Wichita State men’s basketball head coach Paul Mills was quick to take accountability for the team’s 37-point loss to No. 13 University of Florida on Friday, the largest margin of defeat for the Shockers since 1994.
Mills gave extended minutes to senior centers Quincy Ballard and Matej Bošnjak on the court at the same time, a lineup the team had not practiced offensively. Against a ranked opponent, that decision allowed Florida to run out to a huge lead before halftime. Mills said it was “a million percent” his own fault.
“As I told the staff, this is the wrong game to try to experiment with Quincy and Matej together against a top-20 team, which I really consider a road game,” Mills said during his weekly press conference on Tuesday morning. “So (it) is what it is — and you learn from it.”
The coaching staff watches film of every game with the players, but Mills made the unique decision to replay the entire Florida game in the film room. The head coach described it as a learning experience for the players.
“I think what you have to do is you’ve got to go in and digest what just happened,” Mills said. “Sometimes in the moment, you really don’t understand what just occurred … I think you come in, you watch it, and you get the takeaways.”
Mills came away with two key areas of improvement from watching the film: physicality from Wichita State’s guards and following the game plan to contain hot shooters on the defensive end.
“I can show you multiple clips of their guards moving our guards, and that kind of stuff can’t happen,” Mills said. “We have to be a lot better than that from a perimeter standpoint … and personnel. If we tell you that a guy has this kind of capability, there has to be more of an urgency, and it can’t be after the fact.”
Mills also criticized the Shockers’ shot selection and defensive rotations.
The coach said he was “pretty direct” in his analysis of the Florida game with the players. He noted that some of the younger WSU players hadn’t experienced being chewed out in that way during a film session, while experienced athletes are more hardened.
“Your younger guys, they’re like, ‘What is he up there yelling at us for and slamming his hand on the table about,’ whereas hardened guys, they get it,” Mills said. “When you deal with college guys, you’re kind of in that in-between area. But I mean, it is interesting, especially when you look at the younger guys’ faces versus the older guys, you realize that there’s a lot of vulnerability with teenagers still, whereas your older guys kind of get it.”
According to Mills, the energy in the locker room remains positive and forward-looking despite the tough loss. He said the team has responded well the last few days in practice.
“I thought the energy yesterday (Monday) was great,” Mills said. “I thought the energy Sunday was great, too. But that happens a lot when you have competitive people; you’re going to come out; you’re going to respond the right way.”
Wichita State will look to bounce back in Charles Koch Arena against Alcorn State University on Wednesday evening. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
