Light bulbs are beginning to turn on -- and not just the red and green kind. Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall is seeing signs of progress from some of the Shocker newcomers. Read on for highlights from Marshall's weekly press conference.
 

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...Getting back into the practice gym after five games in 13 days to open the season:  
...Shifting that mindset -- from not wanting to practice to wanting to practice:
"Explain to them that they're on the road to nowhere, if you want to maintain the mindset. There are a lot of things we can do to get better. It's obvious. I talked to my staff; everytime we turn around it's a new scenario. This time it was coming back from a long trip. They just didn't react well to it. They looked much better on Wednesday, so it's not that they can't practice well. It's just the mindset of the group, I guess."
 
... Markis McDuffie finding his groove:
"He played like he's capable of playing – like he has all fall and summer. He's shot the ball well, but I think what got him going was making hustle plays. It started in the Providence game with him sprinting the floor, getting us an easy basket, crashing the offensive glass every time -- I think it started there -- and then he started making shots."
 
... Jaime Echenique's contributions:
"It's been very positive. He's a guy who's shown the ability to play well at this level. The beautiful part about him is he's capable of much more. He's just starting to understand how tough he has to be and how he has to compete. I want him to play a little quick, a little more explosive, a little tougher and make sure he doesn't take rushed three-point shots. But other than that he was a very, very positive sign from the tournament."
 
... Facing Rice on Sunday.
"We need to protect our home court, regardless of whether it's Rice or Duke. We need to play well at home. We didn't play well the only time we've been there. Hopefully we've gotten that out of our system and can play well. The rest should take care of itself. Rice takes a lot of threes. They did again Northwestern State. I'll watch them against Houston tonight. We just need to play well."

... How the team will adjust to being back after a long road trip:
"You know as well as I do. This will be our first time back at home after a three-game, five-day (trip) and not having played well the initial opener. Your guess is as good as mine. I'm going at this the same way you are. We're trying to prepare to play well, but we did that for the opener, as well, and we didn't play particularly well."

... Steps to playing better defense:
"They have to be willing to practice every day and get better at it. You've gotta stay in a stance and really compete physically, be tough mentally, be in the right position and make the right plays, and then secure the ball at the end with a great rebound. We're not nearly there yet. We're switching up defenses, trying to find something every game, it seems, that will slow the other team down. But we're not dictating to the other team yet. We're not sure when that will happen or if that will happen."

... Playing more zone, so far, than previous Shocker teams:
I don't know how quickly these guys will get to the point where they can sit down in a stance defensively for 40 minutes and guard man-to-man. We'll try. We'll keep working on it. We'll get after it today.

...An encouraging second-half from Dexter Dennis against Alabama.
"In the second half Dexter played like we thought he could play. For him, it took four-and-a-half games to figure it out. Hopefully he can build on that performance and be more like the guy from he second half of the Alabama game, as opposed to the first four-and-a-half games of his career. As I mentioned, it takes some guys no time. They come in and (snaps fingers) they've got it. It takes other guys weeks, if not months. It takes some a season or seasons, and some never get it. For him, it appeared that the light came on at halftime of the Alabama game. We'll see."

... His halftime message to the team during the Alabama game:
"I told all of them. It wasn't very pretty basketball they we were playing. We were too passive and just kind of hooping out there. You can't do that against a team like that and expect to win."
 
... A step forward for Ricky Torres:
"He understands our system. He is a tremendous passer and he got in the lane a couple of times. He had the nice feed to Asbjørn for the dunk. He dumped it off to Jaime. He scored himself using a ball screen. There were some baby-steps for him and hopefully he'll continue to make strides. Again, with these new guys, you just don't know how long it takes young guys to become primetime players, and you need seven or eight of them to win games."