From strengths to weaknesses: How Brian Amuneke fits Wichita State basketball
The addition of Brian Amuneke for the Wichita State men’s basketball team wasn’t just about adding another wing.
It was about adding a specific archetype the Shockers have sorely lacked: an off-ball shooter who alters defensive spacing.
At Fresno State, Amuneke’s freshman season was essentially a crash course in college basketball. Expected to redshirt before the Bulldogs’ roster was gutted by NCAA suspensions, he was thrown into rotation minutes and struggled early. But once his role expanded late, the tape shows a player who knows exactly how to play off of others.
Over the final 12 games, against the sixth-best conference in the country in the Mountain West, he averaged 13.1 points while drilling nearly 47% of his 3s on more than five attempts per game.
“It definitely boosted up my confidence,” Amuneke said. “I went from, ‘OK, I’m going to redshirt’ to ‘My time is coming now.’ So I just trusted God’s plan and was always working and always staying ready.”
Why Amuneke’s shooting matters for WSU
The vast majority of Amuneke’s damage beyond the arc came off the catch: 31 of his 35 makes, according to Synergy’s tracking data.
That might sound one-dimensional, but in today’s spacing-driven game, it’s exactly the kind of shooting WSU needs. Instead of being a stationary floor-spacer, Amuneke is active — adept at sliding along the arc, keeping himself in the driver’s line of sight and punishing defenders who are caught watching the ball.
What’s striking is how much better Amuneke got as his volume increased. In the final 12 games, he averaged 5.2 attempts from deep and shot 46.8% — elite efficiency in one of the nation’s toughest leagues. For a true freshman, that kind of late-season leap is a strong predictor of future shooting reliability.
“I always tried to stay moving around,” Amuneke said. “It was mostly me just spacing and being ready to shoot at all times.”
That willingness to relocate is critical with WSU’s downhill guards. Dre Kindell and Kenyon Giles are lightning-quick and thrive at collapsing defenses. Pairing those types of creators with a shooter who consistently finds clean windows is, in theory, a symbiotic relationship: Kindell and Giles generate the paint touches and Amuneke cashes the open looks.
“Brian brings tough shot-making. He’s a sharpshooter,” Kindell said. “It’s really going to help out a lot with me being able to get in and trust guys to kick it out and make shots.”
“Dre is a very fast point guard, so I’m always trying to run with him and make sure I keep my eyes on him at all times to know what he’s looking for,” Amuneke said. “As a shooter, you’ve always got to be ready.”
Even when he isn’t scoring, Amuneke can change the geometry of the floor. After proving he can make shots at a high clip last season, defenders are less likely to cheat off him, which in turn widens the driving lanes WSU’s guards rely on.
How Wichita State can weaponize Amuneke
Expect Mills to test Amuneke in a variety of spots:
- Corner spacing on pick-and-rolls: Fresno State routinely stationed him in the corner during ball screens. That put Amuneke’s defender in a bind: either stick with him and risk giving up a layup or leave the shooter in the corner to take away the pass to the rolling big man. This is how Amuneke doled out a good portion of his damage, as the Bulldogs would then swing the ball to him and he was ready with a quick release. Expect WSU to mirror this — his corner gravity will force the low defender into tough choices.
- Transition trailing: Amuneke showed a knack at trailing the break and spotting up behind the arc with defenses scrambling. With Kindell and Giles expected to push the tempo for WSU, this could be easy offense for the Los Angeles native.
- Secondary scoring: While his finishing at the rim lagged, Amuneke showed flashes when he stopped short of the paint and used his 6-foot-5 size to bump smaller defenders and rise for controlled mid-range jumpers. This could be a pressure release option for him when opponents are focused on running him off the 3-point line.
For a Wichita State program that has often been starved for spacing, Amuneke’s role is simple: hit 3s, pull defenders with him and in doing so, make life easier for the guards alongside him. If his late-season surge was a sign of what’s to come, the Shockers may finally have the floor-spacing piece they were missing last season.
Areas for growth in Amuneke’s game
Amuneke has tantalizing scoring potential, but is far from a finished product.
At the top of the list is defense, where Amuneke struggled — somewhat expectedly — as a true freshman playing for a 6-26 team in the Mountain West. He was rated in just the fourth percentile nationally, according to Synergy, a reflection of an inexperienced player facing mismatches in a breakdown-heavy scheme.
Amuneke graded out extremely poorly in his spot-up defense, which suggests he wasn’t rotating in time or contesting with urgency. Those are the details that Mills has been busy hammering home to all newcomers, but Amuneke specifically, this offseason.
“There’s always a newness and a freshness with a bunch of new guys,” Mills said. “I feel really good about the pieces we have. We’ve asked these guys to do quite a bit of work and to be honest, everybody has really embraced the work. It’s not anything they’ve hidden from. So they’ve been great and handled everything really well.”
Another area where Amuneke can upgrade is his finishing, as he shot just 36.2% on 2-pointers in a half-court setting, per Synergy. He often had no problem beating his initial defender, but struggled to convert over the length of rim protectors near the basket.
He also finished with just 13 total assists in more than 600 minutes of action, but it’s fair to point out Amuneke wasn’t asked to create for others at Fresno State. But in last Thursday’s open practice at Koch Arena, he flashed the ability to read closeouts quicker — twice penetrating the paint, collapsing the defense, then picking out the open shooter to generate open looks for teammates. If he can replicate that occasional play-making during games, Amuneke could level up as an offensive weapon with the Shockers.
This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 6:03 AM.
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