Paul Mills shows power of positivity for Shocker basketball in game-winning adjustment
Heads could have hung when Harlond Beverly’s one-handed, cross-court pass sailed too high for its intended target and landed out of bounds.
It was the fifth turnover of the game for Beverly in a nip-and-tuck battle with Western Kentucky where every possession was precious for Wichita State on Thursday at Koch Arena.
That number of ball-handling mistakes could draw the ire of some college basketball coaches, but first-year WSU coach Paul Mills remained stoic.
After the Shockers survived 19 turnovers to win by 10 points, Mills shared his philosophy on why he has stayed so calm on the sidelines in his first season in the Roundhouse.
“I read a book many years ago that said that in successful people, coaches, teams, there’s a high degree of optimism,” Mills said. “So me being pessimistic about everything, about how the sky is falling and acting like Chicken Little, that isn’t going to help.
“Anybody can point out problems. Any idiot in the world can complain and identify things that are bad. But it’s a different level of person who can find solutions.”
The mounting turnovers could have derailed the confidence of Beverly, a first-year player for the Shockers whom the team is going to rely on heavily this season to handle the ball.
Instead of benching him, Mills empowered him. Beverly finished the game scoring nine of his 13 points following his fifth turnover, as the 6-foot-5 junior was crucial in helping the Shockers improve to 2-0 this season.
“You’re going to make mistakes playing basketball and the goal is to limit those mistakes,” said Beverly, who finished with six turnovers. “I wish I played mistake-free basketball. And I’ll go back and watch the film and understand where those turnovers came from and how they occurred, but I felt like the coaches didn’t give up on me. They kept giving me confidence. It felt really good in the moment that they were still there with me and still giving me a chance and opportunity. I know the next couple of days in film they’ll probably make me watch all of the turnovers in front of everybody, but they stuck with me tonight and that really helped.”
The mental toughness of all of the guards was tested in the first half of Thursday’s game, as WKU’s physical and aggressive perimeter defense forced Wichita State’s ball-handlers out of their comfort zone.
The pick-and-roll game, a staple to WSU’s offense in their first game of the season, was blown up by WKU blitzing the ball-handler with two defenders. In 17 first-half possessions ending with a pick and roll, WSU’s offense sputtered to nine points with five turnovers.
With WSU trailing 29-27 at halftime and the offensive production at an abysmal 0.71 points per possession, Mills and his coaching staff went to work to find a solution.
“We weren’t pessimists. We were down 2, it wasn’t the end of the world,” Mills said. “We knew we had to tighten things up. As much as I would like a perfect game, you realize no-hitters are really rare. You realize you’re going to struggle through some things early, so you need to turn the page and move on to what’s next, and I thought we did that.”
Mills’ halftime adjustment was to essentially scrap WSU’s structured pick-and-roll offense in favor of a free-form system of spreading the floor to give ball-handlers space and trusting they would get downhill against the defense and make the right play.
“It’s actually a spacing drill that we do. We haven’t really utilized it as an offense yet,” Mills said. “When we went into halftime we told them, ‘The drill that we work on for spacing, that’s about to become our offense.’
“Their ball-screen pressure is really good and we weren’t prepared for it tonight. We’re not there yet as a basketball team. But we do have the ability to go downhill. We just need to make sounder plays.”
After playing in a telephone booth in the first half, WSU’s ball-handling duo of Beverly and Xavier Bell were given the green light to use their size advantage to attack WKU’s smaller guards.
It’s not a coincidence the duo scored 20 of their combined 27 points in the second half. Both players thrived when given more room to operate.
“Coach Mills made some adjustments during halftime, and I think they really fit my game,” Beverly said. “It really helped me out personally, and I think it helped Xavier out getting into the paint and making floaters and layups. It was a great adjustment by him.”
What looked like 1-on-1 play was actually a coordinated attack by WSU with shooters stationed in each corner, 6-foot-11 big man Quincy Ballard standing in the dunker’s spot waiting for a dump-off pass to slam home and WSU’s two guards out top running ghost screens for each other to help the other get downhill on drives.
After WKU’s defense dictated how the first 20 minutes went, the Hilltoppers were made vulnerable in the second half by being stretched so far out and their guards left defending on an island.
“Paul made a really good adjustment and started spreading the floor and playing isolation basketball,” WKU head coach Steve Lutz said. “It was a wise adjustment on his part and we just didn’t ring the bell at the end of the day. They were able to get to the rim and back us down some and overpower some of our smaller guards. You have to give them credit for that.”
WSU scored 23 points on 22 second-half possessions when it finished with its spread-out isolation attack, a number that included four turnovers and five missed shots — all quality looks — in the paint.
After the slog-fest in the first half, it was a drastic improvement in the second half for the Shockers, who scored 1.13 points per possession following halftime.
“You need to win a game like this in order to maintain belief,” Mills said. “Players need to know in the locker room that things are translating from practice to the court, and the reality is the only way they know that is if you’re on the right side of the scoreboard.”
“It definitely helped us realize who we are as a team in good situations and tough ones,” Bell said. “Coming out together and knowing we got each other’s backs, good or bad, and coming out with a ‘W.’ Knowing we can withstand teams who are physical.”
The players celebrate the wins, but they also take notice of the measured response from Mills when adversity strikes.
Bell and Beverly combined for 10 of the team’s 19 turnovers, a total that must come down for sustained success. But on Thursday, each player appreciated the trust their coaching staff maintained in them.
“The problems we have are fixable,” Mills said. “If you have knuckleheads in your locker room or guys who aren’t committed, you’re not going to have much of a chance anyway. Fortunately, we don’t have those guys. We just need to tighten up on our fundamentals.”
This story was originally published November 11, 2023 at 6:00 PM.
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