was a big play,” SMU coach Rob Lanier said.
After shooting 61.5% from the charity stripe in non-conference play, Porter said he started working overtime to become a better free throw shooter. The extra practice has translated to results in the games: he’s made 83.3% (15 of 18) foul shots in six AAC games.
Porter’s late-game success was also a testament to how far he has come mentally to be able to shelve negative plays in his head and play each possession as a clean slate.
He did his share of good — 11 points, a steal and four blocks to further his claim as the best shot-blocking point guard in America — but he also committed a career-high six turnovers, two of them playing a role in WSU’s late-game implosion that saw it blow a 13-point lead in just over two minutes.
A performance like that would have wrecked Porter’s confidence in his first year at WSU and might have last season, too. This year, his fifth in college, Porter is carrying more responsibility than he ever has, but he’s also more comfortable than he’s ever been as the team leader and go-to player on the floor.
“Craig stepped up when we needed him and that’s why we put the ball in his hands,” WSU head coach Isaac Brown said.
When WSU was in disarray following a turnover-fest that had cost it a 13-point lead and allowed SMU to gain a 67-65 lead in the final 90 seconds, Brown trusted the play call that morphed Porter into a breakout star late last season: the ghost screen.
With the floor properly spaced and Porter calmly dribbled out front, WSU sent its shooting guard, Jaron Pierre Jr., racing to the middle of the floor to pretend to set a screen (hence, ghost) and continue darting to the perimeter. The action is designed to create confusion between the defenders about whether or not to switch, but it almost never matters what the defense decides to do: Something about the ghost screen turns Porter into a prime-time scorer. Maybe because the play calls for him to get downhill and be aggressive, which perhaps flips a switch in his mind.
On this example, SMU’s Ricardo Wright played textbook defense; he remained with Porter, shuffled his feet to cut off his driving lane and contested the 15-foot jump shot well. It didn’t matter: Porter canned the shot to tie the score at 67 with 1:18 remaining. Crisis averted.
In fact, Porter has become something of a mid-range savant this season. He’s converting an improbable 53.5% of 2-point jumpers, per Synergy.
“I knew my coaches and the whole team was leaning on me, so that was my focus: to get a basket any way,” Porter said. “If I’ve got to score or distribute, I’m going to do whatever my team needs me to do. Today, it was getting to that mid-range and just executing.”
After SMU’s Efe Odigie drilled a mid-range jumper of his own along the right baseline with 48 seconds left to restore the Mustangs’ lead, 69-67, Brown called for the same play — the ghost screen — with the game now on the line.
Porter’s tendency on the play is to drive right, so when he took a hard dribble that way, SMU’s Zach Nutall started retreating in anticipation of staving off a drive. Instead, Porter caught him off-guard with a step-back move, which left Nutall lunging to contest the potential go-ahead three-pointer, causing him to tap Porter’s elbow on the release.
Nutall acted in disbelief on the court when the referee whistled him for a foul with 35.6 seconds remaining, but he owned up to the foul afterward.
“In the heat of the moment, you’re a competitor, everybody looks at the ref like, ‘Why did you call that?’” Nutall said. “I’ll argue that call on the floor all day, but I can stand here right now and say I touched him on the elbow.”
Even though Porter turned the ball over more than he ever has and was planted on the bench for the entirety of WSU’s best stretch of the game, he proved his mental fortitude and clutch shot-making with game-tying and game-winning plays to lead the Shockers to victory.
In the end, that’s the only statistic Porter cares about.
“Craig is the guy that I wanted to have the ball in his hands down the stretch,” Brown said. “And he was excellent with the game on the line.”
This story was originally published January 24, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
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