Spiraling Shockers on a ‘soul search’ amid slump after San Antonio setback
More than a half hour following the final buzzer in Saturday’s game at Convocation Center, the visiting team had still not emerged from its locker room.
A custodian inquired if everyone had already exited, typical for road teams in a hurry to return home, then looked astonished when informed no one had exited.
The locker room is considered a sacred place to competitors, and no one on the Wichita State men’s basketball team was willing to divulge exactly what was said or done during those 40 minutes alone to themselves following a third straight loss. This one was an 88-75 setback to a UTSA team projected to finish in the cellar of the American Athletic Conference.
But one truth is abundantly clear: The Shockers are a team that has lost its way.
“We’re soul searching, man,” WSU senior A.J. McGinnis said. “We’ve got to find it in our hearts and in our souls. We have to want to win. We have to want to be together. We just have to want more.”
And that, in essence, is the root of WSU’s problem at the moment: It isn’t more at anything than anyone.
WSU isn’t more talented, more athletic, more physical, more skilled, more disciplined, more tough, more focused, more together, more accountable or more communicative than any opponent right now.
There’s plenty of time for a turnaround, but it’s hard not to be troubled that two-a-day practices and come-to-Jesus meetings before Saturday’s game failed to inspire a group of veteran players.
“We’ve got to find a way to collectively care,” WSU senior Xavier Bell offered up. “All 15 guys on the team have to look in the mirror. That’s where it starts. We can have all of these meetings and we can say this and do all of that, on the court and off the court, but at the end of the day, it starts with us.
“We’ve got to find a way to really care. Care for each other, care for the team, care enough to win a basketball game.”
A sense of urgency could also be used by the Shockers, a team that has played far too casually once conference play began.
A good example from Saturday’s game was WSU’s perimeter defense. An Eagle film review deemed 20 of UTSA’s 30 attempted 3-pointers to be either wide open or in rhythm, a result of WSU’s combination of missing rotations along the arc, failing to contain ball handlers that ended in kick-out passes and simply lazy defense closing out on sharpshooters. The Shockers paid dearly for those mistakes, as UTSA cashed in on 65% (13 of 20) of those quality looks.
That has been typical lately, not an outlier, as conference opponents have made an average of 12 3-pointers at a 47% clip against WSU. For reference, the next-worst in conference play is UTSA, which is surrendering 8.7 3s per game at a 43% clip. So far in three conference games, WSU has been outscored by 60 points beyond the arc.
“Whenever you get in a place like this, you have to have a change of heart,” McGinnis said. “Care about the details, care about the feeling that you feel after each one of these games. In order for that to change, you have to change what you do every day, you have to change your habits and how you look at things and how you approach things.”
After allowing 91 points in back-to-back losses, Saturday’s game at UTSA seemed like an ideal get-right game for the Shockers up against a lower-ranked opponent under a first-year coach.
Instead of using the opening minutes to bury the past, WSU brought its past mistakes with it to San Antonio.
In the first four minutes alone, the following occurred:
On the first play of the game, WSU used a back screen to free Quincy Ballard for what was going to be a dunk until the ball sailed right through his hands and out of bounds for a turnover.
The Shockers lost a 50-50 rebound, which immediately turned into three points for the Roadrunners.
A casual close-out by Corey Washington gave up the middle of the floor and UTSA’s Tai’reon Joseph delivered a highlight-reel dunk.
Xavier Bell tracked down a rebound, but had the ball poked out from behind dribbling up the floor for a turnover.
UTSA misfired on a 3, but McGinnis was caught in a cross-match and couldn’t box out Raekwon Horton, who grabbed the offensive rebound, kicked out to David Hermes for a second-chance 3-pointer that forced a timeout with WSU already in a 10-2 hole.
“Right now it’s easy to point fingers, it’s easy to feel like, ‘It’s not my fault, it’s somebody else’s fault,’ but you have to look in the mirror and remind yourself what’s important to you,” McGinnis said. “You have to try to encourage the next person. Maybe you’re not having a great game, OK, that’s cool, just go support and encourage someone else, so things might change. We all need a confidence boost.”
Transition defense was a main topic on the scouting report, as the Roadrunners have proven to be one of the best fast-break teams in the country.
In a concerning trend, WSU failed to heed the warning from its coaches and gave up 25 points and 1.56 points per possession in transition, per Synergy, in a season-best performance by UTSA against Division I competition.
Turnovers are like rocket fuel for transition offense and WSU has produced enough to send its opponents to the moon lately. After entering conference play as one of the 15 best teams in the country at limiting turnovers, the Shockers have reverted to last season’s form and coughed up the ball on 19.8% of their possessions, which would rank 308th nationally for the season.
WSU sported a season-high 24.6% turnover rate (17 total) in Saturday’s game with several turnovers unfolding without any defensive influence. An entry pass in the first half was so far off the mark, the ball hit the backboard and rim for a turnover. The second half began with WSU whipping a pass to no one in particular and straight out of bounds at its own bench. Later WSU took a five-second violation on an inbounds pass — following a timeout.
But the worst stretch came midway through the first half when WSU actually had built some momentum with three straight assists to spur a 6-1 run and trim UTSA’s lead to 22-19. It took 62 seconds exactly for that to vanish, as WSU’s pair of points guards — Justin Hill, then Bijan Cortes — took turns fumbling possessions away without a single defender touching the ball on back-to-back possessions. Those mishaps highlighted a 10-0 run the Roadrunners used to establish a cushion that was never in danger again.
“We don’t know what it’s stemming from directly, but we’re trying,” McGinnis said. “We’re going to get through this.”
An optimist would point to the 15 remaining games on the schedule and argue WSU has plenty of time to right the ship.
Evidence exists that these Shockers can play good basketball. Look no further than the season-opening win on the road at Western Kentucky or the 25-point thrashing of Saint Louis in Kansas City or the 84-65 victory over Kansas State just three weeks ago.
But those performances feel like distant memories now, replaced by 120 straight minutes of subpar basketball. Not only have opponents shredded WSU’s defense for 1.25 points per possession on 63.3% effective field goal shooting, but the Shockers have trailed for more than 100 of those 120 minutes and trailed by double digits for more than 60 of those minutes (and every second of the second half of the last two games).
“We know we can do it,” Bell said. “We know we can. We know how to win, but we’ve got to get back to our roots and figure out what it is.”
The first person out of the locker room after a road game is typically WSU head coach Paul Mills. On Saturday, Mills was among the last to exit — roughly 70 minutes after the game ended.
He briefly met former Shocker star Jason Perez, a San Antonio native, then thanked a pair of WSU donors who had waited more than an hour after the game to offer their support.
“Wish the game would have turned out differently,” he said with a hollow laugh.
On the way to the bus, Mills declined to make any sweeping conclusions about his team without first reviewing the film.
But before beginning his journey back to Wichita, where the Shockers will try to snap out of their funk with a homestand against Charlotte on Tuesday and East Carolina on Saturday, Mills was sure of one thing.
“This is on us,” Mills said, speaking for the coaching staff. “We put this roster together and we’ve got to do a better job here.”
This story was originally published January 12, 2025 at 7:03 AM.
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