Wichita State’s Darius Carter shows off his jumper at Shocker Madness (VIDEO)

Wichita State needs a front-court scorer and Darius Carter is the obvious candidate to take on a bigger role this season. He looked capable of that and more during a 20-minute scrimmage on Thursday at Koch Arena during Shocker Madness.

Carter scored 12 points, eight straight late in the scrimmage, and showed off an impressive variety of scoring moves in Yellow’s 25-18 win over Black. Carter, a 6-foot-7 senior, made 6 of 9 shots, grabbed three rebounds and blocked a shot.

“He’s got something going with that mid-range jumper,” WSU guard Fred VanVleet said. “He could shoot it last year, too, but I think it’s something he’s focused on more. He was feeling it.”

Carter slowly built his offensive game away from the lane last season, infrequently shooting mid-range jump shots. On Thursday, he went to that weapon often. He made a 10-foot jumper to give Yellow a 10-9 lead and followed with another jumper from that area, a jump hook in the lane and a pretty fadeaway over a defender for a 16-13 lead. His foul-line jumper in the final minute made it 22-18.

“It’s something I’ve been working on a lot,” Carter said. “Last year I had it, but that wasn’t necessarily my role.”

Carter averaged 7.9 points and 4.5 rebounds last season, his first at WSU after transferring from Vincennes (Ind.) University. He scored in double figures in six of his final 10 games, making 62 percent of his shots and that is the level of production WSU needs this season.

“He’s improved his range,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “It opens up the whole area for other cutters and other guys. It gives him the ability to drive if the defense comes out on him.”

Carter prepared for more responsibility by working out at a Nike Skills Academy in June with other college big men. In August, he averaged 12.8 points and 6.0 rebounds in a four-game exhibition tour of Estonia and Latvia with Athletes in Action.

“Playing against higher-level guys and highly ranked guys, it helped me confidence,” he said. “It let me know I’m just as good as those guys.”

Carter scored many of his points Thursday at the expense of freshman Rauno Nurger. Carter used his size and experience to get position close to the rim on several occasions, leaving Nurger pinned behind him and helpless.

“On defense, I still have a big way to go, as you saw,” Nurger said. “I just have to fight through it. Even if I’m in front of him, he still makes shots.”

Nurger got many of those baskets back, scoring eight points on two three-pointers and a dunk on a pick-and-roll feed from VanVleet. Nurger sat around three weeks with a stress reaction in his foot, so Marshall is unsure what to expect.

“Hopefully, he’ll continue to get completely healthy,” Marshall said. “We knew he could do it, but he hasn’t been out there that much.”

WSU women’s team scrimmaged its male practice opponents and won 19-11. Coach Jody Adams enjoyed watching senior guard Alex Harden continue her rise.

“She has the makings of being an All-American,” Adams said. “I’m not scared to put that out there. She has the ball skills. She can defend at the next level. She has the size.”

Harden worked on her outside shot in the offseason and Adams would like to see her use it frequently.

“We’d like her to be a little more greedy offensively,” Adams said. “She thinks pass before score, because she’s always been a point guard.”

Both teams practiced earlier Thursday. Adams is working a lot of scrimmage situations and trying to keep her veterans fresh. WSU has 10 eligible women’s players on the roster.

“We do more up and down and more game-like situations,” she said. “Our younger ones will come in extra for the reps they need. We want to get to the point where we keep practices short. The upperclassmen — it’s time to play. They’re ready to play.”

Both teams will compete in scrimmages, closed to the media and public, and one exhibition game. The men will scrimmage TCU on Nov. 1 at Koch Arena and play Northwood (Fla.) on Nov. 8 in an exhibition. The women play Newman in an exhibition on Nov. 2 and scrimmage at Arizona on Nov. 9.

Double-fisted dunk — Carter won the slam dunk contest by defeating Ria’n Holland in the first round and Tekele Cotton in the final.

Cotton started with a one-handed 360-degree dunk and finished with a double-pump reverse. Carter countered with a two-handed dunk, soaring from outside the lane, off a high bounce pass to himself. He finished by driving baseline and dunking a basketball with two hands.

Ron Baker won the three-point shooting contest, making 15 in one minute, two more than Evan Wessel. Baker defeated John Robert Simon in the first round 14-11. Wessel advanced with a 12-11 win over Corey Henderson Jr.

The men’s and women’s teams received their Missouri Valley Conference championship rings before their scrimmages.

Inactive list — WSU junior Bush Wamukota did not play in the scrimmage due to a sore back. Marshall held redshirt freshman Shaq Morris out. Morris spent the scrimmage session riding a stationary bike next to the team bench.

“There was something I asked Shaq to do, and he didn’t take care of it to my satisfaction,” Marshall said.

Starting at No. 11 — Wichita State is ranked 11th in the preseason poll of 32 Division I basketball coaches by USA Today.

The Shockers were 35-1 last season, their only loss coming in a two-point loss to Kentucky in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. Starters Fred VanVleet, Ron Baker, Tekele Cotton and Darius Carter return, but only five of 13 scholarship players on the roster have logged Division I minutes.

Kentucky is No. 1 in the poll, followed by Arizona, Duke, Wisconsin and Kansas. Kansas State was third among vote-getters outside the top 25.

WSU received 471 points, eight behind No. 10 Texas. Kentucky had 785 points and 24 first-place votes. Arizona, Duke and Wisconsin also received first-place votes.

One coach in each of the 32 Division I conferences votes in the poll. This season, Northern Iowa’s Ben Jacobson has the Missouri Valley Conference vote and Baylor’s Scott Drew has the Big 12 vote.

This story was originally published October 16, 2014 at 9:05 PM with the headline "Wichita State’s Darius Carter shows off his jumper at Shocker Madness (VIDEO)."