The RoundHouse | 12/14/2021 12:09:00 PM
By
Paul Suellentrop
Wichita State's
Morris Udeze felt out of rhythm early in the season. He rushed his moves on offense, playing frantically instead of using methodical style that helped him to a break-through season in 2021.
He turned to familiar, comfortable sources – coaches and teammates. He also relied on other sources for confidence and support when practice ends. Emelda Ihegworo, his mother, is an important influence. He participates in a live chat on a YouTube prayer channel at night to seek more guidance.
"I send in what I want them to prayer over and they pray over it with me," Udeze said. "It gives me confidence. It makes me stay in tune with myself. If you believe in something, then nothing can switch your mind up at the end of the day, really believing in God and his guidance."
Udeze, a junior center from Houston, leaned on his mother and his faith early in the season during an up-and-down span plagued by turnovers. His shooting touch returned and in recent games his turnovers are minimal. Udeze is shooting 62 percent from the field over the past three games and has a total of two turnovers, while playing 30 minutes a game. He averages 16 points and six rebounds in those three games.
"I went through a rough stretch at the beginning of the season, but I just went back to the basics," he said. "Talking to my mom every night. I had to shake back from that slump, and God came through for me."
Udeze, who celebrated his 22
nd birthday on Monday, may be the best indicator of the health of Wichita State's offense. In several games, Shockers dribbled away the shot clock, which led to forced shots and sometimes put Udeze in a bad spot. When he got the ball, he worked too fast, resulting in turnovers, and further gummed up the offense.
When the ball moves crisply and teammates find him, he benefits by getting the ball close to the basket and often against single defenders. He can use his strength and footwork to score and draw fouls. As Udeze becomes a scoring threat, teammates benefit when he passes to open shooters.
"When he gets the ball inside, he doesn't wait," Wichita State coach
Isaac Brown said. "He just goes right up and scores a basket, and that's helping us. When he can score inside, that makes us a better team."
The three-game stretch is lifting Udeze's numbers back to last season's level. He is shooting 56.7 percent from the field and averaging 10.9 points this season. His foul shooting – critical because he draws fouls frequently – is up to 67.7 percent after a 12-for-14 stretch.
Many of Udeze's turnovers earlier came from him trying to do too much with the basketball and too fast. When he simplified things, he reduced turnovers and increased his scoring.
"The coaching staff kept telling me to slow down on offense and on defense just play smart and stay out of foul trouble," he said. "I was kind of thinking about the play before the play would happen and forcing it. Once I slowed down and got in tune with myself, I found my original game and went back to it."
The Shockers (7-2) play Alcorn State (1-7) on Tuesday (7 p.m. ESPN+) at Koch Arena. Brown liked Wichita State's improvement on offense in Saturday's 71-58 win over Norfolk State. The Shockers recorded a season-high 18 assists and a season-low eight turnovers.
"In practice, it's all we worked on - taking care of the basketball, taking good shots, taking fewer dribbles, a lot of movement, a lot of cutting hard, a lot of setting screens for your teammate to get a wide-open shot," Brown said. "We want to play inside-out and just take good shots."
On Monday, the Shockers ended practice singing "Happy birthday" to Udeze. While the song wasn't in perfect harmony, Udeze's game is hitting the right notes more often.
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
