Shocker basketball film breakdown: Six takeaways for Wichita State from Memphis loss
Following a film breakdown, The Eagle has come up with six main takeaways from the Wichita State men’s basketball team’s 112-86 loss to the Memphis Tigers on Sunday.
1. Colby Rogers shows what he can do as a playmaker
By his own standards, Colby Rogers had been mired in a shooting slump entering the Memphis game.
Not only did the 6-foot-4 sharpshooter snap out of his funk to score a team-high 20 points, but Rogers likely delivered his best all-around offensive game as a Shocker. Memphis threw every defensive coverage in the book at Rogers and he found a way to beat every single one.
The Tigers began the game by blitzing Rogers with two defenders in ball screens to force the ball out of his hands and possibly create turnovers. Rogers handled the pressure each time with poise, dribbling away to create separation, diagnosing the help defense and picking out the right player to pass to.
One time that meant a skip pass in the corner for a 3-pointer that Harlond Beverly drained. Another time that meant a swing pass to Xavier Bell, who capitalized on the advantage created by Rogers and scored on a drive. Other times it meant throwing the simple escape pass, which led to two assist passes for Dalen Ridgnal 3-pointers early in the game.
After Rogers had conquered that look, Memphis made the halftime adjustment to switch all ball screens against Rogers. That didn’t last long, as the big man was too often late in contesting Rogers’ preferred pull-up jumper. He torched the switch coverage, pouring in 11 points on four jump shots, and made the Tigers abandon the strategy.
To avoid a big man switching onto Rogers, Memphis tried to pre-switch with an off guard attempting to replace the big defender when Quincy Ballard rumbled up the lane to set the screen. But Rogers had the solution for that one too: immediately sniffing out what Memphis was trying to do and swinging the ball to Ridgnal, who Memphis had vacated on the wing, for an open 3-pointer. The shot didn’t fall, but it was a prime example of Rogers’ growth as a playmaker.
Rogers had two more passes out of the pick-and-roll game that generated high-quality looks for the Shockers but did not result in points. That’s why his final tally of two assists was a bit deceiving, as Rogers finished with eight potential assists.
It’s hard to feel good about much after allowing 112 points, but Rogers’ standout performance as a pick-and-roll playmaker could help the Shockers pick up what had been a lackluster offense before Sunday’s game.
2. Communication miscues haunt Wichita State defense
It’s hard to accurately analyze defense without knowing the details of a team’s scouting report.
But it doesn’t require inside knowledge to figure out the Shockers have a communication problem.
Multiple times in the first half against Memphis, WSU failed to properly match up in transition, which led to mismatches or openings for the Tigers to exploit. The bungled communication occurred in the half-court setting as well, as WSU failed to execute switching effectively on multiple occasions that ultimately left Memphis wide open.
Another troubling trend that has emerged has been breakdowns in WSU’s ball-screen coverage on defense. Without knowing the scouting report, it’s impossible to pinpoint why the breakdown is occurring, whether it’s the big man failing to communicate effectively or the guard failing to execute the game plan.
Regardless, WSU isn’t on the same page with its point-of-attack coverage far too often, which has allowed opposing guards uninterrupted passage to the paint where they can collapse WSU’s defense for easy baskets.
During a 7-1 start to the season, WSU’s defense ranked top-50 nationally in adjusted efficiency. But since December, the Shockers have posted a 1-7 record and their defense has plummeted to No. 220 nationally.
Some of that was to be expected with the jump up in competition, but it’s also true WSU has been far too sloppy. Against Memphis, WSU committed basic errors like failing to box out, gambling unnecessarily, ball-watching and giving up backdoor layups and not closing out strong enough on shooters.
It’s easy to chalk up part of the reason for the 112 points allowed to the frenetic pace of Memphis, but the game only featured 72 possessions. WSU has played in seven games with a faster pace, most recently when Temple had 74 possessions in a 68-61 win over the Shockers last week.
Every game WSU has a handful of possessions where it shows its ability to be a stout defensive team. But the Shockers must regain their consistency and follow their coach’s demands to “dominate the simple” to restore their identity.
3. A good game to build on for Bijan Cortes
It’s been a difficult start to his WSU career for Bijan Cortes, who had the difficult task of trying to transition to the team after missing the first 11 games.
Instead of being able to find his footing early in the season at Koch Arena, Cortes was thrown into the fire immediately. His first two games came on a sprained ankle against Kansas State and Kansas, then the conference season began.
The Memphis game showcased more of the best version of Cortes, who delivered his best game as a Shocker with nine points and four assists.
On an offense severely lacking playmaking juice, Cortes provided some of that as soon as he stepped on the floor. A highlight came in the first half when Cortes severely juked a defender with an inside-out dribble, drove the lane and scored on a crafty finish while being fouled. WSU needs more of that from Cortes: aggressive and under control.
Another flash came in the second half when Cortes led a fast break (an area in need of drastic improvement for WSU) and threw the perfect lob for Beverly to slam through for an alley-oop dunk.
But the area where Cortes can perhaps help WSU the most is with his 3-point shooting. Before Sunday, Cortes was 1-of-7 beyond the arc in a WSU uniform — a far cry from the 50% career mark he posted while at Oklahoma.
Against Memphis, Cortes drained a pair of spot-up 3-pointers — the kind of shots he’ll be asked to make for the rest of the season. If he can begin to make defenders pay for going under on ball screens, it will be an added bonus for the Shockers.
Another top priority for the 6-foot-2 point guard is to cut back on his turnovers. He has committed at least two in all five appearances and is averaging 2.8 per game, as his turnover rate (36%) is about 10 percentage points higher than desired.
4. Turnovers continue to plague the Shockers
Since the start of December, Wichita State has been one of the sloppiest teams in the country in protecting the ball. The Shockers rank No. 302 nationally in turnover rate during that span, as one out of every five possessions (20% exactly) are ending in a turnover.
The problems with ball security continued against Memphis, as the Shockers racked up another 18 turnovers for a season-high 25% turnover rate.
WSU’s mistakes against Memphis ranged from the totally preventable (dribbling off a foot out of bounds) to reckless (out-of-control passes in transition) to downright careless (stolen in-bounds pass).
Turnovers put a damper on what was otherwise a sterling offensive performance against the No. 13-ranked team in the country. WSU posted a season-best effective field goal percentage (65.8%) by more than eight percent, but finished with just its third-highest offensive rating (119.0) because of how much the turnovers dragged down its efficiency.
WSU ranks dead-last in turnover rate (23.5%) and live-ball turnover rate (16.0%) in American Athletic Conference play. The good news is the next opponent, Florida Atlantic, ranks last in conference play in forcing turnovers.
Regardless of the opposition, WSU must kick its turnover problem in order to return to its winning ways.
5. Outlier shooting performance from Wichita State
It’s easy to assume something must have changed for WSU to hit a season-high 13 3-pointers on season-high 52% accuracy against Memphis.
But a film study conducted by The Eagle revealed the Shockers seemed to just hit a much higher percentage of the same shots they’ve been taking all season.
In fact, according to tracking numbers compiled by The Eagle, WSU took fewer high-quality 3-point shots than it normally does. The biggest difference was that WSU made a staggering 73% (11-of-15) of 3-pointers that The Eagle judged as “average” quality, meaning there was a decent contest on the shot. WSU was shooting 30% (32-of-108) on “average” quality 3-pointers before the Memphis game, according to reviews done by The Eagle.
For a team that had struggled all season making jump shots, it was quite the outlier performance from the Shockers. According to a review from The Eagle, WSU scored 45 points on 29 jump shots — an efficiency (1.55 points per possession) that was outrageously higher than WSU’s previous best-mark (1.16 points per possession).
WSU’s offense has faced spacing issues as the season has worn on, as defenses have sagged off further and further to clog the paint. That’s why the Shockers desperately need Ridgnal to continue to shoot like he did against Memphis and for guards like Beverly, Bell and Cortes to knock down open shots to make defenses reconsider whether to leave them free on the perimeter.
6. A creative new set for WSU’s offense
WSU’s offense has been heavy on the pick-and-roll this season, but it’s almost always been initiated outside of the 3-point arc.
Head coach Paul Mills introduced a new wrinkle to the offense against Memphis, coming up with a clever way to still run pick-and-roll, only inside the arc to make it harder to defend.
The play began with a “Horns” formation, meaning WSU had a ball handler out front and two players standing at either elbow on the free throw line. Typically, teams use their power forward and center, but WSU had Beverly and Kenny Pohto in this setup.
That’s important because the ball was fed to Beverly inside the arc, then Pohto came across to set a screen at the free throw line. That put Beverly and Pohto closer to the basket, which made both of them more dangerous than if the screen was being set 30 feet from the basket.
The play caused confusion for Memphis, as Beverly was able to penetrate the lane and pull up for an open floater to score.
WSU never went back to the play call after Beverly scored with 14 minutes, 38 seconds left in the second half, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Mills incorporate “Horns” more into WSU’s offense for the rest of the season.
This story was originally published January 16, 2024 at 6:44 AM.
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