‘We’re not representing how we should’: Wichita State basketball player after latest loss
For the past month, the Wichita State men’s basketball team has built a convincing case that it was improving.
And for the first 30 minutes of Wednesday’s home game against UCF, the Shockers continued down that path. They were pounding the paint, running in transition and their lead stretched to as many as 11 points against an opponent that had never won in Koch Arena before.
Then, for some unexplained reason, WSU regressed back to its lowest form: a team that doesn’t value the basketball, that can’t finish out defensive stops with rebounds, that is unable to protect leads.
All of the feel-good momentum on the team that had taken weeks to accumulate now felt like it had evaporated in seconds following 10 disastrous minutes to close out WSU’s 72-67 loss to UCF on Wednesday.
“We took a little step back,” WSU point guard Craig Porter said. “Some of the same bad habits that we had earlier in the season, they came back and haunted us. Taking plays off here or there, not locking in, not keeping our foot on the pedal.”
In WSU’s first five years in the American Athletic Conference, it won 74% of its home games in conference play. Through the first six home AAC games this season, WSU sports a miserable 1-5 record.
Instead of delivering its usual brand of dominant play at Koch Arena this season, the Shockers have instead registered the program’s most embarrassing non-conference loss (to Alcorn State) in decades, suffered the first losses ever to AAC teams like East Carolina and UCF and blown a handful of sizable leads, none larger than the 18-point hole Tulane rallied from for victory.
“Ever since I’ve been here, it’s never been like this (losing at home),” Porter said. “It’s not a knock on the guys here, we’re still playing our butts off and I’m still proud of what we’ve overcome. But it’s definitely a little disappointing to us and the fans because I feel like we’re not representing the school how we should be.”
The loss to UCF only counts as one loss and WSU (12-12, 5-7 AAC) is still in position to out-perform its preseason projection of eighth-place in the conference, but Wednesday’s loss was demoralizing to the players and coaches because of the manner in which they lost.
“All losses hurt, but this one stings because I thought we had moved past all of the mistakes,” WSU head coach Isaac Brown said.
He could have been referring to any number of mistakes down the stretch of Wednesday’s game, but here are some of the likely candidates:
James Rojas over-dribbling against full-court pressure and having the ball poked out from behind.
Turning the ball over six times in a 9-possession span once UCF started increasing its pressure.
WSU failing to box out on a critical shot attempt that gives UCF a second chance, which it converts to take a 61-60 lead.
A missed free throw by Kenny Pohto on the front-end of a 1-and-1 attempt with WSU trailing by one point, the Shockers’ third missed foul shot down the stretch.
Miscommunication between Jaykwon Walton and Jaron Pierre on the perimeter, which left Ithiel Horton wide open for a 3-pointer and 64-60 lead.
“We tell those guys every day that you’ve got the best fans in the country and they’re going to come out and support you and the things they’re looking for is for you to play hard and to play smart,” Brown said. “Those things didn’t happen tonight.”
Brown was particularly frustrated by his team’s continued struggles with defensive rebounding, something the coach says is drilled daily in WSU practices.
For the first time this season, Brown openly questioned if he had the necessary players to get the job done on the glass after WSU gave up 15 offensive rebounds and was out-scored 16-9 in second-chance points by UCF. The Shockers are allowing conference opponents to grab more than 31% of their misses, which ranks ninth in the American.
“I’ve got to get out on the road and find a dude that can rebound,” Brown said. “I had a coach tell me back in the day that you can do 1,000 drills, but at some point you’ve got to go find a guy that can rebound. But these are the guys that we’ve got and they’ve got to do a better job of checking out and going to get rebounds with two hands. Rebounding with two hands is an art and it’s about toughness. Tonight they were the tougher team.”
Late-game turnovers have continued to plague WSU in losses, as well as defensive breakdowns. For the same things to be leading to losses approaching the middle of February, Brown sounded like a broken record on what has to improve for the Shockers.
“Our defense didn’t do a good job communicating on ball screens,” Brown said. “We work on that in practice every day. We talk to them about communicating and being intimidating with their voice. You’ve got to be so loud that the people at the top of the arena can hear you, so you know your teammate can hear you. We just weren’t disciplined.”
Wednesday’s game was also one of the few remaining games that WSU was favored to win. According to KenPom.com, the Shockers are projected to win just two of their final six games — with one of those wins projected to come Sunday against SMU at Koch Arena.
Opponents still have the utmost respect for WSU’s program and fanbase, even if wins in the Roundhouse aren’t as rare as they used to be.
“This is one of the best environments in our conference and it’s a tough place to win,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said after his final trip to Koch Arena before the Knights depart for the Big 12 this summer. “WSU has a terrific crowd and I love this fan base. They’re knowledgeable and classy. They do a great job cheering for their team, so I will miss this place. You like playing in environments like this because this is what college basketball is all about.”
So how do the Shockers restore their pride and tradition at Koch Arena?
Porter, the team’s senior leader, said it begins on Thursday by doing the only thing the players can do at this point — move on and try to learn from their mistakes.
“It goes back to the same message that we’ve been saying all year,” Porter said. “Lock into what coach (Brown) is saying. He’s not going to tell you something that’s not going to benefit you and the team. So just pay attention and listen and lock in, that’s really it. It’s as simple as that. We just have to execute and do what coach says.”
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