Orlando notes: Wichita State considers playing Rauno Nurger to help depth at center

Wichita State’s uncertainty with its big men is causing coach Gregg Marshall to consider playing sophomore center Rauno Nurger.

Nurger planned to redshirt. However, the Shockers are without center Anton Grady, who suffered a spinal concussion on Friday, for an unknown length of time. The poor play of sophomore center Shaq Morris is also a factor. No. 20 WSU (2-3) plays Iowa (3-2) on Sunday in the seventh-place game of the AdvoCare Invitational at HP Field House.

“We’re discussing that,” Marshall said. “I’m evaluating Anton and other things.”

Nurger, who played in 24 games as a freshman, wanted to redshirt to give himself a year to get stronger and improve his defense and rebounding. Morris, however, did not play in Friday’s loss to Alabama. He played three minutes in Thursday’s loss to Southern California and a series of mental and physical mistakes are testing the patience of coaches.

Morris will play on Sunday, Marshall said. He has few other options with Grady hospitalized. It is time for Morris, a member of the Missouri Valley Conference’s all-freshman team last season, to step up.

“I think that’s really fair to say,” Marshall said after Saturday’s practice at the Jostens Center in the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

Is Morris showing signs of making those improvements?

“Maybe,” Marshall said.

We meet again — Like Alabama and DePaul, Iowa is a familiar tournament foe for the Shockers

WSU defeated the Hawkeyes 74-57 in Kansas City in 2009 and 75-63 in the Cancun Challenge in 2012.

Iowa’s Mike Gesell and Adam Woodbury started the 2012 game as freshmen. WSU’s Ron Baker played 28 minutes and missed all seven of his shots. Fred VanVleet played eight minutes.

“They’re a veteran team,” Marshall said. “I remember when Gesell and (Woodbury) were freshmen. I remember when (Woodbury) was a heralded recruit as a freshman.”

While both teams are trying to avoid an 0-3 tournament, Iowa’s issues are vastly different from WSU’s. The Hawkeyes are averaging 81.4 points while making 46.8 percent of their shots and 40.2 percent of their three-pointers.

“They can really shoot it,” Marshall said. “They come at you really fast and are really good in transition.”

Iowa’s losses to Dayton (82-77) and Notre Dame (68-62) followed a pattern. The Hawkeyes fell behind by double digits and rallied to lead before fading in the final minutes. They trailed Dayton by 14 points and 75-71 with 2:35 to play. Notre Dame led Iowa by 17 in the first half and 15 in the second half. Iowa led 47-46 and never again.

“We’re missing shots early,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “The offense wasn’t clicking. Defense was not what it needed to be.”

Notre Dame ran out to a 39-27 halftime lead, motivating McCaffery to challenge his team at halftime to get interested in defense. The Irish made 6 of 15 threes in the first half.

“We can’t be a team who derives their defensive intensity from offensive success,” he said. “It’s almost got to be the other way around. We should know better than to let that happen.”

All-Ohio final — Dayton and No. 23 Xavier are located 48 miles from each other and are rival Catholic schools who first played in 1920.

On Sunday, they meet for the first time since 2013 in the championship game. Dayton leads the series 85-75, although Xavier has dominated in recent decades.

In 2013, Xavier left the Atlantic 10 for the Big East and the teams haven’t played since. Dayton fans, perhaps as many as 4,000, are filling the HP Field House and more are expected to drive 12 hours for Sunday’s game, lured by the renewal of the rivalry.

“Playing Xavier will mean a lot to our people, so we’ll have great respect for our fans and our alums in terms of our preparation,” Dayton coach Archie Miller told reporters after Friday’s win over Monmouth. “But we’re nowhere near being ready to play with them right now. We have to get a lot better in the next couple of days.”

Xavier assistant coach Luke Murray is the son of actor Bill Murray, who attended Friday’s win over Southern California.

Bahamas opponents — The eight-team field for the 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis is complete.

Joining the Shockers will be Michigan State, Louisville, VCU, Baylor, Saint John’s, LSU and Old Dominion.

The tournament runs during Thanksgiving week next season. Matchups have not been announced.

This story was originally published November 28, 2015 at 2:12 PM with the headline "Orlando notes: Wichita State considers playing Rauno Nurger to help depth at center."