Kenyon Giles lives for the moments that flip momentum.
The kind that fuels Koch Arena. The kind that quiets crowds on the road. The kind that allows Wichita State to seize control.
“He loves the moment, and he’s instinctive in the moment,” coach Paul Mills said Friday. “He can make sure that it feeds over to others.”
The Shockers (17-10, 9-5 American) host Temple (15-11, 7-6) at 5 p.m. Saturday with more than pride at stake inside the Roundhouse. They can further solidify their position in the conference standings and inch closer to a coveted triple-bye at the conference tournament with a win.
The game will also be a celebration. Longtime Voice of the Shockers, Mike Kennedy — who is retiring after nearly five decades broadcasting Wichita State’s trials and triumphs — will be honored at halftime. So, too, will the Shockers who won the Missouri Valley Conference in 1975-76, 2005-06 and 2015-16.
While Giles feeds teammates and coaches with certainty, it’s reciprocated back. He credits the people around him who have allowed the senior guard to average 18.8 points per game on marks of 42.7% from the field and 39.7% from 3-point range.
“It’s all about confidence in the people behind me,” Giles told The Sunflower. “Coach Mills is one of the guys who gives me confidence. My teammates, as well, and all the coaches.”
He later added: “This is the most fun I’ve ever had. Most connected I’ve ever felt with the community.”
That relationship has sometimes turned a game’s odds toward Wichita State.
Giles’ poke, steal and half-court sprint to the hoop during overtime against South Florida on Jan. 18 flipped the scoreboard and decided an 86-85 win. During a gritty clash Wednesday at East Carolina, Giles’ nerve allowed him to convert a four-point play, and later, drain a 15-footer to keep Wichita State alive at the end of regulation and the first overtime period in an eventual 92-89 double overtime win.
“When it comes to moments like that, I’m going to always stay aggressive,” Giles said. He noted that he thinks about the situations during a game.
“If we’re up two (points), I might wait to take the shot. If we’re down and there’s 10 seconds left, I’m not going to be nervous to take a shot. I’ve been aggressive all 40 minutes, why would I be nervous for the last 10 seconds?”
It’s become what Giles calls his “will to win” — his personal mindset that winning matters more than what the final stats say.
“It really started in high school, AAU, all of that,” Giles said. “I knew what would separate me was my ability to score, and my IQ — feel for the game. Coach Mills always says it: give out your gift. My gift is scoring. I just try to make sure, whatever team I’m on, I give out that gift.”
Giles’ assuredness, Mills argues, is much more than personal swagger. It’s starting to take effect across the entire team.
“Because of his confidence, and how much it overflows, I think it pours into other people,” Mills said. “Not only do you have to have instincts, but you have to have belief. You have to have it from people — whatever the score is, whatever the time is.
“I would tell you that’s just one of those attributes that I gravitate towards. I don’t do well with people who live under the darkness of doom, and that’s never (Giles). … KG could miss five shots, and he’s going to make the next one.
“But his level of belief, you just gravitate towards people like that.”
The Shockers will certainly need to channel that frame of mind when they face Temple, a team reeling from three-straight losses and looking to course-correct down the stretch.
Leading the charge for the Owls is Derrian Ford, a natural left-hander who can finish at the rim with both. He averages a team-high 18 points per game on 42% shooting from the floor.
Mills said Ford “presents a problem because you just can’t turn around and take away a hand.”
But aside from Temple’s senior guard, the Owls allow the third-fewest rebounds in the conference at 33.8 per game. They’ve also turned the ball over just 236 times this season, a mere 9.1 per game. And although their frontcourt doesn’t match up in terms of the size that Wichita State has, Mills said he thinks they play with force that can compete.
“They do a phenomenal job of keeping you off the glass,” Mills said. “You go look at their South Florida win, and their ability to make shots and defend. They don’t turn the ball over. They have phenomenal guard play. They have excellent wings. … They present a multitude of problems offensively and defensively.”
With many moments to remember Saturday, there’s still room for more to be made at Koch Arena — and Giles, or anyone in the black and yellow — may make it.
Game information
What: Temple vs. Wichita State
When: Saturday, Feb. 21 at 5 p.m. CST
Where: Charles Koch Arena (10,506), Wichita, Kan.
How to watch: ESPN2, Joe Malfa (pbp) & John Williams (analyst)
How to listen: KEYN (103.7 FM), Mike Kennedy (pbp) & Dave Dahl (analyst)
Probable starters
WSU
- Karon Boyd, forward (11.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.2 apg)
- Kenyon Giles, guard (18.8 pgg, 2.4 rpg, 1.7 apg)
- Dillon Battie, forward (6.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 0.7 apg)
- Mike Gray Jr., guard (8.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.3 apg)
- Emmanuel Okorafor, center (5.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 0.5 apg)
Temple
- Jordan Mason, guard (12.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 4.3 apg)
- Aiden Tobiason, guard (14.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.3 apg)
- Derrian Ford, guard (18.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.0 apg)
- Gavin Griffiths, guard (10.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 1.4 apg)
- Jamai Felt, forward (3.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 0.3 apg)
*Probable starters information comes from the most recent lineup in the teams’ notes provided before the game.
American Conference standings
- South Florida: 11-3 (19-8)
- Tulsa: 9-5 (21-6)
- Wichita State: 9-5 (17-10)
- UAB: 8-6 (17-10)
- Tulane: 7-6 (16-10)
- Temple: 7-6 (15-11)
- Charlotte: 7-6 (13-13)
- Memphis: 7-6 (12-14)
- Florida Atlantic: 7-7 (15-12)
- North Texas: 6-8 (15-12)
- Rice: 5-8 (11-15)
- East Carolina: 4-9 (9-17)
- UTSA: 1-13 (5-21)
