Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall spoke to the media Tuesday ahead of the Shockers' Thursday matchup with Memphis and Sunday' Senior Day against Tulsa. Coach Marshall spoke about Jaime Echenique's perseverance, the pros and cons of bringing in junior college players and Thursday's matchup against Memphis. Fans can purchase tickets for Sunday's 3 p.m. tip at GoShockers.com/tickets or by calling (316) 978-3267.
 
GREGG MARSHALL on…
 
... Jaime Echenique's perseverance:
"He's been nothing but a pleasure for two years. He's the type of kid you wish you had for three or four years in your program. He's really developed as a player, but more importantly, his leadership skills have come along. He's trying his best as the sole senior of this group to help this young group. He's a fun guy to be around. He's very positive. We've had some good talks. I'm just fond of him as a person."
 
… finding Jaime Echenique:
"We got lucky. Jerry Mullen has a camp that he's had all over the place. It's the top 100 junior college kids he can get to his event. We've covered it since I've been here at Wichita State. The year he was in it, he was a rising sophomore and the event was in Wichita. We were recruiting Morris Udeze and Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler and had Asbjørn as a freshman, I didn't think we could pass on Jaime if we could get him. We had the opportunity to get him, but his people weren't sure he could play for us. He didn't even start for his junior college team. I knew what I had seen over the weekend and liked him and signed him. Even in the spring they talked about 'Are you sure you want him?' and I said 'Yes.' I'm glad we held to our guns and that he stayed with his commitment. He continues to get better."
 
… if finding Jaime Echenique was a diamond-in-the-rough scenario:
"I don't know about a 6-11 diamond in the rough. That would be some tall rough like some Flint Hills rough in the tall grass. He's just a player that's shown skill and obviously some size. Now he's showing a little timing to block shots and he's taken some charges in the past. He had the skillset. The questions were about his physical toughness and his stamina and he's gotten better in both areas."
 
… the pros and cons of bringing in JUCO players:
"You recruit junior college guys for a need. We had (three post players) graduating at that time. We had Asbjørn Midtgaard who played 60 minutes as a freshman and Morri Udeze and Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler coming in as freshmen, but I thought we needed a guy who could play right away. That's why you recruit junior college players like Trey Wade this year. We had a need to fill Markis McDuffie's minutes and he's done that well for the most part this year."
 
… the frequency at which he recruits JUCO players:
"We were doing that a lot that (in my early years at Wichita State). Our Final Four team had three junior college players. We used to do that quite a bit. We haven't done it as much recently, but we may start doing it again. I like those kids if they're good people and they're going to work hard in the classroom because they've got a hunger to them. There's a little urgency with two years to do their deal instead of four. There's a lot of qualities from kids coming from two-year schools that I've liked. We've had a lot of success and did that a lot around here."
 
… Dexter Dennis' stoic demeanor when he plays well:
"I don't care if he does cartwheels down the court or has the stone face of all stone faces. If he's playing the way he's playing and doesn't embarrass us or himself, I really don't care. I just want him to play the way he's playing with confidence. (I want him to) put the ball on the deck, defend, rebound. I love the way he's playing. Unless his demeanor gets out of hand, I'm good with it. Stone faced doesn't have a point where it gets out of hand."
 
… his thoughts after digesting the game against SMU:
"The difference shot making makes (is huge). That's not exactly true because we didn't play with the same energy and passion and enthusiasm early on. Obviously we did in the last 15 minutes. The offense wasn't any different. We did go away from the ball screen stuff because we didn't do a very good job of getting the ball from one side of the court to the other and getting the ball below the free-throw line in the zone in the first half. We did that better in the second half. We've got three or four zone offenses and we finally found one that had better spacing and let us get below the foul line and get the ball across the court. We were just making shots. The difference sometimes is just making shots. When the shots go in (people think) 'Boy, the offense looks great.' When they don't go in (people think) 'Man, that offense is terrible. What's wrong with the coach?' It's a simple as that sometimes. There were little tweaks we made that panned out. We forced them out of the zone and into man-to-man. We were scoring at a high clip. We did that and then made stops on the other end. That's how you erase a 24-point deficit."
 
… how Grant Sherfield responded:
"That was one of the things I was most proud of during that. Grant persevered through a meeting we had last week. He heard what I had to say and my requests and he came back and addressed his teammates and had the best practice he's ever had when he's been here. It was probably the most important minutes – the only other stretch I can think of was late in the Oklahoma game – as a Shocker freshman that he's ever had. That's on the heels of a very tough meeting. It's obvious he wants to do the right thing and continue to develop. If he will listen and allow us to tweak him as not only a player, but also as a guy who supports his teammates and how he reacts during the game, then he's going to make it. He continues to evolve and he was dynamite down the stretch. It was a real positive going away from that meeting."
 
… if that situation is typical for freshmen:
"The (problem) is not just the struggling and being negative during the game, but struggling for the first time ever. When he said that to me, I had never thought about that. He said to me 'Coach, this is the first time I've struggled on the court. I never really struggled in high school. I never really sat on the bench, so this is hard for me.' That makes sense. We have to listen too as coaches and we have to learn from our players to help them better. I certainly hope we can do that going forward."
 
… preparing for Memphis:
"They play up tempo. They take long threes and pound it in to (Precious) Achiuwa, but they're young too, even younger than us. That's hard. I kind of understand a little bit what Penny (Hardaway)'s going through, especially losing good players and that's a part of college basketball. It's happened to us before, but in this situation, he's got a young group. They've lost some tough ones and then win one they're not supposed to win. They've had a good year if you take away the expectations. They're going to have 20 wins and go to the postseason with a bunch of freshmen, really. They've also only got one senior."