A preview of matchup problem Wichita State basketball must solve in Minnesota game

The biggest matchup problem of the early season awaits the Wichita State men’s basketball team in the Sunshine state.

The Shockers (5-0) will play Minnesota (5-1) at 11 a.m. Central time Thursday (broadcast on ESPN2) in the opening round of the ESPN Events Invitational at State Farm Field House in Kissimmee, Florida.

That means WSU will have to figure out a way to slow down Minnesota’s star 6-foot-11 center Dawson Garcia, who is averaging 22.8 points and 7.8 rebounds while shooting 56% from the field, 55% on 3-pointers and 82% on free throws. He currently ranks No. 6 in KenPom’s National Player of the Year standings and was a top-10 finalist for the Center of the Year award last season for the Golden Gophers.

Garcia is the only double-digit scorer for Minnesota, which has the 14th-most experienced roster in college basketball and also features former American Athletic Conference standout Lu’Cye Patterson (Charlotte transfer) at point guard.

“We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure Dawson Garcia doesn’t beat us,” WSU head coach Paul Mills said. “He presents a matchup problem with his size and they’re going to put another player on the floor who you have to pay attention to with your big, so it’s going to be hard for us to match size for size.”

While WSU has the size to match up at the center position with either Quincy Ballard (6-11, 253) or Matej Bosnjak (6-9, 240), the Shockers start a 6-foot-5, 188-pound player in Corey Washington at power forward. He will be giving up more than 70 pounds when matched up against Minnesota’s other big man, Frank Mitchell, a 6-foot-8, 260-pound cinder block.

While he is 6-11 and capable of scoring inside, Garcia also has guard-like skills and is comfortable dribbling, shooting (11 of 20 on 3s) and passing along the perimeter. It’s likely WSU will switch several defenders, including point guards like 6-2 Bijan Cortes, onto the former top-50 prospect over the course of the game and then send double teams his way whenever he has the ball inside the arc.

The Shockers will sorely miss the size of senior forward Ronnie DeGray III (wrist) and senior center Zane Meeks (knee) when it comes to rebounding. After tweaking an ankle injury against Saint Louis, Ballard has been limited in practice this week but Mills expects him to be a full go for back-to-back games in the tournament. Even with Ballard, an undersized WSU team will be put to the test on the glass against a Minnesota team that isn’t particularly strong at offensive rebounding but will have a size advantage.

“We’re going to end up cross-matched and you’re probably going to see Bijan on Dawson,” Mills said. “So it’s up to the rest of the team to know exactly what needs to happen when those kinds of situations present themselves. He’s a good enough player to pass out of double teams and if you double and he shoots it, then you’re in a severe situation with their offensive rebounding against our defensive rebounding. So we do need to be able to play physical.”

AAC foe North Texas gave the blueprint for how to knock off Minnesota in a 54-51 road win over the Golden Gophers two weeks ago. The Mean Green were tenacious defensively and their rotations were on point, as they held Minnesota to just six points for nearly 15 minutes to start the game.

While WSU doesn’t play as aggressive defense as North Texas, doubling, recovering and rotating are three things the Shockers can likely find success with if done properly on Thursday.

Another key is limiting opponent transition opportunities, something the Shockers have done much better this season. Mills believes it has a direct correlation with WSU’s improved ball handling, as the team ranks No. 4 in the country in limiting turnovers with just a 12.4% turnover rate (9.2 per game).

“You need to be able to take care of the ball in order to be good defensively,” Mills said. “You can’t turn the ball over a lot or else you’re going to be on the wrong end of a lot of rebounds and you’re going to find yourself playing disadvantage basketball, 3-on-2 and 2-on-1.

“(Fourth) is good, but you’re not trying to be (fourth) in the country. In my opinion, we’re trying to be the best in the country. So we need to do a better job of moving the basketball. We’ve still got a long way to go in that area, but where (fewer turnovers) have benefited us the most is defensively.”

The ESPN event will be a crucial one for WSU, as it will find out this week if its strong start to the season might be a mirage like last season or if it is a team serious about building an at-large resume for the postseason.

The Minnesota game will likely fall in the Quad 2 bucket, while a chance to play Florida (depending on the first-round results) would give WSU its first (and maybe only) swing at a Quad 1 victory in nonconference play.

“This is a heck of an opportunity for us because we are going to learn a lot about who we are,” Mills said. “Some really good teams are going to leave here with a loss. One is going to leave with two losses. You need to be able to take a great deal away from this and learn and then move forward in the month of December. We feel good about who we are up until this moment and we’ve got a lot of growth to do and we’ll be presented with some issues on Thursday and Friday, but issues I think we’ll be up for. I anticipate us being able to meet those challenges.”

Minnesota vs. Wichita State basketball preview

Records: Minnesota 5-1, WSU 5-0

When: 11 a.m. Central time Thursday

Where: State Farm Field House (5,000), Kissimmee, Fla.

How to watch: ESPN2 (Kevin Fitzpatrick with Daymeon Fishback)

Radio: KEYN, 103.7-FM (Mike Kennedy with Bob Hull)

Series history: WSU leads 3-2

KenPom says: WSU 68, Minnesota 67

Projected starting lineups

Minnesota Golden Gophers (5-1)

Coach: Ben Johnson, fourth season, 46-55

Wichita State Shockers (5-0)

Coach: Paul Mills, second season, 20-19

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.