Wichita State-Arizona matchup

Grady finds his spot 15 feet from the basket

Wichita State center Anton Grady packed a lot of change into a transition year.

He came to WSU as a fifth-year senior transfer from Cleveland State and joined the Shockers in June. He spent the summer and early fall trying to fit in, especially on defense.

In November, he missed four games after suffering a spinal concussion. When he returned, he came off the bench. He’s ditched three-point shooting and over the month found a comfortable role as a mid-range shooter. On Tuesday, he scored 11 points against Vanderbilt and his shooting helped pull shot-blockers away from the hoop.

“It’s just something that I have in my game and something that’s going really well for me,” he said. “We were able to benefit from those shots and get those guys away from the basket and open it up a little bit more.”

Grady took six three-pointers in his first five games, making one. Since then, he’s attempted two more. He found his sweet spot around the foul line and is going to that weapon often. Grady scored in double figures in four of the past five games and is 23 of 39 from the field in that span. That skill could help against Arizona’s big men, just as it did Tuesday.

“What we found out is that he’s really good in the mid-range,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “He’s good with certain moves on the block, but I’m not sure if he’s going to be able to take those guys … and do any work on them. He’s just got to pick his spots to try to use his quickness to counteract their size.”

From one to another

Arizona’s Sean Miller knows great point guard play, both as coach and player.

Miller guided Pittsburgh to three NCAA Tournaments during his career after scoring 1,282 points and recording 744 assists. His assessment of WSU’s Fred VanVleet starts with comparing him to former Wildcat T.J. McConnell, who plays for the Philadelphia 76ers.

“In our program, he’s the standard when it comes to winning, playing the game and helping his teammates,” Miller said. “His poise, how under control he is on offense and how he makes the right play almost every time, and yet he’s over 40 percent as a three-point shooter. I love the way he defends.”

Arizona senior guard Gabe York watched Tuesday’s game against Vanderbilt and also came away impressed.

“They ran the floor very well, made big-time shots and they rebound the ball really well,” York said. “They have those two guards who have played in just as many big games as myself and Kaleb (Tarczewski) have.”

Two bigs are better than one

The Shockers went big against Vanderbilt more frequently than normal. It worked because sophomore Rauno Nurger played well in relief of foul-plagued Shaq Morris.

The rotation of Grady, Morris and Nurger helped the Shockers hold up against Vanderbilt’s three 7-footers. WSU out-rebounded the Commodores 43-38 and held them to a season-lows with 30.2-percent shooting and 50 points. Nuger scored six points in 17 minutes. Morris played one minute in the first half, maybe less, and picked up two fouls. He played eight minutes in the second half and made two shots.

Arizona will present even more problems with their size and aggressive rebounding. Their offense starts with passing the ball to Tarczewski and Ryan Anderson in the lane. Both are strong rebounders. The Shockers may play the twin towers again on Thursday.

“I thought it was great because Rauno played so well,” Marshall said. “They’re all going to have to play. They’re all going to have to defend. Another thing we can do is try to use their energy because they’re going to be fresh, relative to the other guys that Arizona puts out there that have more size.”

A reminder who runs the show

Ron Baker and VanVleet don’t require much coaching. Give them the scouting report and they follow directions, play hard and play smart.

Marshall can’t resist giving them a little bit of a push on occasion.

“I’ll pick my spot to coach them a little bit,” he said.

On Tuesday, Marshall questioned a shot Baker took late in the game, a runner that he tried to loft over a shot-blocker.

“Then I looked at the video and he got hit pretty good,” Marshall said. “He was probably thinking he was going to get two free throws.”

Marshall poked VanVleet about missing an open player rolling to the basket. VanVleet explained he saw another option.

“So what does he do, he promptly in the same possession, instead of hitting the guy for the dunk, he drains his first three,” Marshall said. “He basically told me that was enough.”

Baker climbs the charts

Baker is Wichita State’s top career scorer in the NCAA Tournament.

He scored 14 points on Tuesday and totals 141 in 11 tournament games, passing Cleanthony Early, who scored 135 in seven games over 2013 and 2014.

Baker extended his lead as WSU’s leading NCAA rebounder with nine, giving him 67.

Baker and VanVleet both played in their 11th NCAA game Tuesday, tying former teammate Tekele Cotton (2012-15) atop WSU’s list.

On WSU’s career scoring list, Baker moved into No. 8 with 1,612 points to pass Randy Burns (1,599, 2001-05). Moving up will require a deep tournament run. Aubrey Sherrod is 153 points ahead of Baker.

Worth noting

Wichita State is 1-1 against Arizona, defeating the Wildcats in 1954 and losing in 1951. … The Shockers are 16-13 in 13 NCAA appearances and 8-3 in the past four. Arizona is 54-29 in 31 NCAA trips.… VanVleet can win his 120th game on Thursday, tying him with Cotton atop WSU’s career list.… VanVleet has averaged 20.7 points over the past four NCAA games. His seven assists on Tuesday are the second-highest in a tournament game.

Paul Suellentrop

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Wichita State-Arizona matchup."