In photography, depth of field is also known as the focus range. In basketball, depth of field is the 2016-17 Shocker team, the bench most definitely included.
One of the many exciting aspects of this season’s Shockers, judging from their first nine games and the stats behind their 7-2 record, is just how deep their field of contributing players is. The Shockers – with their starting lineup of Shaquille Morris, Landry Shamet, Conner Frankamp, Rashard Kelly and Zach Brown – dispatched five straight opponents in November and early December with scoring from just about everyone on their 16-player roster.
Top scorers varied from game to game. In the season opener, Rauno Nurger scored 14 points to lead a 54-point bench performance as the Shockers easily handled South Carolina State, 85-39. Frankamp netted 15 points, including three 3-pointers, in WSU’s 92-55 romp over Long Beach State. Markis McDuffie poured in 18 points off the bench, with fellow reserve Darral Willis Jr. adding 16 points, in WSU’s 80-53 thrashing of Tulsa. Shamet and Daishon Smith each set career-scoring highs with 16 points in the Shockers’ 116-79 pounding of Maryland-Eastern Shore.
Shamet, a redshirt freshman, then tied his own career-scoring high with another 16 points in Wichita State’s 82-47 trouncing of Louisiana State in the opening game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament at Paradise Island, Bahamas.
The Shockers averaged 91 points in those first five games and won each of the contests by 27 points or more. They trailed for no more than 51 seconds, total, in all five games. It was clear that Wichita State’s competitiveness, athleticism and intensity hadn’t been challenged yet. But the team was going to be called upon to test its focus range: Next up was nationally ranked Louisville in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
The No. 10 Cardinals handed the Shockers their first loss of the season, 62-52. McDuffie and Morris both scored 10 points, but the Shockers’ collective focus was hazy. They shot a season-low 31.6 percent, missed 16 of 22 3-pointers and went 10 of 18 from the line. Louisville, with its height advantage, blocked eight WSU shots. Down by as many as 16 points in the first half, the Shockers nevertheless made a game of it in the second. With 16:40 to play, McDuffie gave WSU a lift with a three-point play, but the Cardinals pumped in seven unanswered points.
one of 20 players named to the Julius Erving
Award preseason watch list.
A series of 3-pointers gave the Shockers their next opportunity to grab the lead. After a steal by Willis, Austin Reaves pulled up on the fast break to make good on a three. Frankamp netted another from the corner, and Smith, a junior college transfer from Jacksonville, Fla., swished in a third. A basket by Morris got the Shockers to within six, 40-46. “We couldn’t make the one more play to get it under seven, under six,” Shocker Coach Gregg Marshall told reporters after the game. “We had one ball in the air to get it to three or four, but it didn’t go in.”
A second nationally ranked team was in Wichita State’s sights. Michigan State played WSU for third place in the Battle 4 Atlantis. But it was another slow start for the Shockers, who fell behind the No. 24 Spartans by as many as 18 points. The Shockers rallied in the final 11 minutes of the game, largely on the strength of reserves and newcomers, especially Willis, Smith and Reaves.
Although Wichita State’s rookie players upped the scoring, getting the Shockers to within a point of the lead, they were also more prone to blowing defensive assignments than veteran players Brown and Kelly. In the end – despite Willis’ contribution of 16 points, Smith’s 13 points, Nurger’s 12, McDuffie’s 10, Shamet’s seven, Reaves’ six, Kelly’s four, Morris’ two and Frankamp’s two – the Spartans held on, 77-72, for the win.
Summing up three days of Battle 4 Atlantis tournament play and a 1-2 record, Shamet said, “Winning ain’t easy. You want to beat good teams, you can’t afford a slow first half or five-minute stretches where you don’t execute offensively or blow defenses.”
Overall, McDuffie led the scoring for Wichita State in its three games in the Bahamas with an average of 11.7 points to earn all-tournament honors. No other Shocker averaged in double-figures. Back at home, Wichita State blew past Division II Southern Nazarene, 87-57. A new starting lineup featured juniors Nurger and Smith, both making their first career starts, but displaced starters Morris and Brown certainly didn’t recede into the background; they finished atop the scoring list for WSU, with 15 and 13 points, respectively.
The Shockers then hit the road for a non-conference contest against the Colorado State Rams of the Mountain West Conference. Wichita State pulled away in the second half, making 13 of 27 3-pointers and shooting 46.7 percent from the field. Brown led WSU with 16 points, on 5 of 9 shooting. Morris grabbed 13 points and six rebounds, with McDuffie putting up 12 points and five rebounds.
Wichita State’s depth and pressure defense was in sharp focus during the game’s closing eight minutes when the Rams made six of their 19 turnovers and missed six of their last eight shots. The WSU bench contributed 44 points in the 82-67 win – its second-lowest output this season. To compare: WSU’s bench players produced 64 points against Maryland-Eastern Shore, 61 against Southern Nazarene and 57 against Michigan State, which are WSU’s top three bench-scoring performances since 1975. Before this season, WSU had seven 50-plus point games from its reserves. This team has five – already.
Colorado State Coach Larry Eustachy was impressed with Wichita State, telling reporters in a post-game interview, “They got players, and they keep coming with more players, and more players.”
