Terry Nooner was still dripping water as he shuffled into the press conference room after his first win as a Division I head coach.
“I can’t congratulate myself, but I’m happy I got my first win of my career,” Nooner said.
Women’s basketball won their season debut in Charles Koch Arena against the Presbyterian Blue Hose, 60-41, on Wednesday afternoon.
When asked about who organized this bath for Nooner, senior guard DJ McCarty said, with a coy smile on her face, that she wouldn’t “say no names” because that’s her “sisterhood.”
“It’s a blessing to have a coach coming from where (Nooner) is coming from, just drilling everything into us,” McCarty said.
Nooner said the team’s emphases in preparing for the season were rebounding and defense. While he thinks there is a bit more work to do in both regards, he was happy with how the team performed.
“That was a tough team that we played against today,” Nooner said. “We won the rebounding battle, but we still weren’t as good as we’d like to be.”
The Shockers were a defense force against Presbyterian, holding the Blue Hose to 27% shooting from the field and 11% from the 3-point line.
McCarty pointed to the team’s full-court press as their “bread and butter” on the defensive end.
“Having the guards that we have, I think we make it really disruptive upfront,” McCarty said. “And having the bigs that we have, being able to come up and deny the pass and just being disruptive all around.”
Wichita State just barely won the rebounding battle against Presbyterian, grabbing 46 total rebounds to Presbyterian’s 44. Jayla Murray spoke about how much Nooner and the coaching staff have emphasized boxing out and rebounding to her and other post players.
“Whatever it is for me to get my team to win, I’m gonna do it,” Murray, a redshirt sophomore forward, said. “So, rebounding is what I need to take pride in and what we need to continue to do.”
The Shockers will travel to Nashville, Tennessee, to face off against Belmont on Nov. 15. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
