Official Wichita State versus Louisiana Tech Game Thread

[SHOXAAC]

I was just about to post this. My biggest concern out of this game and the post-conference is the fact that Marshall says we need to ride McDuffie. I don't see it. There are other players on these team we can ride. There will be bumps, but IMO it will make McDuffie play better too. If we are going to waste a year, let's waste it developing a bunch of promising freshmen not a senior that will be in Europe next year.

Ride McDuffie...hell he can't stay on his feet without anybody on board to begin with.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

AM looked completely out of place. He should not be playing much at all. McDuffie is extremely disappointing and SHJ looked like the same old out of control player who saw his minutes dwindle last year. He's a turnover machine. I'm ready to see Torres take over the bulk of the pg duties and SHJ sitting.

Having said that, I was impressed with the new regime, especially Burton, Echinique, and Stevenson. I think we should all buckle up because this is going to be a roller coaster up and down season this year. The potential is definitely there.

[TheShocktocles]

Ricky Torres? Where has he been? A good friend of mine and a big shocker fan called me today and gave me holly he'll about Ricky after watching him the last two games. Said Ricky reminded him of the invisible man. I been a big Torres fan but there was not much I could say to defend him. I sure hope things change.

[N Crestway]

AM will never have the fluidity of movement that you want to see in a D-1 big man but he is only a sophomore...still a work in progress. I'm a lot more worried about the seniors, especially SHJ at the point...still making the same mistakes as in 2017-18 but this year an important role on the team. Kid has a D-1 body but the head isn't there to play point.

[im4wsu]

It was sometime in the second half where I became hyper because I thought I saw the offense look like it attempted to run its scheme. Alas, one player bumped in to antother and the ball went into SHJ's hands never to be seen again.

Another time, also second half, I thought surely the guard would feed the post -- alas, not this time.

Objectively, we miss 7 layups (AM-2, SHJ-2, DD-2 and JE-1), 11-26 FT (two front-ends of 1&1 so really 11-28). The defensive rebounding, several were lack of checking out, but, honestly, it seemed like a lot of those long rebounds had seeing eyes away from Shocker players. LaTech missed six layups, so not much difference there, but AM's misses were real bunnies. Overall, we had enough opportunities to score and win this game. MM force a fast break drive and missed the shot and one pof two FTs when we were down 5 with 1:19 left. He had a teammate coming from the left that could have taken a bounce pass for an easy two and perhaps an and-one.

The non returnees shot 14/27 while the returnees shot 6/27. As the new guys learn the offensive patterns, hopefully there will be more shots for them and not the need to defer to the returnees.

Sucks to lose, really sucks, but there will be light.

[Dan]

AM has no business shooting 2 feet shots. If he’s that close, he has to dunk it, period.

[1972Shocker]

BTW, good to see the Lady Shocks getting recognized at the game for their AAC Cross Country Championship. :victorious:

https://twitter.com/GoShockersTFXC/status/1059994654844829698

Last year the Shocks only one 1 AAC Championship (Volleyball). This may be the only we see this year as well. Not sure how the track & field teams will stack up. Hard to overcome the big stable of quality sprinters Houston fields. Softball might be a possibility.

[pinstripers]

If SHJ was on the LaTech roster, how many minutes you suppose he would have played the other night? 10?

[WuDrWu]

I don't have the heart to break down the entire game, so I just wanted to hit a couple of things that stood out.

I suspect that we were beat off the dribble more times in this one game than in any of the last 7 seasons, combined. I think that's a good example that gives one an idea of how long it's going to take this team to "get it".

Right now, we basically have no one to throw it into at the post. Not even a FR Garrett Stutz that many here griped about (wrongly) for 3 years. No offense to these guys at all. I know they will get better, but the inability to give them the ball on the block allows the D to pressure us all over. It's a cumulative affect that will cause us stress until it's fixed. And that's going to be awhile.

We also have a deficiency at the point. Losing Lomax and Reeves made a tough spot one hell of a lot tougher. That's a rough way to go into a season folks.

Those problems aren't getting fixed anytime soon.

Certainly Markis is struggling but he will get better. I do think it's a testament to how good those past TEAMS were and how each player's abilities would help to allow Markis to be more successful.

I think fixing the rebounding will come fairly quickly. Some of the other stuff will take time. We were calling out plays that normally wouldn't have to be called out.

I like everything I see from Burton. I like a lot of what I see in Stevenson and Jamie.


I thought the student section was very good. A- at least, and GA too. Keep it up folks. I thought the crowd was good. I know all of a sudden the refs are going to suck all year (we got a generally GOOD whistle imho) and people are going to whine about them during the game , but I didn't care for the booing at the end of the game. I'm not sure what that was about, and I'm willing to chalk it up to a variety of things and not booing the kids. They didn't deserve that.

Lastly, I want Teddy to be able to play as much as anyone, but as Coach Dale said in Hoosiers, my guys are on the court. I'd like a little less free Teddy and a little more pulling for our guys. ZERO against Teddy. He seems to be doing everything right in the position he's in. But let's focus a little more on the guys on the floor. Just my opinion.

[Shock Top]

As far as the booing goes, I think they were booing the La Tech player throwing down an "in your face" dunk in the final seconds, when the game was already decided.

I wasn't thrilled to see it happen, but it's fair to play until the whistle blows and WSU still could have stopped him from doing it.

[OregonShocker]

Yeah, even on TV that looked low class. My wife even said, "That's not right."

[OregonShocker]

having said that, I agree that you play until the whistle. But, I put this on their coaching staff. Should've said, "NO SHOTS!" and had them dribble until the shot clock expired, giving back to us with less than a second. A teaching moment for both coaches: if HCGM can't get these kids juiced up over that act of humiliation, then I've totally misread the fire they have burning within.

[Shock Top]

As far as the booing goes, I think they were booing the La Tech player throwing down an "in your face" dunk in the final seconds, when the game was already decided.

I wasn't thrilled to see it happen, but it's fair to play until the whistle blows and WSU still could have stopped him from doing it.

Bump.

Just in case someone on the staff sees this and can set coach straight on the booing issue.

[AZ Shocker]

That was my take as well. Crowd booing the slamma-jamma in our face to end the game. Oh well...whaddya gonna do. It was a big win for them and I don't blame the player at all. We'll get ours.....

[proshox]

I am sure HCGM knew what the boos were about.

[wufan]

Rewatched the game this morning. Some additional takeaways:

The team played extremely hard! Tons of hustle, but fairly helterskelter at times. Not a lot of efficient use of energy, and the team road the razors edge of out of control. With our seniors being McDuffie and SHJ, and the rest of the team being newcomers, I expect that trend to continue. It was good for Gregg and staff to uncomplicate the defense. This team doesn’t quite get it yet.

The whole team needs to take better care of the ball and hit free throws. I was pleased with passing in the offense, moving without the ball, and shot selection. The three starting guards have shown the ability to drive and finish or drive and dish. That should help the bigs get rebounds as short shots lead to soft bounces.

Burton and Stevenson continue to impress me. They know how to play this game and will be team leaders sooner than later. Burton reminds me of Cotton minus the killer hops. Stevenson plays the game like Wessel, but he’s got a little bit of the Conner Frankamp skill set.

SHJ did pass the ball extremely well. Overall he made good decisions when driving to basket, sometimes finishing at the rack, sometimes dishing inside, and sometimes pulling up for the midrange j. Torres was also very good! I totally missed it while watching live. He did a great job of facilitating the offense and giving the ball to the right guy in the right spot. His passing lead to some open shots that were missed or moved the defense so the next pass was an easy assist. Torres and SHJ used quick feet and quick hands to be effective on defense against the big Providence guards.

Dennis will be an offensive force, but he is playing defense with his hands. He’s going to need to clean that up.

McDuffie was amazing!

I couldn’t be any more pleased with the play of Echenique and Udeze! Those guys played at the level I HOPED they would be at in March. JE needs to play a little stronger on offense. He turned the ball over and had his “shot blocked” a couple of times on obvious fouls. A little more strength and those no calls don’t matter. I don’t see any reason for anyone to bad on Asbjorn in this game. The guy didn’t play, and it is unlikely that he would have played at the level of these two anyway. That doesn’t take anything away from what he might be capable of in the future.

Teddy Allen will do wonders for this team if eligible! His toughness and ability to score at the 3/4 will take a lot of pressure off of McDuffie and Dennis.

[WichitaStateGuy]

How’d you rewatch?!

[SHOCKvalue]

Do you even right thread bro?

Good analysis. Just need to cut and paste it over to the Providence thread.

[wufan]

Damn it!

[SB Shock]

I am sure HCGM knew what the boos were about.

It doesn’t sound like it as he was calling out the fans for booing the players (which nobody was) during his post game news conference and with Kennedy after last night game.

[ShockerFever]

I am sure HCGM knew what the boos were about.

You apparently missed the context on why this is constantly being brought up.

[proshox]

No i didn’t. He is full of it... IMO he is just trying to motivate himself and the team.

[ShockerFever]

Rewatched the game this morning. Some additional takeaways:

The team played extremely hard! Tons of hustle, but fairly helterskelter at times. Not a lot of efficient use of energy, and the team road the razors edge of out of control. With our seniors being McDuffie and SHJ, and the rest of the team being newcomers, I expect that trend to continue. It was good for Gregg and staff to uncomplicate the defense. This team doesn’t quite get it yet.

The whole team needs to take better care of the ball and hit free throws. I was pleased with passing in the offense, moving without the ball, and shot selection. The three starting guards have shown the ability to drive and finish or drive and dish. That should help the bigs get rebounds as short shots lead to soft bounces.

Burton and Stevenson continue to impress me. They know how to play this game and will be team leaders sooner than later. Burton reminds me of Cotton minus the killer hops. Stevenson plays the game like Wessel, but he’s got a little bit of the Conner Frankamp skill set.

SHJ did pass the ball extremely well. Overall he made good decisions when driving to basket, sometimes finishing at the rack, sometimes dishing inside, and sometimes pulling up for the midrange j. Torres was also very good! I totally missed it while watching live. He did a great job of facilitating the offense and giving the ball to the right guy in the right spot. His passing lead to some open shots that were missed or moved the defense so the next pass was an easy assist. Torres and SHJ used quick feet and quick hands to be effective on defense against the big Providence guards.

Dennis will be an offensive force, but he is playing defense with his hands. He’s going to need to clean that up.

McDuffie was amazing!

I couldn’t be any more pleased with the play of Echenique and Udeze! Those guys played at the level I HOPED they would be at in March. JE needs to play a little stronger on offense. He turned the ball over and had his “shot blocked” a couple of times on obvious fouls. A little more strength and those no calls don’t matter. I don’t see any reason for anyone to bad on Asbjorn in this game. The guy didn’t play, and it is unlikely that he would have played at the level of these two anyway. That doesn’t take anything away from what he might be capable of in the future.

Teddy Allen will do wonders for this team if eligible! His toughness and ability to score at the 3/4 will take a lot of pressure off of McDuffie and Dennis.

I assume you're talking about the Providence game..

[wufan]

Yes. Big fail!