How Emmanuel Okorafor’s impact goes beyond the box score for the Shockers
Even when Emmanuel Okorafor doesn’t touch the ball, he has the ability to help the Wichita State men’s basketball team score.
A perfect example came early in Wichita State’s game against DePaul when the 6-foot-10 center defended without fouling, forced a miss, then sprinted the length of the court. That sprint mattered. As Okorafor barreled straight to the rim, two defenders instinctively collapsed to take him away.
That left teammate T.J. Williams free to cut in and attack, drawing a foul on a play that never shows up in the box score next to Okorafor’s name — but was created by him.
That kind of hidden impact is why Okorafor enters Wednesday’s 6:30 p.m. matchup against Wofford at Koch Arena as a key two-way piece for the Shockers.
“Once his endurance gets better, his speed will get better and better,” Mills said recently on his coaches show. “The amount of force he plays with opens up other options for us.”
Okorafor made his first start as a Shocker this past Saturday in the 61-58 loss to DePaul, as starter Will Berg was sidelined by a sprained ankle. Berg is expected to be available Wednesday, but Okorafor’s performance showed why WSU’s frontcourt pairing works so well:
Berg’s 7-foot-2 frame overwhelms with size, while Okorafor changes the geometry of the game with his mobility and power.
“We talk a lot about how do we get an advantage, how do we keep an advantage and how do we exploit it,” Mills said. “He does a really good job of getting an advantage and keeping an advantage.”
The senior from Nigeria, a transfer who spent time at Seton Hall and Louisville, gives WSU valuable flexibility. WSU uses his mobility when he’s in the game to play more aggressive on defense with its ball-screen coverage, while offensively, he’s blossomed into a true weapon.
When Okorafor sets a screen, he takes one decisive step toward the rim, then explodes with two massive strides that generate momentum few bigs can match.
“He gathers the ball and two-hand dunks it and makes it look effortless,” Mills said. “But you realize very, very few bigs can actually make that play.”
That explosiveness showed up on his best dunk of the season against DePaul, when Okorafor caught a pocket pass from Dre Kindell, took his patented choppy steps, then soared through the air and detonated at the rim — a play so forceful that even the ESPNU announcer audibly reacted.
Before arriving at WSU, Okorafor had never scored in double figures. Through his first 11 games with the Shockers, he’s already done it three times. He’s coming off a career-high 12 points in a career-high 32 minutes against DePaul, along with eight rebounds and a block. He’s averaging 6.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks while shooting 62.5% from the field.
“With Will out, it was next man up,” Okorafor said. “Just got to be ready. Coach said in practice, it doesn’t matter who’s out there, we’ve got a good team. So it’s next man up and I was ready to go out there and hoop and just play.”
Wofford enters Wednesday at 7-4 and ranked No. 229 on KenPom after an 83-57 win over Gardner-Webb. Wichita State (6-5) is favored by double digits as it looks to respond from a frustrating loss in which it missed 15 free throws — tied for the most in the program over the past 20 years.
“We understand (free throw shooting) is 20% of the game, and it’s something that we give quite a bit of attention to,” Mills said. “We need to make sure what happened on Saturday was an anomaly.”
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