Wichita State’s Tevin Glass rewarded for patience with playing time

Charles Glass can’t be sure if his three sons gathered around the TV set in 1997 to watch Chicago’s Steve Kerr make the go-ahead jump shot to clinch the NBA championship. If they watched, they may be too young to remember.

Glass, however, is sure he explained the message of that moment, when Michael Jordan trusted his teammate, passed the ball to Kerr and won a fifth title.

“In my eyes, it was the right decision,” Glass said. “Do you want to be the guy that gets 30 (points) every night and loses? That’s what I instilled — do what’s best for the team. Sometimes you have to take a backseat.”

Those teachings helped keep Wichita State junior Tevin Glass in the right frame of mind when he played little this season. On Wednesday, he played a season-high 11 minutes at Bradley, part of a slow journey to relevance for the 6-foot-8 forward. He leaned on his father’s fondness for team basketball to counter his frustrations in the first half of the season.

No. 16 Wichita State (20-3, 10-1 Missouri Valley Conference) plays Missouri State (7-17, 2-9) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Koch Arena. Glass will get another chance to show his progress, especially as an offensive threat off the bench.

“He always told me to stay focused and if I wasn’t playing much, just help other people get better and go hard in practice,” Glass said of his father. “He really installed that in my head growing up, to be more a team player than about me.”

Charles Glass played forward at Murray State and led the Racers in assists (4.0) in 1984-85, and scoring and rebounding (18.2 and 6.8), on his way to All-Ohio Valley Conference honors in 1985-86. He grew up watching Magic Johnson make passing cool and counseled his three sons to play more like Jordan and less like Allen Iverson.

“Once Jordan scaled back his point production to 25 or 30 and started sharing the ball, that’s when he got his championships,” Charles Glass said.

Tevin Glass didn’t play in 10 of WSU’s first 17 games as he adjusted to the physical style and demands on rebounding and defense at WSU. When Shockers coaches recruited him, they told him he needed to get bigger and stronger after two seasons in junior college. Practices, he said, wore him down because he wasn’t used to the pace. He talked daily to his father, who told him to stay ready for his opportunity.

“Some players would have blown off the handle,” Charles Glass said. “He didn’t go that route. Now he’s seeing some rewards.”

Many transfers aren’t willing to be patient during their short time at a four-year school. Shockers coaches knew Glass needed work. They also knew his attitude would stay positive. Assistant coach Steve Forbes coached Glass for one season at Northwest Florida State College before moving to WSU. When forward Derail Green decided to transfer last spring, WSU targeted Glass.

“All I really cared about was winning,” Tevin Glass said. “It’s always been about team with me.”

Glass played in his sixth straight game at Bradley and scored six points as the first reserve into the game. He started to show his offensive potential when he scored seven points in five minutes late in the game against Missouri State and earned more minutes from there. WSU coach Gregg Marshall sees Glass as a player who can give WSU a scoring boost.

“That’s why he got the shot — because he continued to work and didn’t pout,” Marshall said. “He keeps coming in for extra (work). He showed the qualities you want to see from someone in that position. He didn’t accept it, but he was never disrespectful.”

WSU’s bench remains a puzzle on most games with roles undecided and consistency in short supply. Glass is the latest Shocker to step into a larger role and earn a chance to try for more minutes.

“I’m contributing instant offense,” he said. “I’m getting limited playing time, but I’m using it to the best of my ability.”

On the sideline — The Shockers will likely play without reserve forward Zach Brown, who may have suffered a concussion on Thursday, Marshall said.

Forward Shaq Morris and guard Ria’n Holland returned to practice on Friday after sitting out Thursday. Holland missed Wednesday’s game at Bradley with a sore left foot. Morris is slowed by a swollen left knee.

Morris said he recently tweaked his knee, an injury that has bothered him since last year, when he redshirted. He said he expects to have surgery after this season.

The news is worse for Missouri State, which enters Saturday’s game losers of eight of its previous nine games. Starting guard Dorrian Williams will not play due to a concussion, according to the Springfield News-Leader, suffered in Wednesday’s 53-50 loss to Loyola.

The Bears will bring eight healthy players to Koch Arena.

This story was originally published February 6, 2015 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Wichita State’s Tevin Glass rewarded for patience with playing time."