How missing a game prepared Harlond Beverly for his best yet for Wichita State basketball
A missed game due to a sprained ankle might have been the most valuable game of the season so far for Wichita State junior Harlond Beverly.
Spending all 40 minutes of game action on the bench offers a different vantage point, and Beverly took full advantage last weekend by absorbing the game in a different way during the Shockers’ 19-point romp over Saint Louis.
A six-day layoff allowed Beverly time to download the new information, watch film with a new perspective and apply those lessons.
The end result was the best offensive performance of the season from the Miami transfer, as Beverly doled out a season-high eight assists without a single turnover in 35 minutes to go along with a season-high 13 points and five rebounds in his return to the starting lineup in WSU’s 80-67 win over Norfolk State this past Saturday.
“Honestly, I feel like me sitting out and watching the game against Saint Louis really helped me,” Beverly said afterward. “It’s just very different when you’re playing (vs.) watching. I had to watch our offense instead of being in the offense, and I feel like that helped me a lot.”
The early critique of Beverly’s game five games into the season centered around his 16 turnovers. His decision-making in the pick-and-roll game had been spotty, sometimes ending with a brilliant assist but just as often a one-handed pass straight to a defender.
In his game watching from the sidelines, Beverly noticed how clever Kenny Pohto was at finding the soft spot in the defense. He made a mental note for his next game.
“Get the ball to KP,” Beverly said.
The first time Beverly ran a pick-and-roll in Saturday’s game against Norfolk State, he went into attack mode and penetrated the paint. Maybe Beverly would have tried a floater or a side-step layup earlier in the season, but armed with a new perspective, Beverly kept his eyes up and saw Pohto cutting free to the basket.
Beverly calmly dumped it off and was running back down the court before Pohto could even lay the ball in for WSU’s first basket of the game.
“Honestly,” Beverly said, “the game felt wide open after that.”
“Harlond is great at seeing the floor when he drives,” Pohto said. “When the defense collapses on him to try to stop his drive, then he has great court awareness. He can see those cross-court passes to the corner and he finds me and Q (Quincy Ballard) in the paint. He can really pass the ball.”
That level of playmaking is the potential WSU head coach Paul Mills has seen in Beverly since watching him play on the summer circuit as a 16-year-old. Mills, entering his first year as head coach at Oral Roberts, was the first Division I head coach to offer Beverly a scholarship in the summer of 2017.
When a significant back injury derailed Beverly’s career at Miami, Mills considered it a home run to land the 6-foot-5 junior guard in the transfer portal.
“Harlond is a really talented player who has just never been healthy,” Mills said. “I’m excited for him to be able to come in and assert himself and get an opportunity to get the minutes to really prove who he is as a player.”
Beverly is at his best when he can process the defense in front of him and make the quick and simple read. Where he runs into trouble is when his pace is sped up, which shortens his processing time and leads to rushed decisions.
He splits time on the ball with fellow guards Xavier Bell and Colby Rogers, but Beverly’s preference is actually as a secondary creator.
“I feel like I excel when there’s an advantage made and I get to capitalize on that advantage, whether that’s a pass or a shot,” Beverly said.
Beverly was in his element against Norfolk State.
His second assist of the game was as a secondary creator, as Rogers and Ballard executed a pick-and-roll as the main action. The defense shifted to take away the roll to Ballard, so Rogers kicked to Beverly on the weak side. The defense was still rotating back when Beverly caught the ball, and he made the read to fire a pass inside to Ballard for an easy dunk.
Later in the first half, Bell penetrated Norfolk State’s zone defense to create an advantage for Beverly, who upgraded a good shot for himself to a great one for a teammate. Isaac Abidde made the 3-pointer on Beverly’s one-more pass and was fouled in the process.
Another advantage was created against the zone in the second half when Abidde drove baseline and collapsed the defense. The ball whipped around the perimeter and found Beverly with no defender in front of him, as he capitalized by attacking the rim for a basket.
“Harlond can see things that other players can’t,” Mills said. “It’s not just seeing, but can you deliver? Some people may see a guy open, but can they actually make the pass? People can make the pass, but is it at the right spot? He does a good job of not only seeing, but delivering.”
The best example of that came late in the Norfolk State game when Beverly started a fast break, attacked the rim at full speed to attract two defenders and laid off a no-look bounce pass to Ballard for a ferocious dunk to punctuate the victory.
Beverly’s flashy passes couldn’t happen without his own instincts and natural ability, but they’re also a result of hours of film study — on his own and with Mills and WSU assistant coach Quincy Acy.
“We have a great group of coaches who are teachers before they’re coaches,” Beverly said. “They really help us understand the game better.”
A strong bounce-back game against Norfolk State is encouraging, but Beverly knows the competition level is set to increase drastically for the Shockers in the month of December.
But if he can keep playing at his own pace and limiting turnovers by making the simple read, Beverly could be a key player for how WSU finishes its nonconference slate.
This story was originally published November 27, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
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