Amid shooting slump, Mike Gray Jr. finding ways to still help Wichita State win
Mike Gray Jr. came to Wichita State to make shots.
The veteran guard arrived with a reputation as a spacer and shot-maker, but is in the midst of a shooting slump in his first season with the Shockers.
But with WSU playing some of its best basketball of the season lately, Gray is finding other ways to prove his worth on the floor entering Wednesday’s 6 p.m. road game at East Carolina inside Minges Coliseum (streaming on ESPN+).
He’s steering the offense with steadier decisions, rebounding bigger than his size, sacrificing his body to draw charges and keeping the ball moving on offense.
“You have to operate in the 95%,” WSU coach Paul Mills said, referencing a study that says a player only has the ball in their hands 5% of the game. “We can’t get focused on our shooting numbers. So he’s mindful of all of those other things. The shooting is going to come around, we just need to make sure we’re taking the right shots.”
Gray is averaging 8.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting 35.5% from the floor and 33.6% on 3-pointers. In conference play, those shooting numbers have slid to 31.3% overall and 27.3% from deep on 5.1 attempts per game.
It’s a disappointing dip considering what he showed last season at Nicholls State, where he made 40.9% of his 3s on 5.3 attempts per game.
Dig into his shot profile and it gets even more nuanced. Synergy Sports tracking shows Gray has actually been effective in a couple of specific contexts: He’s 11-of-27 (40.7%) when shooting 3s off the dribble as a pick-and-roll ball handler and he’s 8-of-16 (50%) from deep in transition. But his numbers crater in other half-court situations: 0-for-7 on 3s in isolation, 0-for-6 on 3s off handoffs and 4-for-14 on 3s coming off screens.
Part of the story is that his shot profile has changed shape. Last year, 80% of his 3-point tries were catch-and-shoot looks. This season, that share is down to 62% because he is handling the ball more for WSU. The good news is that his catch-and-shoot efficiency has held up, as he’s canning 36.6% (30-of-82) on those looks for the Shockers. The problem is what happens when he starts hunting tougher 3s — early pulls, deeper attempts and shots that don’t come in rhythm.
“We’ve talked with Mike about shot selection and the things that we need to do in order to showcase his ability,” Mills said. “But he’s doing other things that he needs to contribute.”
Those other things are the reason Gray remains a trusted piece in WSU’s rotation even as the shot wobbles. He’s shooting 83% at the foul line. He’s averaging career highs in rebounds (3.3) and assists (2.3). And the assist jump is especially striking, considering Gray came to WSU with 58 assists in 68 career games. He has already surpassed that with 60 assists in 26 games as he’s taken on more ball-handling responsibility.
In league play, he’s posted 37 assists against 16 turnovers — a 2.3 assist-to-turnover ratio. Over his last three games, he has 15 assists and just three turnovers, despite going 2-for-15 on 3s in that span.
In fact, during WSU’s 6-2 stretch over the last eight games, Gray has 26 assists to nine turnovers while shooting just 30% overall and 25% from deep.
The headline is obvious: He’s not making shots. But the counterpoint is just as real: WSU is winning anyway and Gray is helping.
The craft that might be Gray’s most surprising has been his ability to draw charges. With a rules emphasis making it tougher to earn charges, Gray has turned it into a specialty anyway, taking six charges in the last seven games. It’s a skill built on timing, toughness and a little bit of theater — sliding into place, sensing contact before it arrives and selling it in a way that forces officials to make a call.
Gray keeping his confidence is important because WSU (16-10, 8-5 American) is one of five teams in the league with five losses and currently sits in second in the standings with its tiebreakers. That spot is crucial because the American Conference tournament has shifted to a ladder format: The top two seeds earn a triple-bye straight to the semifinals, while seeds No. 3 and No. 4 get a double-bye to the quarterfinals. Every win now for WSU means potentially one fewer it needs in March to reach the NCAA Tournament.
“We’re in control of our own destiny,” Mills said. “That’s what you want. You don’t want to be dependent on anybody else to get the better seeding.”
Wednesday also offers WSU a chance to accomplish something it hasn’t done yet this season: complete a sweep in conference play.
ECU (9-16, 4-8 American) is stuck on the opposite end of the standings fight. With only 10 teams making the conference tournament field in Birmingham, ECU is scratching just to qualify. After a 1-7 start in league play, the Pirates have won three of their last four games.
Their lifeline is Jordan Riley, the conference’s leading scorer at 23 points per game and one of the nation’s highest-volume shooters. In WSU’s 77-60 win over ECU at Koch Arena on Jan. 21, WSU stopper Karon Boyd did well to hold Riley to 15 points on 5-for-18 shooting.
For WSU, the counter is familiar: defend with discipline, dominate the glass and let its identity wear the opponent down. The Shockers currently own the nation’s longest streak with 20 straight games of 10-plus offensive rebounds. Through 26 games, they’re grabbing 14.7 offensive rebounds per game — fifth nationally and a pace that would mark the best single-season offensive rebounding output in school history.
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