Wichita State pulled away late against UNC Asheville. It blew out Prairie View A&M. Now, Loyola, an old Missouri Valley Conference foe, looms as a roadblock to a 3-0 start Thursday evening at Koch Arena.

Head coach Paul Mills said he’d prefer the Ramblers arrive unbeaten rather than reeling from two straight losses — the latest a North Texas buzzer-beater that dropped them to 1-2.

“I know how desperate and hungry a team is after you drop a couple,” he said Monday. “So to get a chance to prove yourself on the road — this is going to be not only a heck of a matchup, but it’s going to be a heck of a fight on Thursday night.”

These are the pressure points that can decide the outcome.

Containing Loyola’s pick-and-roll punch

Loyola brings a center and guard combo in junior Miles Rubin and redshirt junior Justin Moore, who average a combined 28 points a game. Moore dishes 5.3 assists per game, and Rubin presents the toughest rim threat Wichita State has faced yet, swatting 3.3 shots on average at 6-foot-10 and 220 pounds.

Still, their pick-and-roll combo is a challenge the Shockers can’t afford to overlook. Seven of Moore’s 16 assists have been on Rubin buckets.

Through its two games this season, Mills said Wichita State has been late at times in its pick-and-roll coverage and that it’s affected rebounding numbers. 

Even though the Shockers are snagging 70.9% of available defensive boards, Mills thinks there’s room to improve. 

“It’s not where it needs to be, and we’ll find ourselves behind the plays,” Mills said. “It’s causing us to not defensive rebound at the level that we should. We need to get our on-ball stuff right. That’s going to be a huge part of Thursday night’s game.”

Still, overcommitting to Loyola’s pick-and-roll could backfire — the Ramblers have more than one way to score. If he’s not dropping dimes to Rubin, Moore can kick it to 3-point threats in junior Deywilk Tavarez and sophomore Kayde Dotson. The guard duo has made a combined 14 3-pointers through three games.

“We’re going to find ourselves in these one-five pick-and-rolls that are really going to put us in a number of compromising positions because they put so many shooters out there,” Mills said.

Another balanced attack will be needed

Loyola can throw out a number of defensive looks that can eliminate a team’s top scorer. Wichita State can expect the Ramblers to try to limit senior guard Kenyon Giles’ production, as he enters the game scoring a team-high 17.5 points a contest to go with marks of 52% from the floor and 50% from 3-point range.

“They can change their pressure, like, they can totally eliminate a guy,” Mills said. “They have versatility to where they can switch one through five, and then they can push up on multiple people and just let you sit back and say, ‘Here’s Miles Rubin, we’re going to channel everything towards him. Deal with it.’”

The Shockers could use a repeat of their showing against Prairie View A&M, when six players reached double-digit scoring. Sharing the scoring load will be crucial against a Loyola defense designed to disrupt rhythm and isolate threats.

“It’s incumbent on everybody that the ball gets shared,” Mills said.

Even though Giles comes in as the Shockers’ top scorer, his biggest impact may be how he can bend a defense. The Panthers’ defense keyed in on him in the second half last Saturday, opening lanes for teammates to thrive. TJ Williams, Dre Kindell and Mike Gray Jr. combined for 32 second half points, a surge Mills credited to Giles’ demand.

“You’re going to get gaps in areas that you can get to the paint and allow yourself to create because of a player like Kenyon Giles,” Mills said. 

At their best after rest

Timeouts and halftime have been fertile ground for Wichita State, turning breaks in the action into momentum. 

It outscored opponents by an average of 19.5 points after halftime, a plus-9 advantage from the first to second halves. And it hasn’t been one player leveling up, either.

The Shockers were plus-one on the glass against UNC Asheville in the opener in the first half, and senior forward Karon Boyd said it was a “goal to not get punked on the glass” for another 20 minutes of basketball. The team was plus-14 in rebounding after the break.

Prairie View A&M’s press forced Wichita State out of its comfort zone. Centers were used as outlets at times, which is what the Panthers wanted so they could trap when the guard crossed half court. The Shockers adjusted at halftime and committed only two second-half turnovers after eight in the first.

Mills said that while it hasn’t been perfect, he’s pleased with the execution so far after pauses.

“You pay a great deal of attention to that,” he said. “Probably more attention to that than you do anything else simply because you’re not going to overreact positively, negatively in the first week of November. This is a long year.”

Roster report

Mills also issued an update of the roster Monday morning.

Redshirt junior forward Jaret Valencia, who has been sidelined with a groin injury, has worked out this week. He’ll most likely be a gametime decision on Thursday.

“We’ll see,” Mills said. 

Junior guard Joy Ighovodja is still dealing with a foot injury that Mills thinks will have him out for the next week or two. He said he’s hopeful Ighovodja will be near 100% by early December.

Freshman guards Tyrus Rathan-Mayes and Pierre Couisnard are both redshirting this season. 

“They’ll be phenomenal for us, especially in scout teams,” Mills said. “They already have been; really proud of both of them. They’ve just been very mature.”

With both teams hungry to prove themselves, Thursday night might feel less like a nonconference game and more like a throwback to the bruising battles that defined the Missouri Valley.