WICHITA STATE (4-0) vs. LIBERTY (3-0) Game Thread

[Stickboy46]

That was anything but the Mills offense. That was a bunch of players not running the offense. Maybe they were tired. Maybe they just haven't come together well enough to maintain discipline when challenged the way they were tonight.

The part of the "Mills offense" I thought was missing was the kickout to open shooters when driving the lane doesn't result in a point blank shot. It seemed the guys driving the lane were focused on the basket and not on how the defense was adjusting to the drive and leaving vulnerabilities that could be exposed by good court vision and passing out of the lane to exploit those vulnerabilities. This was the first game this year where that was mandatory. There will be some "learning opportunities" when the film of this game is reviewed.

This has been VERY similar to all the games before this though. I've commented multiple times in other game threads about how much we go one on one. This IS the offense we have run all year. Maybe they have been running wrong all year. That's definitely possible. It just worked better against lower level teams.

Maybe this is the wake up call the coaches need to make a real adjustment.

[forevershockerfan]

Not a good match up for the Shocks tonight. Thought we might try a zone or two? We need to get out of here with 2 wins. Hoping Beverly is okay soon, very soon.

[Ta Town Shocker]

Maybe they were tired.

When will the excuses stop, especially this one. They are 20 year old kids. We're not the only team in the country that only goes 7 deep.

[Husker4Shockers]

If that's the brand of basketball Paul Mills brings you can count me out. Did the Wichita State bench have a coach there tonight? That was pathetic and allowing it to continue was even more pathetic.

[pinstripers]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401582111

Kenny 0 rebounds

[Ta Town Shocker]

Coach has a lot of coaching to do

Coach looked as lost as the players tonight.

[Stickboy46]

Not a good match up for the Shocks tonight. Thought we might try a zone or two? We need to get out of here with 2 wins. Hoping Beverly is okay soon, very soon.

Feels like a Zone would have probably made it way worse with the way Liberty passed the ball quickly and shot a 3. Zones are better for cutting off drivers.

[RoyalShock]

The most glaring difference I saw between our players and theirs is our players look to score. Their players look to get the ball to teammates in the best position to score.

[asiseeit]

They had no problem preparing for us and our size

[RoyalShock]

They had no problem preparing for us and our size

I started watching when we were up 23-19. I saw no effort from that point on to get the ball inside other than to drive and force. Not difficult to prepare for that.

[forevershockerfan]

Only Around 13 teams now are 4-0. But can we beat ST. LOUIS 134 WSU 120 KenPom?

[forevershockerfan]

On 3 pt we were 2-14 for 14% and Liberty was 14-40 for 35%

[Aargh]

The most glaring difference I saw between our players and theirs is our players look to score. Their players look to get the ball to teammates in the best position to score.

That's not completely unexpected considering the Shox have a new team and a new system and Liberty has mostly returning players in an established system. Getting players out of the portal is like getting JuCos, unless you're getting cream of the crop guys out of the portal. It's going to take some time for new players to get the plays under control without thinking about what to do next. We've seen that with JuCo players for years.

Tonight just looked like multiple players having simultaneous brain farts and that broke the offense down completely. Liberty was the quickest team we've seen this year. Things that worked against previous teams didn't work against Liberty. Instead of finding ways to make plays work, the reaction was to go one-on-one.

I don't know how much we can blame Pohto for his arguably miserable game. His rebounding numbers are on him. Numbers is wrong - that's a plural. Number is only correct when 0 is included as a number. His lack of offense might be because he hardly ever touched the ball. It does seem like I seldom saw him working effectrively to establish a position where eh could get the ball.

Pohto seems to be like a baseball pitcher. He needs 3 days rest between starts.

[Stickboy46]

On 3 pt we were 2-14 for 14% and Liberty was 14-40 for 35%

Their shots were set and in rhythm from passes within their offense. Ours were one on one (or in some cases one on three) pull ups for the most part.

[Shock Top]

On 3 pt we were 2-14 for 14% and Liberty was 14-40 for 35%

That’s with one guy going 7-12 as well