Bob Lutz: Amid the fouls, signs of the Shockers’ future

When it was finally over and all of the blood from 66 fouls resulting in 71 foul shots had been cleaned from the floor at Koch Arena on Friday night, the impression was that the future of the Wichita State basketball team — beyond Fred VanVleet, Ron Baker, Evan Wessel and Anton Grady — is bright.

Shocker freshmen Landry Shamet, Eric Hamilton, Ty Taylor and Markis McDuffie combined for 38 points and 16 rebounds in an 88-63 WSU win over Charleston Southern.

The game took what seemed like half a day as officials Jeff Malham, Hal Lusk and Jeff Campbell gave their whistles a workout.

College basketball’s decision makers be in college basketball have decided we’re going to be serious this time — because we really weren’t a couple of seasons ago — about cleaning up the game and taking the hands out of defense.

Reach and you’ll be called for a foul. It’s as simple as that, regardless of how much such enforcement slows down the game.

One benefit: There were so many fouls called Friday that Shocker fans rarely booed the refs. If they had, they’d have run out of steam before halftime.

Four Charleston Southern players fouled out and four others had three or four fouls.

Art, this wasn’t.

“The adjustment is that we’re going from tackle football and now you get to flag football,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “You’ve gotta show your hands on defense; that’s the analogy I have.”

Is every game going to be like this?

Obviously not.

There were only 26 free throws during Iowa State’s win over Colorado on Friday. But there were 68 in Kansas State’s win over Maryland-Eastern Shore.

We’ll see how this goes.

We’ll also see how it goes for the Shocker freshmen, who were pressed into more duty Friday than Marshall had planned after VanVleet tweaked an ankle early on and Wessel got into early foul trouble.

Shamet, Hamilton and Taylor were especially impressive, all scoring in double figures and making 9 of 18 shots.

“Landry’s just mature, he understands what we’re doing,” Marshall said.

Hamilton, meanwhile, is loaded with talent and athleticism but as wild as a 10-week old puppy.

“A bull in a china closet,” Marshall called him. “But he was productive. He made me wince a couple of times because he was in the wrong defense or something, but he was productive. He stroked the ball with confidence and he made his free throws.”

Hamilton had 13 points and seven rebounds in 15 minutes. He made 3 of 4 shots, including his only three-pointer. And he was 6 for 6 at the free-throw line.

“I’m not too worried about my offensive abilities,” said the 6-foot-8 Hamilton, who is from Atlanta and went to prep school for a year at Sunrise Christian Academy. “Coach Marshall and the other coaches, they know what I can do. I like to go inside and go outside. For me, it’s all been about doing the little things the team needs. If I do that, Coach Marshall says then I can get on the court and display my offensive abilities.”

Hamilton said he’s a pedal-to-the-metal player with an engine that runs hot. Taming his enthusiasm has been a chore.

“The only way I know is to go 100 percent all the time,” Hamilton said. “But the coaches have been working with me on how to use my energy the right way. Be calm on offense and use my aggression and my ability to play hard and to be in the right spots.”

Baker, who remembers guarding Toure Murry every day in practice when he was a freshman, thinks the new Shockers are benefiting from the same kind of indoctrination.

“I got sick and tired of guarding (Murry) every day,” Baker said. “Now with our freshman I’m sure they get to the games and realize they don’t have to guard Fred VanVleet, Evan, Anton Grady and I think their confidence as players is improving because they’re playing against us veterans every day in practice.”

Baker said he’s something click with the freshmen over the past week and a half, something he hadn’t seen during the previous three weeks.

With all of WSU’s depth, and freshmen pushing their way into the picture, it’ll be interesting to see how Marshall divides the minutes, especially in more competitive games. Only three Shockers — Shamet (27), Baker (27) and sophomore Rashard Kelly (25) were on the floor for more than 20 minutes.

We might learn more about Marshall’s plan for playing time when the Shockers play at Tulsa on Tuesday.

He has choices. Lots of choices.

The freshmen won’t be content to sit and watch for a season while the older Shocker players hog all the time. The new kids are making their intentions obvious.

This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 10:56 PM with the headline "Bob Lutz: Amid the fouls, signs of the Shockers’ future."