Winning loose balls helps make Ronnie DeGray a fixture for Wichita State basketball team
It was a play that could have gone down as the epitome of MTXE (“Mental Toughness Xtra Effort”) to spark a victory for the Wichita State men’s basketball team.
In the final two minutes of this past Saturday’s game at Memphis with the Shockers clinging to a two-point lead on the road, a long rebound caromed off the rim and headed straight toward the home team.
Like a defensive back swiveling his hips to break on a pass, Ronnie DeGray III lunged for the rebound to tap it downward to prevent Memphis from retrieving the ball.
A scramble for the loose ball ensued, with the ball squirting out of a pile of jumbled bodies and straight into the hands of Colby Rogers, who flung it ahead to a streaking Harlond Beverly for a breakaway dunk.
In the moment, DeGray’s determination to help put WSU up four with 85 seconds left seemed like it would be the winning play of the game. Instead, it was lost in the heartbreak of an agonizing, last-second defeat.
“I just want to impact the game with my energy,” DeGray said. “I’m here to play defense, fight for those 50-50 balls and do everything the coaches ask me to do.”
While DeGray’s hustle didn’t ultimately make him the hero in Memphis, it is making the 6-foot-6 forward a mainstay in coach Paul Mills’ rotation lately entering Wednesday’s 6:30 p.m. game against UTSA at Koch Arena.
Since a court ruling allowed the transfer from Missouri to make his debut for the Shockers on Dec. 16, DeGray’s role has steadily increased as a versatile forward. In nine American Athletic Conference games, DeGray is averaging 7.2 points while shooting 54% from the field, 36% on 3-pointers and 71% on free throws. He ranks fourth in offensive rebounds (nine) and third in steals (10).
DeGray is coming off his best game of the season, logging a season-high 28 minutes, 12 points and seven rebounds against Memphis to go along with a block and two steals.
“Ronnie just has a knack for being in the right place at the right time,” Rogers said. “His experience really helps us at both ends. We can switch with him on defense and then at the other end, he can drive against a closeout, play off two feet, make plays and crash the offensive glass and keep possessions alive.”
In deciding who plays down the stretch of close games, coaches tend to favor players who are versatile with size and the ability to win possessions.
DeGray can battle down low with power forwards, chase shooters around the perimeter and switch onto lead guards and defend in space. And when the shot goes up, WSU knows it can count on DeGray to pursue a rebound at all costs.
“Ronnie is a great offensive rebounder for us and he can defend multiple positions,” Mills said. “He does a good job of getting his hands on a lot of balls.
“We went through the 50-50 balls won (against Memphis) and he’s involved in half of them. That’s why you trust a guy like that on the floor late.”
DeGray is off to an encouraging start to his WSU career, but like all players on the roster, his game remains a work in progress. He fell asleep on defense against Memphis and gave up an open layup and missed a handful of shots around the rim he likely wanted back afterward.
But Synergy tracking data easily identifies where he is strongest: cutting and offensive rebounding.
That tracks with how he played at his previous two stops, Massachusetts and Mizzou, as DeGray is scoring 1.40 points per possession on put-backs and 1.50 points per possession on cuts this season for the Shockers. Most memorably, he scored six straight points on the same cut in the final three minutes to help lift WSU to a comeback win over SMU on Jan. 28.
That’s the kind of impact he hopes to make over the course of WSU’s final nine games in the regular season.
“I like playing with Ronnie because he knows when to cut,” WSU center Kenny Pohto said. “He has a good feel for when to cut when I get the ball up top. I always know he is going to have good timing, so I’m looking to find him. We have pretty good chemistry together.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2024 at 5:03 AM.
.jpg)