POSTGAME QUOTE SHEET:
WICHITA STATE 95, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 69
DEC. 5, 2019 | WICHITA, KAN. / CHARLES KOCH ARENA
GREGG MARSHALL, JAIME ECHENIQUE, TYSON ETIENNE, GRANT SHERFIELD
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Head Coach GREGG MARSHALL on...
...Opening Statement
"We tried to turn up the heat on them a little bit with the full-court pressure. I thought that was key to the game and gave us the ability to pull away. We got some good performances. I thought the two freshman guards Tyson Etienne and Grant Sherfield shot it well and Erik (Stevenson) made some big buckets in the second half. It was a good win and hopefully we'll improve a little bit going into Sunday."
...the defensive performance coming off of Cancun
"We were denying first passes and any penetrating passes probably better than we have in a while. Four days of practice will do that for you. But now we have to carry it on the road. Got to see what you can do against a Big 12 opponent that's really talented, long, athletic, and well-coached on Sunday. This was a tune-up game for us coming off the trip to Cancun."Â
...on the new starting lineup
"I just try to go with guys that have been playing well in practice and guys that are tough and smart. I wanna play hard and I wanna play smart. I wanna be a tough basketball team and those three guys, all five guys really, have exemplified that in the last couple of weeks, in games and in practices. Again, I don't put much stock in it, I just look at who has the best plus-minus and tonight it was Jamarius (Burton), Erik (Stevenson), and Dexter (Dennis)."
...attendance at games
"We have the best fans in the world and we had unbelievable fans in Cancun. It was an amazing turnout. Tonight we had paid attendance over 10,000 and unfortunately, we only had a little more than 6,000 here. That's an epidemic all over the country; we're not immune to it. What I would like to say is, if our fans could give their tickets to someone that would wear yellow and black and make a lot of noise instead of putting them in a drawer and letting them sit there, we need those fans because we're coming up into the meat of our nonconference schedule... so it's gonna be vital that that place is rocking. All I ask is that you paid the money and you bought the tickets so give them to someone so they can use them. Actually bring a cell phone and turn on the light when they turn off the lights. It looks a little funny when there's like 17 lights on. And if you don't have a cell phone, borrow mine. I'll let you have mine for the intro."Â
...Sherfield hitting three 3's
"He's a great shooter. He's a great scorer. Tonight, when he was playing, he was playing a little bit off of the ball. Obviously, he's a point guard, but he can play off the ball too. He's 6'2" at least, he can shoot it, and I think it freed him up to be more aggressive offensively. I don't know why he hasn't been this aggressive as a point guard because I want my point guards to be aggressive and go until you're stopped, and then when you're stopped make a good jump-stop and make a solid pass and a good decision."Â
...making a trip down to Stillwater, Okla.
"I know that going to Stillwater and winning is difficult. We did it last time we were down there. It was a great game and it took tremendous effort, heart, and toughness and some big-time players making big-time plays. We'll have to do the same. If we don't, we'll come back 7-2."Â
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Senior Jaime Echenique on...
...the defensive performance by the team
"I believe so much in my teammates because I know how much effort they're going to put into the game. I think West Virginia was a good lesson for us and we learned the hard way. I believed from then that they would step up. Tyson (Etienne) was high energy in practice, on the court, and getting on the ground. Everybody's learning and that's good coming back from a loss, and coming back and stepping up to make a school-record [Gregg Marshall-era record 30 turnovers], is a huge thing. That shows how much we have grown up and learned from our mistakes."
...the rebounding by the centers
"Us as centers, we are responsible for all of the boards. We missed a couple of things against West Virginia, but I think we take our job seriously. We know what we did wrong and I think that we're going to step up when it's time. That's why when we have a bad practice, I know that on the next day everybody will come with great energy because everybody wants to develop."Â
Freshman Tyson Etienne on...
...what went well of defense
"We were in our right spots. Coach was stressing being in the right position. We were watching our film from the West Virginia and South Carolina games. He just wanted us to be more disciplined in our position and being in the right spot to make the right plays, and I think we did that tonight."
...how good defense affects the team
"You can just sense from the crowd when we get defensive stops; it puts a different type of electricity in the building, and it definitely does that for our team. Our defense can create some easy points for our offense. Playing defense is key for us."
Freshman Grant Sherfield on...Â
...forcing turnovers
"We just really put an emphasis on being in the gaps, helping each other out on defense, and just staying up the line (on certain plays). We worked on that in practice so I feel like we just translated it from there to the game and did a good job."
