By: Wichita State
Wichita State (1-0) at Oral Roberts (0-1)
7:05 p.m. ? Tues., November 18, 2008 ? Mabee Center (10,575) ? Tulsa, Okla.
Radio: KNSS 1330 AM (Brian Petrotta)
Everything would appear to be going to plan for first-year head coach Jody Adams on the outside. The first point of order after being hired in late March, bring in a couple of players who could have an immediate impact.
Check. Transfer Marisah Henderson scored 26-points in the season opener, and has filled out the box score in each of her first two performances in a Shocker uniform. The Shocker returners have played just as well, and WSU has confidence after winning in overtime on Saturday against Colorado State.
Next was to work even harder to sign a recruiting class that could provide the foundation of a winning tradition. Check. Adams signed a highly-touted class last week. Her next task included preparing the team to play well in its exhibition game against the Oklahoma Flyers.
Check. WSU committed just 10 turnovers in the win over the Flyers, and was balanced offensively. WSU's defense recorded 11 steals and seven blocks, and the players began to blossom under Adams' new system.
But then the tests grew greater. The season opened against Colorado State, a team more than willing to rain on the Shocker parade and Adams' plan. The object was to prepare the team to play well - and win. Check. The Shockers took on a physical post game from the Rams and responded. Falling behind late WSU answered the bell, and scored the first six points of overtime to pull away and snap a five-game losing streak that dated back to last year. Bringing some swagger back to the Shocker women's basketball program. Check.
The next task facing Adams may be one of the biggest yet. Changing another mentality and learning how to win on the road. So, the new coach's catch phrase in order to tackle playing well on the road?
"Bring your bathing suit."
The Shockers have traveled to San Diego, Miami and even the Virgin Islands in recent years. But a trip to Tulsa, Okla., in mid-November doesn't exactly qualify as a tropical locale. No worry, however, it's just part of the road routine with Adams' teams. The players will wake up and make their way to the hotel pool for a brief workout in the water to wake up the muscles after a day of travel.
"The pool workouts help the players to recover from even the shortest of road trips," WSU head athletic trainer Dan Cahill said. "The best thing is that it is low-impact, and is a great way to wake them up and get them used to moving around in the morning."
"You want to take away as much pounding as you can during the season," Adams said. "Whether that is stretching in the pool, practices that begin to taper to a shorter length, anything that can result in less impact on the players down the stretch is important."
While the Shockers will make changes physically to how they do things on the road, Adams also knows that a change mentally will help WSU away from home as well. The change will be to basically do the same things the Shockers do at home in Charles Koch Arena, and turn them into routine on the road.
"I think our mentality of playing hard is expected, and it's expected wherever we play," Adams said. "I don't really talk about playing at home or playing on the road, we go through the same things, we prepare the same way and nothing really changes. They will see that as we begin to travel. When you do the same thing over and over I think that creates a habit. So if we are preparing well and playing well at home, that should carry over to the road out of habit."
NOTES: Marisah Henderson was named MVC Newcomer of the Week for her performance in the season opener, the first newcomer award for a Shocker player since the 2005-06 season ... Tipoff for Tuesday night's game in Tulsa is set for 7:05 p.m. ... The trip marks the first visit to the Mabee Center for the Shockers since 2006 ... Oral Roberts has won four straight in the series and leads the overall ledger 10-8 ... All 10 players will be in uniform with no injuries to report this week ... WSU returns home for two games this weekend before traveling to Memphis over Thanksgiving for the Piggly Wiggly Classic.
