Why WSU wants to set the tone early against guard-heavy Milwaukee attack
Wichita State returns to Koch Arena on Saturday night looking to shake off what head coach Paul Mills called the “bad taste” from Tuesday’s loss at Boise State.
The opponent isn’t one that will make things any easier.
Milwaukee arrives for a 6 p.m. tip-off at Koch Arena with a dynamic backcourt, headlined by senior guard Seth Hubbard, who is averaging 17.2 points per game and shooting 39.1% from 3. The Panthers run the pick-and-roll and are extremely effective, particularly in the two-man actions between Hubbard and 6-foot-8 big man Danilo Jovanovich rolling to the rim.
Mills made it clear on Friday that Milwaukee’s guards are the foundation of his concern.
“If you look at their backcourt and their small forward, from a personnel standpoint, they’re an A-plus,” Mills said. “It’s not hard to see why they’re predicted to win their conference. You realize how good of a shot-making team that they are.”
Milwaukee’s top four guards — Hubbard, Amar Augillard, Esyah Pippa-White and Stevie Elam — are combining for 6.8 made 3s per game on 36.6% accuracy. When those shooters operate out of ball screens, WSU’s point-of-attack defense and rotations will be tested heavily.
That’s why Mills wants to see the Shockers assert themselves immediately on Saturday night.
“We’re going to have to set the tone pretty early in order to prevent some quality looks,” Mills said. “Because I feel like with the quality of guards that they have, if that match gets lit, it’s going to be really hard to put out that fire.”
Milwaukee enters with a 2-3 record, but its last two losses came on the road at Indiana and Texas Tech. Under head coach Bart Lundry, the Panthers have posted three straight 20-win seasons and were tabbed as the preseason favorite in the Horizon League. Despite a No. 207 KenPom ranking, they play with confidence that travels.
Physicality has been the theme of WSU’s week since returning from Boise. It was Mills’ biggest point of frustration, as he criticized his team’s effort on the defensive glass in the road loss.
“It’s a really bad taste over our lack of physicality on Tuesday night,” Mills said. “The level of physicality that needs to happen, especially on the defensive glass, just was not what we needed it to be.”
WSU has been elite at grabbing its own misses — nearly 42% of offensive rebounds — but the Shockers are closer to average on the defensive end. That imbalance is something Mills has emphasized repeatedly.
He believes the tape shows that his guards are taking the defensive rebound for granted and trying to leave early to start a fastbreak. Before the Shockers can run, however, they must rebound first.
“If you think run before rebound, you’re never going to get the chance to run,” Mills said. “We’ve got to make sure the rebounding is done prior to the running.”
Milwaukee is a fairly strong offensive-rebounding team itself, making Saturday a chance for WSU to deliver the response Mills has been craving.
“We need to be fully committed to what we’re trying to do day by day, hour by hour and game by game in order to win externally,” Mills said. “Before we can ever win externally, we have to make sure we’re right internally and commit to doing the things that we know are going to put us on the path toward that.”
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