WICHITA STATE (3-0) at COASTAL CAROLINA (1-0) Game thread

[forevershockerfan]

My 9 point spread prediction was on target. We never quit fighting. CCU was not taken for granted playing at home and a very experienced coach. Nice 2 half for KP. Colby, DR, XB, and KP was our key players. Bell takes it to the rack like a football player. We have to get Colby R. To the free throw line more. He is money there and I liked his 15 pts and 4 assists.. surprised we got outrebounded by 2.

Hoping our Coaches remember and scout take notes of every team we play and then compare it to the pay for play portal just in case.

[Dan]

For as negative as I was on XB last year and as pessimistic as I was about his shakey handles and decision making running point, I must say he is the straw the stirs the drink on this team. He is much improved over last year and he’s the guy that settles the team down when they get too frantic and can get a bucket when we need one. Huge kudos for him working on his game since last year.

[Arizona Shocker]

Shox are 4-0. Ring the Bell (Xavier)

[WeWillShockU2]

Shocker Nation sounded good on tv. Team played pretty well. Give CC some credit. They didn’t give up. Glad we play at 8pm tomorrow. Rest up and repeat tomorrow night!

[newshock1234]

Its still early but XB looks like a completely different player. Coaching folks!

[ShockerExpress]

This was more how I figured we would look under Mills, particularly early - More free flow and better on offense, but always feeling like better defense could be played.

XB is better, some are gunching far too much about him... but there is still a decent amount to gunch about. He gets over his skis a lot. Hoping he will kind of learn as he goes, as this is an issue. But his shot making in the trees down low is encouraging, and could transfer over to AAC play.

Nice to see some more threes go down for a second straight game.

Seems like we will probably lose for the first time tomorrow. Hope to be wrong, but with the grind at the end of that game and step up in competition...

Still liking what I hear from Mills and the bench reactions/culture. Could always get on the ground for a few more loose balls.

[Husker4Shockers]

Did y'all have a lot of transmission problems during the game - screen fragmenting, sound dropping out and so on? Just trying to see if it's Cox, just my cable, or what.

[1972Shocker]

With the exception of 5 turnovers XB had a terrific stat line: 20 points on 8-17 (2-4) from the field plus 2-2 from the line, 7 rebounds (2nd on the team behind KP's 8), 5 assists, 3 steals and 1 block.

Despite not shooting as well in the second half (47.2%/47.4% in the first half vs 42.9%/21.4% in the 2nd half the Shocks still managed to put up 43 points in each half. The 10-12 free throws in the 2nd half no doubt helped with that.

I think Colby did a pretty good job for most of the game of not hunting his shot as CCU I think was focusing quite a bit on stopping him and making someone else beat them.

Really nice bounce back in the 2nd half by KP after a forgettable 1st half.

Pretty good balance getting 5 guys in double figures (XB-20, KP-16, RC-15, DR-15 and HB-10) plus IA just missed joining that group with 8 points.

No doubt HCPM will be chatting with HB about fouling 3 point shooters.

Still a lot of work to do and I expect our lack of a deeper bench will be a factor on occasion this year (especially later in the year). We simply have to stay healthy. But I am encouraged by the fact that guys we had big questions and concerns about coming into the season and who had not done much at the D-1 level (XB, QB, IA and DR) are all doing better than expected so far. That would seem to reflect on the kind of job HCPM and staff are doing and provides some reason to be optimistic about where the program may be heading in the next few years.

[kcshocker11]

Always glad to come home and see a Shocker win! Congrats!

[JVShocker]

4 wins. 0 losses. It's entertaining basketball. It's a pretty fluid game, the way I always liked to play and now the way I like to watch. And I really identify with HCPM's demeanor during the game. The next game no matter the opponent will be t.o.u.g.h. Beverly is still my favorite player, but I would like to point out that last year I was never one to buy a ticket for the XB train ride. I don't know what he did between last season and the first four games, but Bell is one of the most improved players, let's call it a transformation, I have seen in a Shocker uni in a long long time. Well done by everyone. Looking forward to watching the next game.

[Rize Ballz]

Don’t know how good we are but can we admit that every returning player is better than they were last year? KP is doing way more of the intangibles and the rest are obviously improved.

[shockerfan]

We are about to hit a stretch that isn't hard to imagine some losses. But some on here said it's gonna be tough to get 9 wins on the season.

I have a hard time believing we won't find more than 5 wins the rest of the way.....lol

[Dan]

Colby had a decent game but he’s not helping us when he goes 1-7 from 3.

[shockerfan]

Colby had a decent game but he’s not helping us when he goes 1-7 from 3.

Even the beat shooters are typically streaky. Now if he follows it up tomorrow with the same......

[Kung Wu]

We are about to hit a stretch that isn't hard to imagine some losses. But some on here said it's gonna be tough to get 9 wins on the season.

I have a hard time believing we won't find more than 5 wins the rest of the way.....lol

After this tournament, our schedule is one massive minefield until March. The one thing I do like is we are getting some confidence going into the minefield.

And while our legs are going to be gone at some point, the one good thing about a short roster is the players learn each other's tendencies to a much deeper level and could end up gelling quite well.

Question will be can they stay injury free and healthy? -- which is a tall order.