The RoundHouse | 10/7/2020 9:34:00 AM

 

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The job description of point guard is simple – make others happy – and complex – make others happy while knowing what the coach is thinking at all times about where your four teammates are cutting, screening and looking.
 
The building block of all those duties is passing. Point guards need to know where their teammates want the ball and how to deliver it on time and on target to lead them into their shooting motion. Graduate transfer Alterique Gilbert is showing that ability in fall practices. 
 
"I hate that he is a senior – I've only got one year to enjoy this," said freshman forward Ricky Council IV. "I love a point guard that is smart. He can pass, he can shoot it, he can score it, and he knows when to do those things."
 
After the Shockers enjoyed a long line of high-level point guards – Clevin Hannah, Malcolm Armstead, Fred VanVleet – recent years looked different. Landry Shamet and Conner Frankamp excelled as combo guards who ran the offense and also played off the ball. The past two seasons featured several Shockers learning the position, learning college basketball and adjusting their games to point guard as they battled for minutes. 
 
Gilbert is a ready-made point guard who should shine in Wichita State's ball-screen offense. Junior-college transfer Craig Porter has also impressed coach Gregg Marshall with his passing skills.

"(Gilbert) is new to the team, but I can tell he's learning," forward Clarence Jackson said. "He finds people in the right spot."

Junior transfer Trevin Wade gives Marshall a third option.

"(Wade) is basically a bookend with Alterique Gilbert," Marshall said. "They both look like high-major running backs. (Wade) is very strong, quick, fast, stocky and athletic. He's done a great job in the fall as well."
  
Gilbert's experience – 64 games at UConn over the past four seasons – and defense also made him a key member of the recruiting class. When Gilbert committed to lead what coach Gregg Marshall called a point guard overhaul in April, the mood brightened, others followed and that mood remains.
 
"I love coaching him," Marshall said. "He's come in and fit in beautifully. He is out there competing, trying to work on his skills. He's getting extra work in."
 
Marshall expects Gilbert to help Wichita State's defense at the point of attack by disrupting opposing guards and limiting drives.
 
"He badgers that basketball," Marshall said. "He loves pressuring the ball."
 
Gilbert started 43 games for UConn the past two seasons after two injury-shortened seasons. In 2019-20, he averaged 8.5 points, 3.8 assists and ranked fifth in the American Athletic Conference with a 1.6 assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
Gilbert calls his duties a learning process.
 
"Once you apply pace to the game, learn the defensive concepts, it gives you an opportunity to do more damage efficiently," he said.
 
Recently, the pace and patience of Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic serves as a teaching tool.
 
"It's about thinking the game ahead, reading the line of the defense and also reacting and being confident," he said. "I've been studying a lot of film, Luka Doncic, how he gets in the paint, slows down, and hit his teammates."
 
Gilbert – and the other point guards – have to know how to direct the team. Sometimes, especially late in the game and in loud arenas, instruction comes from the guard, not the coaches. Gilbert has to speak for the coach and get his teammates organized in those situations.
 
"He's still not as verbal as we want him to be," Marshall said. "I keep telling the point guards that they're the quarterback. As he picks up the system and becomes more comfortable with it, I think he'll be more verbal."
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.