Keitha Adams previews upcoming season at 2019 media day

Wichta+State+head+coach+Keitha+Adams+speaks+to+the+media+after+the+Black+and+Yellow+Scrimmage+on+Saturday+inside+Charles+Koch+Arena.

Marshall Sunner

Wichta State head coach Keitha Adams speaks to the media after the Black and Yellow Scrimmage on Saturday inside Charles Koch Arena.

During Media Day on Tuesday, Wichita State Women’s Basketball Head Coach Keitha Adams addressed the press on the eve of her third season at Wichita State.

 Her team is looking to improve after a tough 2018-19 campaign. Last season, the Shockers went 12-18 en route to a 10th-place finish in the AAC.

 With the departures of Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage and Cesaria Ambrosio, WSU will need guards Seraphine Bastin and Carla Bremaud to take leaps in their sophomore campaigns.

 New Style of Play

 Following a season in which they struggled to score the basketball and only averaged 56.9 points per game, the program has adopted a new style of play in hopes of improving offensively.

 “We struggled scoring and putting points on the board, so we addressed that,” Adams said. “We’d like to score a lot more points than we did last year, so we’re going to play a bit more up-tempo and try to create an offense from our defense and play a more transition style of play.”

 So far, Adams said she feels her team has embraced the new style of play offensively, but she knows a sustained improvement will also require focus on the defensive side of the ball.

 “I think they definitely like the freedom and pace of playing up-tempo and getting out fast-breaking more. In order to that though, you have to be really good defensively and you have to really rebound the basketball,” Adams said.

 Bettering the Prediction

 Earlier this week, the Shockers were selected to finish ninth of 12 teams in the conference. Adams said the conference will be decided on a night-to-night basis.

 “Every night out, if you guard and you rebound and take care of the basketball, then you can put yourself in a position to win every night out,” Adams said. “I do feel like we have the pieces to be competitive and to play that way.”

 Adams said she knows her team will have to go out and earn respect from conference opponents.

 “I think the predictions mean nothing,” Adams said. “You have to go out and do it. We are definitely motivated.”

 The Departure of UConn

 During the offseason, the University of Connecticut and its’ prolific women’s basketball program announced that it will depart from the AAC and to rejoin the Big East Conference for the 2020-21 season.

 Adams said she had mixed feelings about the departure. She said she keeps a sticky note on her desktop in her office from every game her team has played against the Huskies. Two years ago, they lost by 81 points. Last year, the margin was 37.

 “Every year, I’m writing it down and wanting to close that gap and get to the point one day where we’re giving them a game,” Adams said.

 She said Uconn’s departure will give other teams a chance to compete in the conference tournament.

 “To go to the tournament with them out of it, I’m sure it gives everybody a thought of, ‘It’s anybody’s tournament and anybody’s chance,’” Adams said.