His time with Shockers brought unexpected challenges. How Ronnie DeGray persevered
Tears streamed down the face of Ronnie DeGray III when his senior season on the Wichita State men’s basketball team was upended.
He had fractured his left wrist in the fourth game of the season and a doctor had just informed him that it could potentially end his season.
Since joining the Shockers for the 2023-24 season, DeGray has been blindsided by the unexpected both years. He was prepared to sit out last season, but a court ruling opened the door for him to play and it was a struggle to mesh joining a team halfway through a season. And now the final year of his college basketball career was in danger of being lost.
“I just broke down,” DeGray said. “Because this is not how I envisioned my last year would go.”
DeGray had spent the offseason dedicated to bring his best to the court this season to help the Shockers make a push up the American Athletic Conference standings.
In the immediate aftermath of the injury in a Nov. 18 game against Monmouth, DeGray was not in a good mental head space.
“To be honest with you, I was worried about him mentally,” said Michelle DeGray, his mother. “Because he had worked so hard and had overcome so many trials and tribulations just to get to this point and things were going good and then he breaks his wrist. It was hard for us not to be like, ‘Why him?’”
After a week-long daze, DeGray snapped out of his funk. On Dec. 1, he posted the following message to his Facebook:
“Although I am bummed out with the situation, it could have been much worse. At first, I questioned why God would make me go through this in such a big year for me, but I also started thinking why not me? I may not understand now and might not ever, but God has a bigger plan for me that I just don’t see now but will eventually. God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers and this is just a small setback that I will overcome.”
DeGray rehabilitated the injury with a mission to not only return to the court, but to make the impact that he had hoped from the start of his senior season.
Just six weeks following his surgery, DeGray made his comeback to the court in a Jan. 14 game against Charlotte.
“What I’ve learned is to control what you can control,” DeGray said. “In college basketball, there are going to be ups and downs, but you can control the effort you put in and the attitude you have. I’ve just tried to stay positive and make sure the good days out-number the bad.”
It’s not a coincidence that some of WSU’s best play this season has coincided with DeGray’s return to the court. He only averages 5.6 points and 4.7 rebounds, but his impact on the team shows in ways that aren’t tracked in a box score.
Given his size in a 6-foot-6 frame, DeGray is WSU’s most versatile defender, capable of staying in front of a quick guard out front or battling down low against a center. He’s a good on-ball defender, but might be even better when he’s off the ball and can use his instincts and smarts to snuff out what the opposing team wants to do. The value of his help defense and plugging holes on defense wasn’t obvious until his absence on the court led to a defensive drop off.
WSU is 10-4 this season when he plays at least 20 minutes.
“Ronnie is the one who holds all of this together,” WSU head coach Paul Mills said. “We’ve seen the difference he makes defensively. He’s got the right mentality, he’s got he right approach. If you’re ever going to have a good team, you need to have three or four Ronnie DeGray’s on your roster. I wish we had more of him.”
Some of DeGray’s abilities are natural, some are the result of his extensive film study and some are the product of his upbringing with a father who was a professional basketball player.
Ronnie DeGray Jr. was a successful 6-foot-8 big man, who played alongside future NBA all-star Chauncey Billups at Colorado and then enjoyed a 6-year professional career in Spain, Hungary and Finland. He also raised a pair of twin daughters, Raeyana and Ronjanae, who were standout players in their own right, helping lead Arkansas-Little Rock to back-to-back Sun Belt championships during their time in college.
Ronnie III was actually more of a football player growing up. It wasn’t until later when his interest in basketball took off.
“At the end of his sophomore year in high school, he told me, ‘Dad, I want to play college basketball,’” Ronnie DeGray Jr., his father, said. “I told him, ‘Alright, I can show you how to get there, but you’ve got to put in the work.’”
When Ronnie III set out to become the next DeGray to pursue a basketball career, his father instilled the same work ethic and attention to detail that he used during his playing days.
That mindset of playing hard and playing the right way was drilled into him at an early age, even before he took basketball as serious, as Ronnie Jr. brought his son along with him when he traveled around the country doing summer basketball camps with Billups, who is now the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA.
“From Day 1, Ronnie has always had that knack for making the winning plays,” Ronnie Jr. said. “I think a lot of it comes from when he was a football player. It didn’t matter how big the guy was opposite of him, he was going to find a way to do his job. He’s always had a high basketball IQ and it’s something that’s always come easy to him.”
It didn’t take long for Ronnie III to embrace the importance of winning plays like diving for a loose ball, making the right rotation in help defense and setting a screen to free up a teammate.
He also learned his first year in college that there are levels to the game. His one year at Massachusetts taught him he needed to work at becoming a better defender, then his two years at Missouri in the SEC showed him the value of playing a role. Those lessons have prepared him to make his impact with the Shockers the last two seasons.
“He does so many things that are super valuable to winning,” WSU teammate Harlond Beverly said of DeGray. “You can see that by our record with him back out there. You just feel safe when you’re out there with him. He’s not going to mess up any defensive coverages. He’s going to box out his man every single time. He just does a really good job at the little things.”
DeGray also stepped into more of a leadership role this season at WSU. Even before his return to the court, DeGray played a critical role in helping the team pull out of a 1-7 spiral to begin conference play.
“Ronnie did some things this year in regards to addressing the team that I’ll tell future stories about 10 years from now,” Mills said.
It’s clear WSU is a different team defending and rebounding when DeGray is on the court, which creates quite the “What-if” game with his injury so early in the season.
“Imagine if he didn’t get hurt, what could have been this season,” Ronnie DeGray Jr. said. “Where would they be sitting right now in the standings if he didn’t get hurt. It’s tough to say woulda, coulda, but it’s hard not to think about that sometimes.”
There’s no uncertainty when it comes to the family’s pride in the career of Ronnie III, however.
He always took pride in impacting winning without scoring, something his father taught him at an early age.
“My dad has always been such a big influence on me,” Ronnie III said. “I wouldn’t be where I am now without him. I’ve learned so much from him and how he’s played at the highest levels, so his impact on me means a lot.”
As DeGray’s collegiate career winds down in Fort Worth with the Shockers at the AAC tournament, it’s emotional for Ronnie Jr. to see his son represent the third generation of the family’s name.
“His grandfather walks around in my hometown of Leesville, Louisiana with his chest out every time he plays on TV,” Ronnie Jr. said. “For us, man, that’s the biggest joy. I told him when he was young that he was going to write his won legacy. You may have my name, but you’re going to write your own story, so make sure you carry yourself well in and out of sports. He has lived up to everything that I’ve ever asked of him and I’m so proud to be his father.”
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