Wichita State practices to finish off strong defensive effort with rebounding

Wichita State’s spot atop the Missouri Valley Conference basketball standings is secure. Its national respect is so deep it remains ranked after a loss at Illinois State.

A lot of that good will was earned with rebounding, which the 25th-ranked Shockers view as an essential part of defense and an essential measure of toughness. They take a slip in those areas seriously.

On Wednesday, Southern Illinois out-rebounded them 48-31 and became the first team in seven seasons to win that battle by 10 or more. WSU dominated every other statistic to win 76-55. It got worse on Saturday, when Illinois State out-rebounded them 46-35 and won 58-53.

“It’s a combination of things, boxing out … being a little tougher,” WSU forward Evan Wessel said. “It’s rebounding. You’ve got to check out and go get the ball. We just weren’t securing it.”

WSU (17-6, 11-1 MVC) will try to restore its rebounding reputation at Drake (6-18, 1-11) on Tuesday at the Knapp Center in Des Moines. The Shockers own an eight-game win streak over the Bulldogs.

Drake has outrebounded its past five opponents, thanks in part to lineup changes that made the Bulldogs more physical. Freshman center Dominik Olejniczak is playing more minutes and averages seven rebounds a game over the past three games. Guard Ore Arogundade, replacing injured C.J. Rivers, averages 6.3 rebounds over the past six games.

“We’ve got to be able to match their toughness, match how hard they play,” Drake coach Ray Giacoletti said. “The intangibles of toughness, boxing out, rebounding — I think that’s the thing that separates Wichita State. We need to be able to bring those intangibles up to their level.”

The past two games may provide WSU coaches a motivational point to push a team through February. Two teams challenged the Shockers on the backboards and won and whether or not it matters much in the big picture, they aren’t pleased.

SIU and Illinois State are two of the Valley’s top rebounding teams, especially on the offensive boards. WSU leads the conference by grabbing 32.5 percent of available offensive rebounds, followed by SIU (30.6) and Illinois State (30.5). The two combined to snare 35 offensive rebounds, nine by SIU center Bola Olaniyan.

Those are numbers coach Gregg Marshall isn’t used to seeing in a box score. Before the SIU game, no MVC opponent outrebounded the Shockers and only Tulsa, Iowa and Utah did in non-conference play.

“We work on it every day,” Marshall said. “We emphasize it in every single drill. You’ve got to be willing and able to be physical and diligent in putting your body on someone and then going to get the ball with two hands.”

WSU held Illinois State to a season-low 27.5-percent shooting, 15 baskets on 55 attempts, which is dominant defense by any standard. The Shockers, however, didn’t complete the assignment after a missed shot. Illinois State grabbed 13 offensive rebounds. It scored seven points after rebounds in the second half to feed its rally after trailing by 16.

“We hold ourselves to a high standard,” Wessel said. “They got some second shots that led to their run. Any time we can play defense at a high level, it doesn’t matter what our offense does.”

Olejniczak, a 7-foot freshman, made his first start in Saturday’s loss to Northern Iowa and scored 13 points.

“There was a lot expected of him early on and we probably put way too much pressure on him,” Giacoletti said. “We’d like to be able to extend his minutes a little bit, but he’s got to be able to push through some fatigue. He is understanding how hard he needs to play.”

He is averaging 8.6 points over his past six games and Giacoletti wants to get him more shots. Olejniczak is shooting 71.6 percent for the season.

“Against Northern Iowa, he is 5 for 5 and we can’t get him any more looks than that,” Giacoletti said. “That’s on us to try to put him in a better position. We have to find ways to continue to get him touches.”

This story was originally published February 8, 2016 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Wichita State practices to finish off strong defensive effort with rebounding."