Patience is the word for Wichita State freshman Landry Shamet during recovery

Big Sean is a Detroit rapper, discovered by Kanye West, who roots for the Detroit Lions and has almost 8 million followers on Twitter.

Steve Dickie is a retired minister from California who serves as counselor, listener and inspiration for Wichita State’s men’s basketball team and is known as their character coach.

With that unlikely pairing, Shocker guard Landry Shamet is coping with an injury that halted a promising freshman season after three games. Big Sean contributed lyrics from the song “Patience,” which Shamet chose as his “one word” during the team’s annual exercise with Dickie recently. Each season, WSU players and coaches choose a word to drive their goals.

“That was very fitting,” Shamet said. “Big Sean, the rapper, he talks about patience and how it’s not just the ability to wait, but how you act while you’re waiting.”

Waiting is not easy when your freshman season is headed toward big things. Shamet made a strong impression when he arrived last summer, working hard, asking questions, watching video and playing with a maturity that foreshadowed success. He averaged 8.7 points in those three games and started against Emporia State.

Then his left foot started to hurt. Exams revealed a stress fracture. He had surgery to repair the fifth metatarsal while WSU traveled to Florida to play in the AdvoCare Invitational.

“I’ve never been faced with anything like this before,” he said. “That two weeks after surgery was probably the lowest I’ve been.”

Big Sean advises: “Patience is the ability to accept trouble, suffering, delay

Without getting angry or upset

I feel like if you could master patience, you could master anything

To sit and plan out your goals and dreams, strategize

Understand how the universe works.”

“I’m trying not to get frustrated with the adversity … and control what you can control,” Shamet said.

Shamet’s progress is noticeable now that he no longer needs crutches. He has an appointment on Tuesday that may free him from the walking boot. Last week, he started swimming exercises. Rehab consists mainly of range of motion exercises, flexing of the ankle, rotating the hips, designed to reactivate his left leg. Even while on crutches, he lifted weights.

“Doctor said the bone is healing the way he wanted it to, forming around the screw and starting to bridge across and calcify,” Shamet said.

Shamet is on schedule to start low-impact rehab soon with a return to playing shape by mid-to-late February. Shamet said he is waiting until then to seriously think about playing or preserving a redshirt season. If his body isn’t ready by then, there is no choice available.

“I’m focused on getting myself healthy,” he said. “That was the whole motive behind having surgery, to put myself in a situation where I could have the option. If I didn’t get surgery, it would have been over. I wouldn’t have played this season.”

In 2013, WSU’s Ron Baker played in 10 games before a stress fracture in his left foot cost him 21 games. Baker, who had already used his redshirt season, did not have surgery. He returned and played in three Missouri Valley Conference Tournament games and started all five games in the NCAA Tournament.

Part of the big shoe — Former Shocker basketball player David Kyles has a small role in James Harden’s latest adidas commercial.

Kyles, who played at WSU from 2008-12, appears about 14 seconds into the commercial, during the pickup-game segment, standing on the sideline in a gray shirt and sweatpants.

“A good friend of mine presented this to me as an opportunity to build my acting resume,” Kyles said in an email. “I do have dreams of starring in movies and also a chance to be more marketable.”

Kyles said the shoot started at 9 a.m. and took until midnight. Terms of his contract prohibited him from revealing his pay, he said.

“(Harden) is a cool guy, very laid-back, but definitely knows what’s going on with the younger generations,” Kyles said.

Harden starred at Arizona State before playing in the NBA with Oklahoma City and Houston. At Arizona State, he roomed with former Shocker baseball (and briefly basketball) player Johnny Coy. Coy started his college career as a two-sport athlete at Arizona State.

Play that game — Individual stats and accomplishments are normally secondary around Wichita State basketball.

However, when it comes to giving seniors Baker, Evan Wessel and Fred VanVleet one more chance to add to their individual accomplishments, coaches and administrators are on board. They want to reschedule last week’s game against New Mexico State for disappointed fans, for the NCAA Tournament resume and for those seniors.

Those three (plus Anton Grady and Bush Wamukota) are guaranteed 18 more games (likely more depending on tournament play) to climb WSU and MVC career charts. Game No. 19, against the Aggies, could help.

For example, VanVleet trails Cotton (120) by 19 career victories, a mark that leads the MVC and WSU. For games played, he trails Cotton (141) by 23 games. VanVleet, with 182 career steals, trails leader Jason Perez, who has 222.

VanVleet, who is No. 15 in the MVC with 501 career assists, needs 50 more to move into the top 10 and 115 to move into the top five. He averages 4.5.

Baker has 205 three-pointers and trails career-leader Randy Burns by 43. Baker averages 2.2 made threes a game. Baker, who has 1,334 career points to rank No. 15, should easily move into the top 10 by season’s end.

Last week’s postponement, forced because snow and ice kept New Mexico State from flying, also disappointed seven NBA scouts scheduled to watch that game. For Baker, VanVleet, New Mexico State’s Pascal Siakam and others, consider it a job interview that never happened.

This story was originally published January 2, 2016 at 4:41 PM with the headline "Patience is the word for Wichita State freshman Landry Shamet during recovery."