Wichita State men's basketball interim head coach Isaac Brown spoke to the media ahead of the Shockers' Saturday matchup with Oklahoma State. Brown discussed how to handle OSU's preseason All-American freshman guard Cade Cunningham, what he thought of the Shockers' first two games and his games of HORSE with Fred VanVleet. 
 
Wichita State's game against Oklahoma State tips off at 2 p.m. inside of Charles Koch Arena and can be seen on ESPN+. Fans can find out more about ESPN+ at plus.espn.com.
 
INTERIM HEAD COACH ISAAC BROWN on…
 
… the status of players out related to COVID:
"As far as the guys that have been out, some of the guys are just coming back today, but we won't be full strength today in practice. We won't be full strength tomorrow in practice. Some of those guys still have to go through COVID protocol where they can only go 15 minutes, 30 minutes the following day, 45 minutes a day after that. They have to pass an EKG. So it was kind of hard for me to answer that question if we will have a full roster, but we will have 10 guys, I'm not sure we'll have a full roster."
 
… Oklahoma State's preseason All-American freshman guard Cade Cunningham:
"He's just an NBA player. He's 6-8, 220 pounds. He's a point guard. He can play one, two, three, four. He brings it up for them. He's a matchup problem. If you put your point guard on him to guard him full court, they'll UCLA cut him to the low block and post him up. So he's a matchup nightmare. He can shoot threes. He's a top-three NBA prospect. They have a good basketball team. Isaac Likekele, he didn't play against us last year and he's one of the better players in the Big 12. I also think he's an NBA player down the road."
 
… how they plan on defending Cade Cunningham:
"We'll throw a lot of things at him. You know, sometimes we'll defend at a ball screen. Sometimes we'll have Dexter on him and we'll put Trey on him anytime they throw it to him in a low post. We'll try to double team him. We'll want to try to get the ball out of his hands as much as possible."
 
… if this is Dexter Dennis' biggest defensive challenge of his career:
"I think he's up for the challenge. It'll be the biggest challenge of his college basketball career. Again, this is a kid that's super talented. He's got great size. He's a top-three NBA prospect for a reason. I think Dexter has got to do a good job of giving him different looks. When he's gotten them in the post, he can't let him get easy touches. When you guard them on the perimeter and he gives the ball up, we've got to deny him as much as possible. We want to try to take him out of the game by denying the ball once he give it up and make it tough for him to get it back."
 
… if Dexter's defensive effort is costing him energy on offense:
"I think it's something we have to manage. I think anytime you're the best defender and you're chasing the other team's best player, I think that takes a little bit away from you on the offensive side. I think it's just hard to guard a guy and you're expending all that energy chasing him around. And then you got to go on offense and try to create plays. That's where other guys are important because Alterique Gilbert and Trevin Wade, guys like that, they've got to get the extra wide open shots. He can't just work for us on offense all the time and then have to work on defense. So we've got to do a better job of trying to create wide open shots for him. Since he's expending so much energy on defense."
 
… getting Trey Wade more involved on offense:
"You've got to make shots. It's real simple. We draw plays for him. He's just got to start scoring it. I think when you're struggling offensively, the best way to get involved is you got to try to get deflections on defense and go down and get some layups. You've got to try to get out in transition and get easy baskets. You've got to try to get to the free throw line to get your confidence going. We want Trey shooting the basketball and we've just got to get him going."
 
… the morale of players out due to COVID or close contact:
"It's tough with those guys. They've been positive, but they're really down because some of those kids didn't have COVID and they would have to sit out for 14 days because of close contact. All of a sudden they would get it four or five days later and then they would have to spend another 10 days quarantined. Some of them have been in quarantine throughout the year for at least 24 straight days. So it's been difficult, but I think they got good spirits and they ready to get back into here and practice."
 
… how he communicates with guys out due to COVID or close contact:
"I just call them every day. I ask them how they doing making sure they're doing well. I try to get on zoom and go over the plays with them and make sure they understand the system. I call their parents and talk with them to make sure everything is OK and just let them know we can't wait for them to get back and when they get back, we'll try to cover everything to make sure they know all of it. We'll try to get them back in shape. We don't just want to rush them back on the basketball court. We want to make sure they know everything. We've also got to make sure they get good conditioning."
 
… Alterique Gilbert's performance in the first couple of games:
"He can create shots off the bounce. He helps get a lot of guys wide-open shots. He's a good on-ball defender. We've just got to make sure that we're putting him in situations where he can get in the lane and create easier opportunities for the guys. But yes, he's good. He's a talented kid. He's a senior and I'm glad he's a part of our basketball team."
 
… how minutes will be effected due to players coming back:
"I tell the kids every day you earn your minutes in practice. I don't set a certain amount of minutes that you're going to get. You earn it. You dictate how many minutes you're going to get in practice. So whoever comes into practice that is practicing well, it doesn't matter your name, if you're doing what you're supposed to do, and you can get more minutes, you're going to get them. I don't predict how many minutes you get. You dictate that by doing what you supposed to do in practice."

… if Clarence Jackosn reminds him of Rashard Kelly:
"Yes. I would say like Rashard Kelly, a smaller version. He's a guy that can play more three and can go on one through four. He's high energy. He can make wide open jump shots. His minutes will continue to go up. He's just got to keep learning the system. That's the biggest thing with him. He plays hard. He plays the right way. He's just got to continue to learn our system."
 
… what he thought of Ricky Council IV's game against Missouri:
"Ricky is super talented. He's athletic. He can really handle the ball. The fact that Ricky can create shots off the bounce, I think that helps us. When we put our dribble drive offenses in, our motion offenses in, he's a guy that, at the end of the shot clock, he can create stuff off the bounce. So the fact that he can create that helps us a lot."
 
… games of HORSE he used to play against Fred VanVleet:
"He beat me every time. I'm just waiting for the rematch. He's a good basketball player. So excited that he got the huge contract. He deserves it. He's a winner and he's one of the Shocker legends. So happy for him."
 
… the competitive nature and relationship between Trevin Wade and Trey Wade:
"They're always competing against each other. They're always pushing each other, always encouraging each other. They like each other a lot. We try to put them on the same team a lot in practice so those guys can go together and play well. They are always competing hard against each other. It's a good relationship."
 
… his biggest takeaways from the first two games:
"I think the first game, I love the fact that we got down nine or 10 points and those guys didn't point fingers. They stayed together and that was a lot of leadership. I liked the leadership on this team. Following that Oral Roberts game, I think the game against Mizzou, we can learn a lot from that loss. Mizzou is a big physical basketball team that really pushed the ball hard in transition. And I think that taught us some lessons that we can learn from. Now we've got to work on getting back in transition. We've got to make sure that we're breaking to get open with our cuts. So even though we lost that game to Mizzou, I think that game, we can learn a lot from."
 
… the production at the center position:
"We've just got to get those guys better. I mean, right now, like you said, we're not getting the production that we want, but we're going to continue to compete in practice. We're going to continue to try to get those guys better. I'm telling the guards, 'You've got to do a little bit more creating to try to get those guys some wide open layups, some wide open dunks, some wide open 15 footers' and that'll help. I'm telling all the big guys, when you're struggling offensively, you've still got to do stuff that can affect the game like rebounding, defending, playing at a higher energy on defense. We've got to do those things in order to get better inside."