Kenyon Giles hated it when Karon Boyd stood in front of him while the pair of Wichita State transfers clashed in the Southern Conference less than a full year ago.
Giles couldn’t believe someone 6-foot-6, 225 pounds was able to match up defensively with a volume-scorer like him.
“If you look at him, you can tell he’s a force,” Giles said of Boyd. “If you see him, you’re going to have a long night. Strong guy. Iron Man.”
The opponents-turned-teammates kept the Shockers in tune throughout much of a 77-60 rout over East Carolina Wednesday night inside Koch Arena. A game-high 27 point output from Giles combined with Boyd’s steady hum on defense that stopped an estimated 38% of the Pirates’ possessions while he was on the court proved to teeter the balance.
And with minimal time to game plan after a rough travel schedule over the last few days for WSU, on top of the spring semester starting, the duo’s presence on each end of the floor couldn’t have come at a better time.
“We need to do right by KG and Karon, two seniors that we have on this team,” WSU coach Paul Mills said. “I thought shootaround was good. It wasn’t intense today (Wednesday), but I did think that they were dialed in. A lot of that has to do with KG and KB leading the way.”
Giles’ comparison of Boyd to Iron Man checks out. Boyd is usually tasked with creating a steel curtain around the opposing team’s most efficient scorer.
Against the Pirates, Boyd’s target was guard Jordan Riley, who entered the game scoring an average of 25.6 points in conference play. Riley was walled all night, finishing with 15 points on 5-of-18 shooting — his lowest output against American Conference opponents this season.
The Wichita Eagle reported that Riley, one of the league’s most electric scorers, was held to two makes on nine attempts when Boyd matched up against him. Mills was impressed by Boyd’s continual hounding.
“Long-term consistency is better than short-term intensity,” Mills said. “That’s what you see — he’s (Boyd) sustainable. You get a lot of guys that can go out there and defend for three, four, five possessions, and they look intense. But he’s got consistency the whole game. … You don’t see a drop off.
“What you see in the first minute is the same thing you see in the 38th minute. And that’s what you’re impressed by day-in and day-out.”
But for Boyd, helping hold Riley to a conference-low night wasn’t anything new to him. He’s mature enough to know that he’ll get scored on here and there, but he stays grounded in what’s become second nature.
Boyd played nearly flawless defensive in the end, only committing one foul.
“Watching his (Riley’s) film, I know he likes to get his mid range game going,” Boyd said. “He’s very physical, so it’s really about creating that early contact and being very physical with him. Not letting him get comfortable and getting into the spots he wants, making every shot difficult.”
While Boyd walled off ECU, Giles soared to lead the Shockers in scoring for a 15th time this season after hitting 9-of-19 shots. Though he missed 10, the confidence from the team to let him keep shooting and his cool demeanor kept his head in the game.
“I feel like I missed a lot of easy ones,” Giles said. “I slow down on shooting … because it gets in your head that ‘I’m working so hard. I should make every shot.’ When you’re a shooter, that’s just not how it works.”
Giles and Boyd’s past experiences playing against each other and their new connection as teammates have helped steady the Shockers all season. But it started long before the two took the court together for the first time on the same sideline.
“It really started in the summer — about getting connected with each other,” Boyd said. “I’ve seen him play before. He’s seen me play before. I know his style of game. He knows how I play. So, it was really about connecting on a chemistry level.”
So far, it’s been a good working relationship. Boyd cloaks an offense while Giles exacts vengeance after stops and opponents’ mistakes.
