The RoundHouse | 11/25/2018 5:38:00 PM

Some junior-college transfers to try to do too much early in their careers, especially on the offensive end. The game often doesn't open up for scorers as easily as it does in junior college and that adjustment to hard-earned baskets can take time.
 
Wichita State junior Ricky Torres, an NJCAA All-American last season at Missouri State-West Plains, is earning his minutes by fitting in and serving as a connecting piece between scorers. He handed out five assists in Sunday's 90-61 win over Rice and has 10 assists and no turnovers in the past two games. He played a season-high 25 minutes last week against Alabama in the Charleston Classic and moved back into the starting lineup against Rice.
 
"My focus is not doing too much," he said. "I don't want to try to squeeze a pass in and get a turnover. I'm kind of playing slow."
 
Torres immediately figured out that limiting turnovers is a fast way to earn playing time at Wichita State. In the past two games, he helps the offense run smoothly by moving the ball quickly and getting teammates good shots. He hasn't committed a turnover this season, while recording 12 assists. Early on, however, he wasn't making much of any impression on the game and his playing time dropped. 
 
"I was playing kind of robotic, just trying to run the system," he said. "Now, it's a comfort thing."
 
Against Alabama, he played more decisively and helped the offense shoot 46.8 percent from the field and score 86 points with a season-low seven turnovers. Against Rice, the Shockers recorded a season-high 21 assists with nine turnovers.
 
"He's getting guys involved, that's what Ricky does," Wichita State senior Markis McDuffie said. "That's huge, when you have a point guard who's not turning the ball. He just had to get in his groove and the past two games, he's been in his groove."
 
Finding his shooting groove is next on the list.
 
The Shockers will need Torres to score. He is 0 for 11 from three-point range this season and hasn't scored more than four points in a game. At West Plains, he averaged 17.2 points and made 43.3 percent of his three-point shots. While it's useful to have an unselfish passer running the offense, it's more useful when that point guard presents a scoring threat that demands defensive attention.
 
"I'm not hitting shots, so I've got to figure out a way to affect the game in a different way," Torres said. "I'm working. Once one drops, I'm sure I'll be fine."
 
The Shockers (3-3) dominated the first half to lead 49-24. Rice (3-4) committed 10 turnovers and made seven baskets in the first half, including a ghastly stretch of nine consecutive possessions that ended with a turnover.
 
That overwhelming, physical, body-on-body defensive effort was exactly what Shockers coach Gregg Marshall wanted. The Shockers fought through screens to disrupt hand-offs, pressed, forced a five-second violation and a shot-clock violation and generally took away everything Rice wanted in the half.
 
"Early on in the game, they felt us," Marshall said. "Our staff keeps talking about, 'We're not making people feel us.' This was the first time we were able to kind of dictate to another team defensively how the game was going to go."
 
Those sustained stretches are important to an inexperienced team. It is a glimpse of how that defensive effort can turn a game.
 
"We got a taste of how good we can be, so now everybody wants to work every day," Torres said. "Coming in, nobody knew. Now we realize. That's the difference. Now everybody has a taste and everybody wants more."
 
Wichita State led 12-2 and extended that edge to 31-9 and then 40-12.
 
"Tonight, it was good to impose our will on somebody in the first half," Shocker guard Erik Stevenson said. "We had our down moments in this game, but it was good to jump out on them early and be able to hold that lead and get a big win for our home crowd finally."
 
Stevenson scored 21 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range, his high for his freshman season. Center Jaime Echenique scored 14 points, his third straight game in double figures. 
 
Marshall wanted to get the inside portion of the offensive plan established, so the Shockers went to Echenique on their first three possessions. Once he started scoring, the outside shooting opened up. Backup center Morris Udeze scored eight points and made all four of his shots.
 
"They don't have a lot of depth in there so we continue to pound it in," Marshall said. "Mo got the ball down there a few times in the first half and made some moves so that was our game plan, take away the three and pound the ball inside."
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.