Shockers return from Atlantis 0-3 as discipline issues define disappointing week
Wichita State came to the Bahamas hoping to measure itself against quality competition.
What the Shockers found instead was a hard look at their own shortcomings. After Friday’s 75-70 loss to Western Kentucky in the seventh-place game in the Battle 4 Atlantis, WSU head coach Paul Mills didn’t hide from the bigger truth behind the 0-3 week.
“I think that the players understand that winning is in the details and the details require discipline,” Mills said. “There’s just some discipline issues.”
Those issues — defensive lapses, missed rotations, late gambles and stalled offensive execution — surfaced in all three games at Imperial Arena, sending WSU home winless from a multi-team event for the first time since the 2015 Advocare Invitational.
This time, the Shockers lost by five, six and five points. All were games within reach that unraveled in familiar fashion.
Now the question becomes whether this week will serve as the wake-up call for WSU or if it’s a sign of what’s to come this season.
“We’ve got to get back to Wichita and get better, that’s the main focus,” WSU star Kenyon Giles said. “We’ve got to learn from these three losses.”
Wichita State slowed down by another defensive adjustment
What Western Kentucky did Friday wasn’t an isolated problem, just the latest version of a blueprint emerging against WSU’s offense.
Earlier in the season, Boise State slowed the Shockers by top-locking Giles and denying him catches on the perimeter, a tactic aimed at removing WSU’s leading scorer and forcing other players to score. Mills said afterward that his team wasn’t prepared with the proper counters to punish that coverage and took responsibility.
But the same issue popped up against the Hilltoppers. After WSU rallied to open up a nine-point lead in the second half, WKU coach Hank Plona switched to a zone defense and ultimately settled on a box-and-one with his best defender face-guarding Giles.
“I guess with my words I tried to inspire them unsuccessfully,” Plona said. “And when that failed, I decided to dig into the bag of tricks and change defenses and that seemed to at least slow them down.”
The plan worked because the other players on the floor for WSU weren’t able to consistently make jump shots, a problem for the entire tournament. The Shockers entered the week as a top-40 3-point shooting team, but shot just 25.8% (16-for-62) beyond the arc in the Bahamas.
“We’re anxious to get back to Wichita and fix some things,” Mills said. “This is going to be the script moving forward on what you do to us.”
The Shockers on the wrong side of a game-defining play
Like usual, WSU rallied with its back against the wall.
Emmanuel Okorafor fought for an offensive rebound and free throws. Giles added three more from the line. T.J. Williams hammered home a transition dunk to trim a nine-point deficit to 71-69 with 1:07 left.
Then came the pivotal moment.
With under 45 seconds left, Western Kentucky’s Teagan Moore threw an errant pass that Giles scooped up with no one in front of him. As he pushed the ball upcourt, WKU’s Cam Haffner chased him down from behind. Replays appeared to show Haffner clip Giles’ foot from behind, causing the WSU star to stumble and lose control. WKU emerged with the ensuing loose ball and drew a foul that led to two free throws — a crucial swing.
“Tip of the hat to Cam for chasing that down and coming up with it,” Mills said. “I was just hoping we could get the jump ball because we had the arrow. I thought that was the game-defining play.”
When asked about the play, Giles never mentioned feeling contact from behind.
“I thought I could beat (WKU) down to the rim, but I should have just picked it up,” Giles said. “(Haffner) made a great play and got it from behind. I don’t know if it was a jump ball or a foul, but he didn’t give up on the play and made a great play on the ball.”
Beyond the effort, the details still missing for WSU
While Mills was upset with his team’s effort in Thursday’s loss to Colorado State, he didn’t feel the same way after Friday’s loss to the Hilltoppers.
“I did think that there was legit fight from our guys,” he said.
But effort alone isn’t enough to overcome the kinds of lapses that WSU is having.
The discipline problems continued to show up in smaller moments that add up. Late in the first half Friday, the Shockers failed to hold for the final shot, attacking too early and leaving Western Kentucky enough time to answer — which it did when WSU compounded the mistake by committing a foul that handed the Hilltoppers two cheap points before halftime.
Similar lapses surfaced through the week: gambles for steals that pulled defenders out of position and led to wide-open jumpers or ball-watching that resulted in backdoor cuts to the rim.
Those are the kinds of breakdowns Mills says must be eradicated if the Shockers want to stop letting winnable games slip away.
“We need to defend without fouling and then we go through these lapses execution-wise,” Mills said. “Those are all things that we can go back and address.”
The coach emphasized that the first month of the season is about growth. WSU was obviously disappointed with its showing in the Bahamas, but when asked, Mills said he feels confident that what is holding the team back right now is correctable.
“You get back to Wichita and you get better,” Mills said. “That’s what November is. It’s a growth month.”
“If we came here and got beat by a lot, I’d be concerned,” he added. “What we have are fixable issues.”
How the Shocker players are planning to stay together
From a player perspective, the message was unity and perspective despite the disappointment.
“The biggest thing is just staying together,” Giles said. “It’s a long year. We’ll remember this tournament. It’s a great moment for us to learn. We’ve got to be better and we can’t let these losses lead to another loss. We’ve got to go back to Wichita and get back to work because obviously what we’re doing is not enough. So we’ve got to keep learning.”
It won’t be a long break before WSU is back on the court, as the Shockers take on Division II Mount Marty on Tuesday before a road trip to Northern Iowa next Saturday — a challenge that will test how quickly they can apply the lessons of a frustrating and revealing week.
This story was originally published November 29, 2025 at 12:58 PM.
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