Defense carrying No. 11 Wichita State with offense in reserve

Wichita State’s offense seems to consist of layups and dunks created by steals and turnovers.

There is more to it, of course, and while WSU’s half-court offense remains a bit of a mystery, it will run more smoothly when shots begin to fall more regularly.

“If you break down the film, we’re getting a wide-open looks, a lot,” guard Fred VanVleet said. “Looking at our sets and how we’re running things, we’re definitely getting wide-open shots. You’ve just got to make them.”

No. 11 WSU (2-0) cruised past two opponents expected to return to the NCAA Tournament and contend for conference titles, despite shooting poorly from three-point range and the foul line. Tuesday’s first half against Memphis resulted in 29 points on 38.7-percent shooting. WSU missed four of its first five shots in the second half before making 11 of 17. Most important, the Shockers made 4 of 10 threes in the second half, its first points from beyond the arc this season.

WSU’s early possessions against Memphis provided several examples of the good and bad of the half-court offense. The first possession ended with a shot-clock violation after Evan Wessel airballed an open three. On the second trip, forward Darius Carter missed a guarded 15-foot jumper. A sharp cut by Carter forced Memphis to foul to start WSU’s third possession. Then Baker missed an open three and Carter followed it in for WSU’s first basket. After a Memphis turnover, VanVleet lobbed to Carter for a pick-and-roll dunk.

On those four trips, the Shockers got at least three good shots. Baker said Thursday’s practice was devoted largely to shooting and offensive skills.

“We’re missing open shots,” Baker said. “I feel like we can get open shots pretty much any time in our half-court offense.”

For the season, WSU is shooting 44.8 percent overall and 14.8 percent (4 of 27) from three-point range. The need and opportunity to run half-court offenses is minimized by WSU’s ability to force turnovers (44) and score off those turnovers. Of WSU’s 142 points, 53 are credited after turnovers. Careful ball-handling also helps — WSU committed 25 turnovers and attempted 36 more shots than its opponents.

“I would take layups and dunks in transition all year long,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “These guys have enough experience and know-how and willingness to win that when they do have to execute in the half-court, I’m assuming that they will still be able to do it. They’ve proven that in the past.”

WSU’s offense is working with one major change — forward Cleanthony Early is no longer around to provide his floor-spacing three-point shot and his post game. Defenses have switched their focus to VanVleet, Baker and Tekele Cotton, which has opened opportunities for Carter. Even without Early, Baker and VanVleet are finding plenty of driving lanes to the basket. Some of WSU’s sets are now run for Baker or Cotton, operating on offense in Early’s spot, and both are getting post-up and mid-range opportunities.

“It’s just a different floor balance,” VanVleet said. “We’ve still got shooters out there.”

Wessel replaced Early in the starting lineup. While Wessel isn’t in Early’s class as a scorer, he can help the offense with his enthusiasm for setting screens to free the guards.

“We’re still getting open looks whether it’s Rashard (Kelly) or Evan that’s going to end up shooting it, or it’s us coming downhill of the ball-screen and usually making pretty smart decisions if someone’s open,” Baker said.

WSU plays Newman (2-0) on Sunday at Koch Arena in a game that counts for the Shockers and is an exhibition for the NCAA Division II Jets. The game won’t count when the NCAA compiles WSU’s power ranking (RPI), which is fine with Marshall because the rest of his schedule should provide plenty of strong opponents.

“If we’re going to play someone like that, we may as well play someone local that we can give back to a school in the community,” Marshall said. “What we tried to do is get another quality Division I team to come to our place. When we were unable to do that, you still want to play a game between Memphis and … Tulsa (on Nov. 29).”

Worth noting — Marshall said he didn’t discuss redshirting with freshman Zach Brown and junior transfer Tevin Glass. Neither played in the opening win over New Mexico State before playing in the final minutes against Memphis. … Newman defeated Washburn 90-79 on Thursday. The Jets opened the season with an 86-80 win over Emporia State. They are picked eighth in the Heartland Conference.

This story was originally published November 21, 2014 at 4:44 PM with the headline "Defense carrying No. 11 Wichita State with offense in reserve."