Men's Basketball | 1/3/2025 3:59:00 PM

By Paul Suellentrop

Last season, the American Athletic Conference led the nation in close games. If the conference trends that way again, Wichita State coach Paul Mills likes the way the Shockers are built.
 
"There are four seasons," Mills said. "Your non-conference prepares you for conference, conference (play) determines what you do in the conference tournament. Those two combined determine whether or not you participate in post-season. We learned a lot during the non-conference."
 
The Shockers (10-3) open AAC play at Temple (8-5) at 6 p.m. Friday (ESPN2).
 
The examples of what the Shockers learned about a successful path showed up often over 13 non-conference games.
 
They excel at drawing fouls, making foul shots and handling the ball carefully. While not a great outside shooting team, they can benefit from three-pointers judiciously. As games against Kansas City and DePaul proved, the Shockers must improve areas such as rebounding and three-point shooting for more consistent success.
 
"I've always thought of January as being a month where you can identify the teams that are competitive," Mills said. "At the end of the day, that's what we're trying to be. It's one that should happen when you have a veteran group."
 
Last season, almost 29 percent of the 126 AAC games met the Ken Pomeroy criteria for "close" – overtime or a margin under four points. The Shockers struggled in those types of games. They dropped four AAC games by six points or less and several others up for grabs in the final minutes.
 
The Shockers ranked near the bottom of the AAC in turnovers and foul shooting in 2023-24. This season's team has been able to put those stats in the winning column often. They make 73.9 percent of their free throws, an improvement from last season's 69.7. Their 227 made foul shots are more than opponents attempted (207), thanks to players such as Xavier Bell, Justin Hill and Corey Washington's ability to draw fouls.
 
WSU made 19 of 27 free throws in the second half, including five straight in the 30 seconds, to hold off Western Kentucky 91-84 in a season-opening road win. Four second-half turnovers helped them outscore the Hilltoppers by two points in the second half.
 
The Shockers outscored Northern Iowa by 10 points at the line and made 15 of 19 in the second half of a 79-73 win at Koch Arena. In a 68-66 overtime win over Minnesota, they made 9 of 12 free throws in the second half and OT.
 
Wichita State outscored Kansas State by 14 points at the line by making 20 of 22 free throws in an 84-65 win. They made 18 of 20 in the second half.
While the Shockers are shooting 31.4 percent from the floor, they are 29 of 79 (36.7 percent) over the past five games. Against Kansas State, they made 4 of 10 and Mills was happy with the right players taking the right three-point shots.
 
"We took the right ones," Mills said. "We don't need to take them just because people are baiting us."
 
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.