After blowout loss, Paul Mills did something he’s never done before with Shockers

A typical Paul Mills film session following a game will feature curated clips and edits prepared by the coaching staff to highlight points that they want to drive home to the players.

Following the 88-51 loss to Florida in the ESPN Events Invitational championship last Friday, there were no edits or clips awaiting the players in their film session back in Wichita.

For the first time in his tenure with the Shockers, Mills made his team watch every single second of what became the fifth-worst loss for the program in the modern era. The two-hour film study was honest, biting and thorough.

“You have to go in and digest what just happened,” Mills said.

“They weren’t going to get away with just watching clips and we as a staff weren’t going to get away with just making clips. We needed to feel that.”

Mills shouldered full responsibility for the debacle and cited the decision to play a lineup WSU had never practiced — Matej Bosnjak and Quincy Ballard on the floor together — that put his team in poor position and spurred a disastrous 27-0 run Florida used to turn a one-possession game into a blowout.

Because the team had never played with two bigs on the floor at the same time, WSU’s offense quickly became bogged down. While it was a failed experiment against a top-15 team in a pseudo road game, Mills believes it can work with better preparation.

“We can’t lose sight of (who) we need to be who we are and we don’t need to try to play somebody else’s game,” Mills said on his radio show. “That’s where I messed up. Instead of trying to match them, let’s stay with what we do. Let’s make sure we’re doing the things that we’ve been practicing for the last six weeks. That’s why it’s one million percent Paul Mills’ fault.

“I got caught up trying to match (Florida) and it backfired. If we could do something different, it would be schematically rather than personnel. We could have handled a situation like that better schematically.”

What perturbed the coach about his team’s showing in the holiday tournament was its physicality, or lack thereof, against two power-conference opponents.

Minnesota grabbed 13 offensive boards to win the rebounding battle, while Florida bullied WSU for 20 offensive rebounds and retrieved (46.5%) nearly half of its misses against a WSU team with a goal of limiting opponents to around 25%.

“The thing that tends to happen (on neutral courts) is referees are going to swallow their whistles and you’re going to have to play through things and there’s a level of physicality that you’re going to be able to use,” Mills said. “When you’re playing in those caliber of games, they’re going to have big guys and they’re going to be physical. You can’t exert yourself enough. If we end up getting a foul because we are trying too hard, that beats the alternative.”

Another sore spot for Mills was WSU’s lack of urgency and attention to detail against Florida.

“Our shot selection was bad, which led to bad defensive matchups,” Mills said. “How we blitzed (on defense) was bad. How we defended personnel was bad. So from a flow, scheme and personnel perspective, it was Strike 1, Strike 2 and Strike 3.”

A chance for WSU to cleanse the pallet comes Wednesday in the team’s first game at Koch Arena in more than two weeks, as the Shockers (6-1) take on Alcorn State (0-9) in a 6:30 p.m. game streaming on ESPN+.

While Alcorn State’s winless record and undersized roster may not seem like it would be much of a test to WSU, the Braves have been a top-100 offensive rebounding team against a schedule that includes four power-conference opponents. They also came to Wichita as 17.5-point underdogs just two years ago and exited with a stunning upset victory of the Shockers.

“We did not do a good job on the glass last game and we didn’t do a great job of playing with urgency on personnel,” Mills said on his radio show. “I think you’ll see a different team (Wednesday) handling both of those situations.”

Alcorn State vs. Wichita State basketball preview

Records: ASU 0-9, WSU 6-1

When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Koch Arena (10,506), Wichita

How to watch: ESPN+ (Shane Dennis with Bob Hull)

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

Series history: WSU leads 2-1 (2-1 in Wichita)

Betting line: WSU favored by 25.5 points, -20,000 on moneyline and over-under set at 141.5 points by FanDuel

KenPom says: WSU 81, ASU 59

Projected starting lineups

Alcorn State Braves (0-9)

Coach: Landon Bussie, fifth season, 55-71

Wichita State Shockers (6-1)

Coach: Paul Mills, second season, 21-20

This story was originally published December 4, 2024 at 6:02 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.