Wichita State head coach Isaac Brown met with local media Tuesday. Topics included the increasingly potent Craig Porter Jr., how defense is earning Chaunce Jenkins more court time and the challenge (and potential opportunity) that awaits the Shockers in this upcoming stretch against Cincinnati, Houston and Memphis.
 
###
 
HEAD COACH ISAAC BROWN ON…
 
… Opening Statement:
"Cincinnati is a good basketball team. (They're) always good at home (and have a) great basketball environment. They have a lot of depth, a lot of size inside. (David) DeJulius, the last five games, was averaging 20-per-game. (Javon) Davenport is a big-time player at the four-spot. He's already had two games this year where he's made seven threes. We've got to do a good job of guarding penetration, contesting their three-point shots and we've got to be able to rebound."
 
… What went wrong last time against Cincinnati:
"We had a nine-point lead (with 1:52 left in the first half). We had an opportunity to make a wide-open layup. We missed the layup. They came down and got a 50/50 ball. They made a three in the corner. We came back down. I don't know if we turned it over or not, but they came down and got a three in transition, and the momentum just shifted to them. Then, it was a back-and-forth game in the second half. Their big center, (Hayden) Koval, had gotten (six) threes on the year, and he made three against us. In conference, he hadn't made threes, but he stepped up and made some big shots. They defended well, and they pulled it out at the end."
 
… The attitude for the last half of the season:
"Just got to play better. You've got to play for 40 minutes and not turn it over. Down at UCF, we got out to a bad start. I felt like we out-played them in the second half, but the game was lost in the first half just with the turnovers, so our difference from the games we lost early on is just valuing the basketball, taking good shots, not turning it over and rebounding, and if we can do that, we've got a chance to win any of these games."
 
… What's change in the last month:
"I think the biggest thing is we're starting to make shots now. Early on, in the first three conference games of the year, we were shooting right at 30% from the three-point line. These last four or five games, we've moved up to 37-38%. We're not turning it over as much. I feel like our defense is still at a high level, but the offense has gotten better."
 
… Porter's increasingly valuable presence in the lineup:
"He's the quarterback, the head of the snake. He's a guy that we've got to have on the basketball floor at all times. He gets everybody wide-open shots, he's a big-time defender, he rebounds, he does a good job of drawing two guys, getting dunk-down pass to Morris, double-team dunks, getting Tyson wide-open shots, so we need him on the floor. He's the guy that we've got in the back court with the most experience from last year playing the point, so we need him on the floor."
 
… Porter's growth since day one:
"I think when he first got here, he was a pass-first guy. He's still a pass-first guy. He makes guys around him better, but his offense has gotten better. Last year, if you would throw Craig the ball late in the game, he would drive it and kick it to someone, and we'd get a shot clock violation. Now when you throw it to him after guys do a double team, he's got enough confidence to step up and make a wide-open three, or he can drive the basketball and finish at the rim. His all-around game has gotten totally better."
 
… Porter's maturity off the court:
"He's been great off the floor. Last year, he was great off the floor. He was one of those guys that was always good in the locker room, always handled his business in the classroom. He was the guy that was always in the ear of other players when they were struggling. Having him is like having another assistant coach on the floor. He does a good job just leading the game, getting everybody in the right spot. We don't turn it over because he's at the head of the press attack. He's getting the ball to the right guys and he's done a great job. We need that to continue. Hopefully, he can stay healthy these last five or six games we have in the regular season, but we definitely need him down the stretch."
 
… The opportunity to make some noise in the conference over these next three games:
"That's a tough schedule, but as a college athlete, that's what you want. If we can win these games one at a time, that'll help put us in position to get higher up on the conference standings, and hopefully we can play well at Cincinnati. We need these three games. These three games are big, and that starts at Cincinnati…. We're trying our best to get in that top five. If you can get in the top-five of the conference, you get a first-round bye in the AAC tournament."
 
… What Jenkins contributed during his extended minutes against South Florida:
"Just his energy. I thought he played good defense. I think he got an offensive rebound to score a basket, but he was good defensively. When we talk about our young players, that's the first thing we look at. What guy can go out there and guard their position? I thought he did a great job of defending, getting his hands up, getting deflections. I thought he did a great job of not turning it over, and that's what we look for with young guys like Chaunce coming off the bench."
 
… The quest for their first conference road win:
"Offensively, it's simple. We've got two things: you've got to value the basketball and take good shots. We've got to defend at a high level, we've got to rebound at a high level and we can't let their press bother us. If we can do those things, I think we've got a great chance to win on the road. When we played well the first time here, we didn't finish up strong at the end. We have Craig Porter Jr. now, so hopefully that'll help us down the stretch."
 
… Porter's increased willingness to take big shots late in the clock:
"He's finally starting to work on it. The stuff that he's doing now in the games, he's been doing that stuff in practice. Early on in the year, he was just passing the ball, he wasn't being real aggressive and he would drive to get someone else a shot, but now he's looking for his because when you get the ball in your hands at the end of the shot clock, you've got to be a threat, and now he's a threat. He can make a wide-open three, he can create off the bounce with the step back or he can get to the rim and finish and draw a foul, and he's been shooting free throws really well, as well."
 
… The residual benefits of Porter as a scoring threat:
"When you've got five guys on the floor that can score, it helps your offense because if you've got one guy out there that can't score, they're going to help off that guy. If you've got two guys out there, they're going to help a lot, and you can't get any layups. All you can get are contested threes, and you don't want that. You want all the guys on the basketball floor to be a threat, so you're able to drive closeouts, kick it to another guy to get an wide-open shot, and when you've got five guys out there that can score, it just keeps the offense spread out."
 
… Fred VanVleet's upcoming NBA All-Star debut:
"It is big time. I'm so proud and happy for that kid for putting in all that hard work. Being an undrafted guy, to not only sign a contract in the NBA, just to make an NBA team, starting out in the G League, winning an NBA Championship, getting to an NBA All-Start game, signing a huge contract, it just shows that the hard work paid off. Having to have the confidence in himself like he did. He was a winner in college, and I tell our players all the time that Fred is in the league because he was a winner. He played on the Final Four team here, he played on the 35-0 team, a sweet sixteen team. He's just a winner, and when you can win like that at the college level, you'll get an opportunity to be in the NBA, and he took full advantage of it. His hard work has really paid off."