It’s been 356 games, more than 10 years since Wichita State basketball shot like this
Paul Mills might go the rest of his coaching career at Wichita State without the team having another performance like it did around the rim last weekend against South Dakota State.
The box-score statistics alone were telling.
WSU entered the game among the nation’s best in points in the paint (39.8 per game) and 2-point percentage (53.8%), but finished with just 18 points in the paint and shot 25.6% (11 of 43) inside the arc in a 79-69 loss to South Dakota State at Intrust Bank Arena.
“If you go 11-of-43 around the rim on 2-point tries, you probably know it’s going to be a long night,” Mills said. “Unfortunately, it was a long night for us.”
Pull back the curtain further with the use of advanced tracking done by Synergy and it revealed the Shockers shot 23.7% (9 of 38) near the rim against a South Dakota State defense that wasn’t particularly strong at protecting the rim.
For context, that was the worst shooting percentage near the rim for WSU since a 3-for-20 performance in a 68-55 loss to Indiana State on Jan. 29, 2013, a span of 356 games and more than a decade.
Mills said he tracked WSU at 1-for-20 on first-shot attempts at the rim.
“If you gave us the same shots blindfolded, I think we could make 2 out of 20, maybe even 3 out of 20,” Mills said. “But you realize that’s the game of basketball and it happens some nights. We need to learn from it and I’m really confident our guys will. I thought the response (in practice) and in film was very positive.”
A film study conducted by The Eagle showed WSU’s shot quality was a little below average, but nothing that would indicate such a low shooting percentage.
The dramatic drop-off occurred on shots deemed to be high-quality looks. On the season against Division I competition, WSU was producing 1.65 points per possession on those same looks; against South Dakota State, that source of consistent offense dropped to 1.09 points per possession.
Simply put: WSU missed an abnormal amount of good looks near the basket on shots that normally fall.
After the game, WSU sharpshooter Colby Rogers hinted that the players became discouraged after missing so many close shots. Mills wants that to be the takeaway from the disappointing loss.
The good news for WSU is that it is set to face a Southern Illinois team at 6 p.m. Saturday at Koch Arena that is allowing teams to shoot 56.6% near the rim, per Synergy, which is much higher than the national average.
“Sometimes there’s going to be nights like that and sometimes there will be nights where we go 15-for-20 on those same shots,” Mills said. “Players need to know there’s still a way to win even if we do shoot 5% again. Lord, I hope not, but there’s still a way for us to win if you’re engaged properly. We don’t talk about playing perfect because that’s not going to happen. But there are things from an execution standpoint that we can do a lot better and our guys know it. I think a game like that will really help moving forward.”
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