The RoundHouse | 12/29/2023 4:17:00 PM

By Paul Suellentrop
 
The season always grinds, whether during summer practices, road trips or tournaments. Whatever the definition of "grind," it grinds more intensely now for Wichita State.
 
Reinforcements help.
 
The Shockers (8-4) play No. 2 Kansas (11-1) at Kansas City's T-Mobile Center (3 p.m. ESPN2) on Saturday. American Athletic Conference play starts on Jan. 4 vs. new member North Texas and WSU will play eight times next month, including a stretch of four games in 10 days.
 
After going with a seven-man rotation most of the season, coach Paul Mills is happy to add forward Ronnie DeGray III and guard Bijan Cortes to the plan. The NCAA recently cleared both to play.
 
DeGray, a transfer from Missouri, played 19 minutes in a win over Southern Illinois and 18 in a loss to Kansas State. Cortes, a transfer from Oklahoma, debuted with 23 minutes against Kansas State. His move into uniform is especially helpful to lighten the playing time for guards Xavier Bell, Colby Rogers and Harlond Beverly.
 

That trio averages more than 30 minutes a game with no other guard coming off the bench. According to Ken Pomeroy's statistics, WSU ranks No. 345 nationally in bench minutes at 21.6 percent.
 
"Ronnie gives the frontcourt a chance to get a breather," Mills said. "What Bijan does is give us backcourt relief. I don't think it was sustainable for those guys to continue to play that amount of minutes."
 
Cortes, from Kingfisher, Okla., played in 59 games, with one start, in two seasons at OU. He made 17 of 34 three-pointers (50 percent) and totaled 100 assists and 92 turnovers. The addition of a ball-handler is helpful for the Shockers, who are short on point guards.
 
"He is a facilitator," Bell said. "Another competitive guy who is able to play at this level."
 
DeGray's best season at Missouri was in 2021-22 when he played in all 33 games and rebounded, scored around the rim and got to the foul line. He started four and averaged 8.3 points and 4.6 rebounds. Last season, a knee injury limited him to 17 games and eight starts.
 
Mills hopes those additions will help late in games. He pointed to the Missouri game, where the Shockers closed to within three points with three minutes to play before losing 82-72.
 
"With about seven minutes to go, you can see the energy in our team zapped defensively," Mills said. "I think this allows us to maintain intensity defensively."
 

Cortes and DeGray spent the summer and fall hoping to play this season, but not knowing. Their cases wound their way through the NCAA and the waiver process before it broke right for them.
 
The coaching staff treated them as full-time players during the uncertainty. On game days, Cortes and DeGray worked out to stay as sharp as possible. No matter the outcome of the NCAA process, Mills said, they pushed Cortes and DeGray to improve.
 
"They had to go lift with our strength coach and then they had to do an hour's worth of individuals," he said. "We put them through what would be in essence their game day."
 
Game days changed significantly over the past two weeks for DeGray and Cortes and just at the right time for the Shockers.
 
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.