Inside whirlwind Wichita State debut for Bijan Cortes after NCAA grants him eligibility
The conditions weren’t exactly ideal and the game didn’t go according to plan, but Bijan Cortes was still pleased to make his season debut for the Wichita State men’s basketball team on Thursday.
It had been a hectic past week for the point guard, who sprained his ankle this past Saturday and then was cleared by the NCAA to earn his academic eligibility for the rest of this season on Wednesday.
Cortes said he didn’t practice at all leading up to Thursday’s showdown against Kansas State at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo., which can explain some of the rust he showed in his 24 minutes off the bench in Wichita State’s 69-60 loss to K-State.
But after sitting out the first 11 games of the season, Cortes found joy in his return to the court — even if he was frustrated by his performance of 0-for-5 shooting with two rebounds, three assists and four turnovers.
“It was good to just get out there and try to help my team out,” Cortes said. “I still have to get back in game shape, so that’s what I need to focus on now. I didn’t really get to practice this week. But it was just great to be back and finally be able to play with the people I’ve worked with all summer and ran with and trained with.”
WSU head coach Paul Mills said he received word from the NCAA about Cortes’ eligibility on Wednesday. A little gamesmanship ensued with WSU keeping tight-lipped on the point guard’s status until an hour before the game, at least delaying K-State’s ability to prepare for him.
Cortes made an immediate impact when he checked into the game for the first time six minutes into the game. In his first minute on the court, Cortes tipped a pass on defense that led to a turnover and then found Kenny Pohto for a layup at the other end.
On his second possession, Cortes ran the pick-and-roll game with Quincy Ballard and lobbed a high-arching pass that the 6-foot-11 center flushed with a reverse alley-oop dunk.
“I feel like I can bring a leadership role to the team and just be a real (point guard),” Cortes said. “I can help everybody stay together as a team and just bring that energy to the floor and help everyone stay up.”
But the biggest issue he faces in adjusting to Mills’ system is limiting the risky passes he ran into trouble making in his two years at Oklahoma. While the 6-foot-2 point guard is certainly capable of making a highlight reel of assists, his turnover rate was north of 33% last season — meaning he turned the ball over one out of every three times a possession ended with him.
Those struggles once again popped up on Thursday, as Cortes finished with four turnovers. One wasn’t his fault, but two were the result of errant passes and another was stepping out of bounds.
“If you throw a player in that environment who’s not named Ja Morant and has sat out for a while and come in, it’s going to take a little bit of time,” Mills said.
Much like last week when Missouri transfer Ronnie DeGray III played 19 minutes off the bench in his season debut, Cortes played slightly more than what Mills was anticipating due to foul trouble with WSU’s guards.
It also didn’t help that he wasn’t 100% after a sprained ankle at shootaround for this past Saturday’s game against Southern Illinois left him in a walking boot on his right foot. Five days of rest helped, but Mills said he wasn’t even sure if Cortes was going to be able to play until shootaround the day of the game.
“We didn’t even know if he was going to be healthy enough, but we felt good going through shootaround,” Mills said. “We needed him because X (Bell) got in early foul trouble and Bijan was able to come in and do some positive things. He’ll get better. The more and more reps our group gets, we’ll get better as we go on.”
With WSU’s lack of depth at the guard position this year, Cortes’ arrival has been highly anticipated by fans. While he played a limited role for OU the past two seasons, Cortes is expected to make a sizable impact in his first season with the Shockers. He will now have one year of eligibility remaining following this season.
Cortes hoped to make that impact at the start of the season, but those plans were delayed as he worked through academic issues that prevented him from playing on the team’s summer exhibition tour in Greece and ultimately the first semester of this season. WSU declined to specify what kind of academic waiver Cortes needed, citing student-athlete privacy law.
After missing the first six weeks of the season, Cortes made sure he did what was needed in the classroom to be able to play the final 20-plus games of the season. He gave credit to WSU’s academic advisors and the support staff on the team for helping him get back on track.
“It’s really about the people surrounding me here,” Cortes said. “They have a high standard for all of us and that’s what I admire a lot. They keep everyone on the right track. That’s something I’ve been trying to work on. I’m excited now I can finally play.”
This story was originally published December 21, 2023 at 7:23 PM.
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