‘Rhythm and reps’: How Kenyon Giles’ shot-making makes the hard look easy
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- Kenyon Giles debuted for Wichita State, scored 20 points and sparked the offense.
- He added four steals and led the Shockers to a 75-58 victory over UNC Asheville.
- Giles displayed composure and shot creation despite 2-of-7 three-point shooting.
Wichita State fans didn’t know quite what to expect when the ball found its way into Kenyon Giles’ hands for the first time at Koch Arena on Tuesday.
The offense had stalled, the shot clock was dwindling and the possessions seemed doomed. Then Giles — all 5-foot-10 and 172 pounds of him — dribbled right, took a hard step back over a long-armed defender and launched a 3-pointer that somehow found nothing but net.
The crowed erupted. The Shockers’ new lead guard had arrived.
Giles, a senior transfer from UNC Greensboro, poured in a game-high 20 points to go along with four steals to lead Wichita State to a 75-58 win over UNC Asheville on Tuesday.
It wasn’t quite the 31-point fireworks show Justin Hill produced in his WSU debut a year ago or the cinematic buzzer-beater Tyson Etienne delivered in the 2021 season-opener. But make no mistake, Giles made sure his first game in a Shocker uniform made a statement.
The art of the tough shot for Kenyon Giles
The 3-ball wasn’t falling for Giles on Tuesday. He finished just 2 of 7 from beyond the arc, misfiring on several looks he’d usually bury.
But what he lacked in perimeter precision, he more than made up for with an array of absurdly difficult mid-range jumpers with a perfect 5-for-5 display.
Each one came with a degree of difficulty that would make most coaches wince. Leaning. Fading. Twisting over 6-foot-6 defenders with hands in his face. But to Giles, they’re not tough shots. Those are his shots.
“It’s just rhythm and reps,” Giles said. “I’ve been small my whole life, so I’ve pretty much always faded on my shot. It probably does seem like a tough shot to people, but it’s so second nature to me.”
His track record backs him up: he hit an outrageous 65% of his two-point jumpers last season at UNC Greensboro, using bumps, fades and craft angles to neutralize the length thrown at him.
On Tuesday, UNC Asheville deployed D.J. Patrick, a 6-foot-6, physical senior wing, to shadow him all game. Patrick did everything right, contesting each look, forcing Giles into off-balance attempts. None of it mattered.
“I know when I’m off balanced, the defense is off balanced as well,” Giles said. “I like putting the defense in bad positions.”
Kenyon Giles’ key moment in Wichita State debut
The defining moment came late in the second half.
With WSU clinging to a 62-56 lead and just over three minutes left, Giles caught an inbounds pass in the corner. He pump-faked UNC Asheville’s 7-foot-1 center off his feet, drove baseline, then suddenly stopped on a dime as the defender scrambled to recover.
The ball was dislodged as he rose up for the shot, but somehow Giles corralled it midair, steadied himself and buried a short pull-up jumper while being fouled. As the ball swished through, Koch Arena erupted.
“That’s what I live for, big shots,” Giles said. “I know I’m built for the moment. I put in all of this work, not for no reason... it’s to show it.”
Giles’ confidence borders on audacity and it’s exactly what WSU has been missing.
“You have to have players who can go get a quality shot in the last eight seconds,” head coach Paul Mills said. “As much as you want your offensive schemes to work, they don’t all work. You have to have players who can go make shots. He can go get his own, that’s why he’s here.”
Giles scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half, including a pair of jumpers during the 15-2 run that turned a tight game into a double-digit rout.
Mills has made no secret that Giles is the engine of the Shockers’ offense this season. On Tuesday, Giles introduced WSU fans to his unique style of making the difficult look easy and turning high-degree-of-difficulty shots into routine rhythm jumpers.
“When I fade away from the mid-range, it feels pretty much like a layup to me,” Giles said. “If you work on it enough, it’s a layup.”
The showman the Shockers have been waiting for
Tuesday’s game carried a little extra meaning for Giles.
Before transferring to UNC Greensboro last year, he spent the first two seasons of his career at Radford, where he faced UNC Asheville four times — and lost all four. Finally beating them, this time on a bigger stage, meant something.
After sinking yet another step-back jumper late in the game, Giles dusted off his old Big South celebration — the “Ice Trae” pose popularized by Trae Young — a fitting flourish to his showman debut.
“Whenever I used to hit a big shot, I would do the ‘Ice Trae’ since he’s a small guard like me,” Giles said with a grin. “It’s funny because I always did it when I was in the Big South, but I stopped doing it last year when I got to UNCG. I guess I brought it back (for a former Big South rival).”
UNC Asheville coach Mike Morrell wasn’t the least bit surprised by what he saw on Tuesday.
“None of the shots he made were surprising to me,” Morrell said. “We’ve played him a ton and he’s a heck of a player. You’ve just got to try to make his shots tough and try to be as big as you can. He’s a good player.”
Giles’ size might make him an underdog, but his game is pure confidence. It’s flair and poise and precision rolled into one, backed by a proven track record as a certified bucket-getter.
“That was the first time for the fans to see it,” teammate T.J. Williams said, “but we’ve been seeing him do that stuff for the last five months.”
Another person who was plenty familiar with Giles’ history was current WSU teammate Karon Boyd, who spent last season chasing Giles while the two competed against each other in the Southern Conference. Boyd admitted wearing the same uniform as Giles felt pretty nice on Tuesday.
“I get to sit there and watch the ball go in instead of me being the one trying to guard him,” Boyd said. “It’s definitely nice to be on the side where it works in my favor now.”
For the first time in a long time, Shocker fans don’t have to groan when the shot clock starts winding down.
With a player like Giles, there’s a sense of excitement instead, that something spectacular might happen. A highlight-reel shot. A moment to remember.
It’s only one game, with another test coming at 6 p.m. Saturday against Prairie View A&M, but Giles might just bring back the kind of excitement and showmanship the Roundhouse hasn’t seen in years.
This story was originally published November 6, 2025 at 5:05 AM.
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