Wichita State basketball tries to capitalize on week break to prepare for Memphis game

Fully capitalizing on the weeklong break in the conference schedule has been the goal for the Wichita State men’s basketball team.

First-year head coach Paul Mills said a pause in the action, following a fourth straight loss and sixth in the last seven games, came at the perfect time for WSU to recalibrate ahead of Sunday’s noon challenge against No. 13-ranked Memphis at Koch Arena with a national television audience tuning in on ESPN2.

“It’s great to get a week of having individual meetings to be able to go through film and implement new stuff,” Mills said. “From an implementation, from a meeting and from the mental health portion, this week comes at a really good time for us.”

A top priority during the layoff has been to jolt the team’s offense out of its winter slumber, as WSU has scored a paltry 0.94 points per possession combined in its last seven games, a 1-6 stretch dating back to a Dec. 3 loss at Missouri.

Better player and ball movement should generate more high-quality looks at the basket for the Shockers, but another problem plaguing the team has been its laissez-faire attitude in protecting the basketball.

In its last six losses, WSU has piled up 90 turnovers for 15 per game and a 20.9% turnover rate, which would rank No. 332 in the country for a season-long mark. A good chunk of those turnovers have been live-ball giveaways. For the season, WSU ranks No. 327 in live-ball turnovers, which has routinely hurt its transition defense by jump-starting fast breaks the other way.

Memphis is not the ideal opponent for a team working through ball-security issues, as the Tigers have historically played a hyper-aggressive style under Penny Hardaway that has given three different WSU coaches fits. Hardaway is 8-1 against the Shockers since taking over at his alma mater in 2019.

“Honestly, we’ve focused more on us,” Mills said in regard to WSU’s turnover problem. “We’ll turn our attention (to Memphis) on (Friday) and Saturday, but so far our practices this week have been about us. When you go back and you look at Memphis, these are more spacing issues than they are anything else.”

Memphis enters with a 14-2 record and gaudy top-15 national ranking, but the Tigers haven’t exactly dominated in their 3-0 start to American Athletic Conference play.

It took two straight game-winners by Jahvon Quinerly to prevail over Tulsa and SMU, while Memphis needed overtime to dispatch UTSA, which was ranked No. 285 on KenPom, on its home court earlier this week.

Just to push Memphis will require the Shockers (8-7, 0-2 AAC) to elevate their level of play greatly from the inconsistent offerings they have produced for the last month. Mills believes his group is up for the challenge.

“Our guys have been great,” Mills said. “You show up every day, you do your work and you do it with a level of enthusiasm. Winston Churchill had a quote about the definition of success is to be able to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. You have to have guys who are excited to play and we have guys excited to practice and excited to play.”

Memphis is loaded with talent and that was true before it added Kansas State transfer Nae’Qwan Tomlin, who is a likely NBA draft pick. Quinerly averages 13.6 points from the lead guard position, while 6-foot-6 wing David Jones averages 21.0 points and 6.9 rebounds.

A familiar name to WSU fans also highlights Memphis’ starting lineup, as Jaykwon Walton averages 9.0 points for the Tigers. He led the Shockers in scoring at 13.9 points per game last season before transferring following the firing of head coach Isaac Brown. Walton was long gone by the time Mills took over the program, so there’s no familiarity there for the current staff.

“If we have a slow start in Wichita and we let that crowd get involved, it’s gonna be tough,” Walton told Memphis media this week. “It ain’t gonna be no Tulsa crowd. No small crowd. We can’t start off like that against Wichita.”

On the WSU side, Mills hinted that center Kenny Pohto could continue to come off the bench to spearhead the scoring when some of the starters come off the floor. The coaching staff identified the bench as a major weakness for the team during its recent games and moving Pohto to the bench for the Temple game saw immediate dividends, as the 6-foot-10 junior scored a team-high 14 points and played confidently down the stretch.

Now the goal is to have multiple substitutes playing well. Forward Ronnie DeGray III also came on strong against Temple, but Mills noted more consistency is needed from sophomore forward Isaac Abidde to earn back his minutes in the rotation and from point guard Bijan Cortes, who has flashed his potential but is shooting 20% from the floor with 12 turnovers to five assists in three games so far.

WSU will need all the help it can receive to avoid its longest losing streak since the 2008-09 season, Gregg Marshall’s second in the Roundhouse, when the Shockers dropped six straight to open Missouri Valley Conference play.

“I would much rather be relentless than resilient,” Mills said. “Resilient is this attitude of, ‘I’m in a fight and I’m down and I will punch back.’ Relentless is being able to do it from the jump.”

No. 13 Memphis vs. Wichita State basketball preview

Records: Memphis 14-2, 3-0 AAC; WSU 8-7, 0-2 AAC

When: Noon Sunday

Where: Koch Arena (10,506), Wichita

How to watch: ESPN2 (John Schriffen with Tim Welsh)

Radio: KEYN, 103.7-FM (Mike Kennedy with Dave Dahl)

KenPom says: Memphis 79, WSU 73

Series history: Memphis leads 18-12 (WSU leads 8-6)

Projected starting lineups

Memphis Tigers (14-2)

Coach: Penny Hardaway, sixth season, 125-54

Wichita State Shockers (8-7)

Coach: Paul Mills, first season, 8-7

This story was originally published January 13, 2024 at 5:00 AM.

Taylor Eldridge

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6270

Wichita State athletics beat reporter. Bringing you closer to the Shockers you love and inside the sports you love to watch.