Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall takes cautious approach with Fred VanVleet’s hamstring injury

Wichita State basketball is in between two major learning points as the regular season approaches.

The 10th-ranked Shockers, with guard Fred VanVleet limited by injury, scrimmaged Oklahoma State on Saturday at Koch Arena, one week before its exhibition game against NCAA Division II Hawaii Pacific. Coach Gregg Marshall uses both markers to look at lineup combinations, evaluate newcomers and set the stage for the Nov. 13 opener against Charleston Southern.

“We’re going to play as many guys as we possibly can (in the exhibition) without burning a redshirt,” Marshall said. “The most important thing is get these guys some time and some experience so that we can see if they can possibly help us soon, hopefully, if not later.”

VanVleet played 10 minutes in the scrimmage and he will likely watch practice and rehab this week, Marshall said, to protect a strained left hamstring.

“He’s going to probably take all week off,” Marshall said. “He tweaked it on Saturday for the second time, a little more severely. I’m sure he’ll try to play on Saturday. I’m going to try to be the voice of reason. We need him a lot more in January, February, March than we need him right now.”

The Shockers played Oklahoma State in a 40-minute scrimmage, followed by a 20-minute scrimmage largely played with newcomers and reserves. A 10-minute scrimmage against zone defenses completed the day. Oklahoma State, which played in the NCAA Tournament last season, is picked seventh in the 10-team Big 12 in the preseason coaches poll. It returns two starters from last season, led by senior guard Phil Forte.

Marshall liked the way his big men rebounded. Guard Ron Baker played good defense, but shot poorly, Marshall said. Freshman guard Landry Shamet shot well from outside.

“We out-rebounded them very significantly, so I guess we were pretty good on the glass,” Marshall said. “Anton (Grady) played well in the post. He probably was our most productive low-post scorer.”

Grady, a 6-foot-8 senior forward, is growing into his role as a low-post scorer and improving his defense on the perimeter, Baker said.

“Any time he gets the ball about 12 feet on in, he’s tough to handle,” Baker said. “He drew a lot of fouls and got a lot of easy baskets. He’s a security blanket for us guards to throw the ball inside.”

Grady missed most of the 2012-13 season after tearing his meniscus and has endured three knee surgeries. Marshall balances reducing the wear-and-tear on Grady’s joints with his need to integrate Grady into the lineup.

“We try not to put him in dangerous situations,” Marshall said. “The other thought that goes through my mind is that he needs to learn our system, he needs to be out there.”

All of college basketball is preparing for referees to call more fouls, similar to their push two seasons ago, in an effort to allow more freedom of movement for offensive players. Baker said he was told referees called 36 fouls in 20 minutes on Saturday.

“The scrimmage Saturday was probably the slowest game of basketball I’ve ever played,” Baker said. “They sat us down at the end of the scrimmage Saturday and told us what they were told to call fouls. Anytime a player has just a hand, a finger on you, and you try and drive the basketball in any direction and he impedes your movement, it’s a foul.”

The scrimmage also gave the Shockers their first experience with the 30-second shot clock, down from 35, against outside competition.

“Oklahoma State did a pretty good job against us not allowing us to get the ball up the court as quickly as we wanted,” Baker said. “I think there’s going to be a lot more one-on-one play towards the end of the shot clock.”

Marshall will continue to audition lineups against Hawaii Pacific. He can play his five freshmen — Shamet, Ty Taylor, Eric Hamilton, Markis McDuffie and walk-on Brett Barney — without burning their redshirt season. Transfers Conner Frankamp and Peyton Allen cannot play because they must be enrolled for a year at WSU before facing outside competition.

Minor injuries sidelined several Shockers at different points, which makes building a rotation challenging.

“With so many practice and so many guys in and out because of injuries … it’s almost like the lottery, it’s like picking out ping pong balls,” Marshall said. “I try to even the teams out each day. I try to make sure everybody is playing with somebody different each day. I just rarely put Ron and Fred together. I just want to see different combinations.”

This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 4:14 PM with the headline "Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall takes cautious approach with Fred VanVleet’s hamstring injury."