How Paul Mills’ fingerprints were all over Wichita State’s win over Memphis
Paul Mills doesn’t celebrate often during Wichita State basketball games.
So when he unleashed a fist pump that would have made Tiger Woods proud late in the first half Saturday at Koch Arena, it wasn’t just because the Shockers had gone up big on Memphis. It was because, in a single sequence, his team showed him exactly what he’s been demanding in practice.
That’s why Wichita State’s 74-59 win over Memphis felt different. The Shockers didn’t just beat the preseason favorite to win the American Conference. They showed how months of film-room corrections and practice-point emphasis are now surfacing organically in games as WSU rides a three-game winning streak and sits one game out of first place in conference play.
The sequence that sent Mills into celebration began fittingly on the defensive end.
Memphis ran a pick-and-roll with guard Curtis Givens probing downhill. WSU center Emmanuel Okorafor was tasked with threading one of the most difficult needles: containing the ball while also eliminating the pass to the rolling big. Earlier this season, those situations have occasionally unraveled for Okorafor, especially when a well-timed pump fake lured him off his feet.
This time, however, he stayed grounded. Okorafor didn’t fall for the bait, waited, then became the second man off the floor — exactly the teaching point Mills preaches — swatting Givens’ attempt out of the air without fouling.
The payoff was immediate.
WSU pushed the ball in transition. Kenyon Giles missed a pull-up jumper, but the possession didn’t end — not for a team that has built an identity around offensive rebounding. That allowed the Shockers to reset and set up Brian Amuneke to attack the rim.
That, too, has been a teaching point.
Instead of lowering his shoulder or forcing the issue, Amuneke came to two feet in the paint, kept his head up and drove just far enough to draw a second defender. The dump-off to Okorafor was simple and devastating, ending with a wide-open dunk that punctuated one of WSU’s best two-way sequences of the season.
The basket pushed the Shockers ahead 26-8, forced a Memphis timeout and drew a visceral reaction from Mills, whose sideline celebration only further ignited the Roundhouse.
“You have to make plays under control,” Mills said. “A lot of these guys think that they’re under control, then you go back and watch the film and you just realize how unbalanced you are. It’s something we spend a great deal of time on and again, they understand that it’s going to benefit the team.”
It wasn’t the only instance where Mills’ practice emphasis materialized in real time.
Early in the second half, WSU unveiled a subtle but crucial adjustment to combat Memphis’ aggressive ball-screen blitzes. Rather than asking the ball handler to dribble through pressure and find the roller, the Shockers began “shorting” the pick and roll — swinging the ball to the wing to create a clearer angle into the middle.
When Will Berg set a high screen near half court, Memphis predictably trapped Mike Gray Jr. This time, Gray didn’t test the double team. He swung the ball immediately to T.J. Williams on the wing as Berg slipped toward the basket. The timing flipped the advantage.
Williams delivered a horizontal pass into the middle, hitting Berg on the move. What followed showcased why Mills believes control matters more than speed. Berg caught the ball, anticipated the help defender tagging him at the free-throw line and came to a jump stop. No rushed dribble. No off-balance lunge.
As his defender left him in the corner, Karon Boyd cut from the corner. Berg spotted him instantly and slotted a bounce pass underneath for a ferocious two-hand slam — a clinical possession that turned Memphis’ pressure into an easy dunk.
“You’ve got to attack force with force,” Giles said. “I feel like we did that. You can’t overthink it. When teams are aggressive like that, there’s going to be a lot of open plays.”
The adjustment was born from a first-half lesson. Late before the break, WSU ran a similar play, but Gray tried to dribble around the trap with no release valve available. At halftime, Mills adjusted the spacing, lifting Williams higher up the floor to give Gray an outlet and free Berg on the pass.
The play also showcased the in-season development of Berg, the 7-foot-2 center who entered Saturday with just 19 career assists in 587 Division I minutes. Against Memphis, he was credited with a career-high four assists in 24 minutes, although a film review by The Eagle later showed one should have been credited to Williams. Even so, three assists still marked a career best.
His first assist came on a familiar read. After catching the ball on the block, Berg waited for the double team. When Dillon Battie’s defender left the perimeter to help, Battie cut hard down the middle. Berg simply looked over the defense with his height and delivered the pass for an uncontested dunk.
“I’ve always enjoyed passing the ball, maybe a little bit too much sometimes, especially after offensive boards,” Berg said. “But the way coach Mills has our offense, it makes it very easy for me to know where people are going to be. Not just when I short roll, but also when I’m posting up. So that helps me know where to look in advance.”
The coaching staff drilling Berg in practice and in film helped the reads stay clean.
Late in the game, Berg set another one of his crushing screens for Giles, who bounced the ball to Berg at the foul line. Once again, Berg jump-stopped, surveyed the floor and found Boyd wide open at the top of the key. The pass hit Boyd in rhythm and the 3 splashed.
Even when Berg looked to score, the principles held. Early in the second half, he rolled off a screen from Dre Kindell, caught the ball on the move, stopped on two feet, surveyed the floor again, then methodically backed down his defender and spun baseline for an authoritative dunk.
That’s not a play Berg would have been comfortable — or confident enough — making early in the season. But nearly three months in, he’s showing his growth in real time, a direct reflection of the trust and structure Mills has built around him.
“When you’re a big-big like me, people are going to try to tag you early on the free throw line,” Berg said. “So you have to be aware of it. In the beginning of the year, I was kind of struggling with it a little bit. It’s something I’m thankful for the coaches for letting me work through and let me become more and more comfortable.”
None of this is to suggest WSU has arrived as a finished product.
The Shockers were far from perfect against Memphis, committing a handful of mistakes at both ends and stringing together offensive possessions that were anything but clean. There was botched execution. Missed assignments. Loose possessions.
But the difference is that WSU is no longer ignoring the lessons in those moments. Instead of compounding mistakes, the Shockers are increasingly falling back on the habits Mills has been preaching all season — tiny details like being the second off the ground on defense and playing off two feet on offense.
Those ideas are no longer just talking points in practice. They are beginning to surface in games, and they are helping WSU win.
If that trend continues, the growth curve points upward, giving fans a glimpse of a Wichita State team capable of staying in the thick of a conference title chase for the first time in five years.
This story was originally published January 27, 2026 at 7:01 AM.
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