For over two-and-a-half hours Saturday afternoon, Wichita State men’s basketball team scrimmaged against an old Missouri Valley Conference rival, Drake.
Proceeds from the scrimmage also benefitted the Wichita Children’s Home and former Shocker Lynbert “Cheese” Johnson’s nonprofit organization, UJUMP.
The scrimmage ran unlike a normal game would in Koch Arena, as it featured an in-game scenario portion through offense-defense-offense drills, or “O-D-Os.” The teams then held two 20-minute scrimmages and capped the afternoon off with a 10-minute scrimmage that had a running clock.
“That actually for us was really fun, just the opportunity to see other guys to be able to gather that much data,” WSU coach Paul Mills said.
During the “O-D-O” segment of the scrimmage, the Shockers won on the scoreboard, 31-20. They lost the first 20-minute scrimmage, 39-24, and bounced back in the second to win, 38-30. WSU lost in the 10-minute running clock scrimmage, 12-2.
While it was the Shockers’ first test against another team this season, the scrimmage was mostly used to answer questions about the team before the season-opener rather than wins and losses. WSU has a little over three weeks to answer as many more questions as possible before tipoff against UNC Asheville on Nov. 4.
“This is exactly what I expected, you know, not getting too much into the score,” senior guard Kenyon Giles said. “But, you know, the intangibles and what we do, it showed out there.”
Senior guard Michael Gray Jr. sees three main strengths in this year’s team. In the post-game press conference, Gray commented that many players can guard different positions on the court. He also believes that WSU excels on the offensive side of the ball.
“On the offensive end, we got a lot of firepower,” Gray said. “We have a lot of cutters and people that can knock down shots.”
Finally, he is excited to see how the big men perform this season.
“I think that’s the biggest part of our offense,” Gray said. “We can feed our bigs, and they make shots and they give us opportunities to be better.”
Mills thought it was “pretty obvious” after the scrimmage that eight players had solidified themselves in the main rotation. A few stood out above the rest, but finding spots nine through 12 is still an ongoing challenge.
“We have some guys over there, you know, nine, 10, 11, 12, where do they fit in all of this?” Mills said. “But I do think the top eight who played today was pretty obvious.”
Gray went off during “O-D-Os,” as he knocked down six 3-pointers during the drill. After each make, he looked more and more confident. It all culminated when he caught a pass well beyond the arc as the shot clock expired and splashed one in at the buzzer to keep the Shockers’ momentum up.
“This is exactly what happens every day (in practice), we just got to do it in front of fans,” Giles said of Gray’s performance from beyond the arc. “If it was in practice, we wouldn’t be as hyped because we’re so used to it.”
Giles made 5-of-10 from deep during the second 20-minute scrimmage and ended it with 16 points for the home team. Junior center Will Berg was a steady force, scoring eight points in the 20-minute scrimmages on 4-of-9 shooting and a plus-eight in the plus/minus.
Senior center Emmanuel Okorafor was all over the place down low on defense, coming up with multiple blocks around the net and altering Drake’s shots around the rim. Senior forward Karon Boyd showcased why he was the Southern Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year a season ago, playing hard-nosed defense and coming down with five rebounds in the second 20-minute scrimmage.
“I thought late in the game he (Karon Boyd) was able to get his hands on-ball,” Mills said. “I’d tell you the same thing about JV. Jaret Valencia was able to get his hands onto the ball, and I think his length causes some problems defensively.”
Mills implemented a wide range of player combinations throughout the scrimmage. Gray was thankful to get used to playing with different players.
“It just shows that you gotta be able to play with anybody,” Gray said. “Just knowing how to play off of each other, this was a good experience.”
With 12 newcomers and the three returners only making up 1.39% of last season’s total minutes, the lack of team experience showed at times.
There were moments when pick-and-roll coverages weren’t defended up to Mills’ standards, and some simple mistakes in execution also led to the Bulldogs being able to get easy scores.
Some lulls on offense led to stretches where WSU wasn’t able to find the bottom of the net. Instead of trying to find solutions on the spot, Mills let the team work through the droughts to see how they would respond.
“You want to see how they kind of fight through it, how they handle it,” Mills said. “And you want to see if that bench gets really, really negative and then you can course correct … But I thought they stayed engaged during that time.”
With its first opportunity against another opponent in the books, Wichita State will get another shot at course correcting and homing in on its skillsets in a week. The Shockers will play another scrimmage against Santa Clara in Denver Saturday, Oct. 18.
