The RoundHouse | 3/7/2026 7:40:00 PM
By
Paul Suellentrop
Dre Kindell signed shirts, jerseys and hats. Somebody asked for his headband. He climbed over the railing to take a picture with a fan. He stopped after his radio interview to talk to another fan.
He soaked it all in, like almost everybody in Koch Arena on Saturday afternoon after Wichita State handled FAU 88-70 with a 10-minute blitz. The knockout punch exhausted the Owls and gave the Shockers creative space to send the fans home happy with two highlight-reel dunks and more
Kenyon Giles jumpers.
Kindell, a 5-foot-11 junior guard, played a starring role as irritating defender in the second half. He turned a back-and-forth scoring affair into a defensive showcase.
"His gift is he's got energy that is just different from everybody else," WSU coach
Paul Mills said. "
Dre Kindell flipped the script."
WSU (21-10, 13-5 American) won its sixth straight game to lock up second place in the American Conference, its highest finish since 2021's title. The American Championship starts on Wednesday in Birmingham. The Shockers (and top-seeded USF) advance to Saturday's semifinals, needing two wins for an NCAA Tournament spot.
For newcomers like Kindell, Saturday's crowd and the performance turned the arena into the place he thought about often last spring. He drove 216 miles round-trip from Great Bend to Wichita to practice at Koch Arena on his own while finishing the semester at Barton Community College.
You don't put those kinds of miles on a car – and sometimes sleep in the locker room – without dreams to the tune of a roaring crowd.
"I knew coming here, and the type of team that I knew Coach was going to recruit, we can get this thing rocking," Kindell said. "Seeing it all fall into place is amazing."
Shocker fans boast high standards for amazing after watching the past 25 seasons. Saturday's effort, even the most fence-sitting, show-me-something fan would have to admit, presented some amazing scenes for the crowd of 8,163.
WSU hit the Owls (17-14, 9-9) with a finishing kick any recent team lists high on the resume. FAU, which had won three of four entering Saturday, missed its final 12 shots and didn't make a basket in the final 11:46. They finished the second half with seven baskets and nine turnovers.
FAU led 61-60 with 11:46 to play. Then WSU's killer instinct took over. Dunks. Three-pointers. Steals. Step-back jumpers. Sharp passing. Blocked shots and hustle for loose balls.
Most of all, Kindell knocking FAU's offense off kilter with his harassing ways.
"Dre's a dawg, we all know that," Shocker forward
Karon Boyd said. "He definitely helps light that fire in us. The flow of the game changes. The defensive intensity goes up."
Kindell's defense on FAU guard Kanaan Carlyle started the process of changing of tight contest to Shocker runaway. Carlyle scored 20 points in the first half on 8-of-11 shooting. Kindell did much of the work in the second half when Carlyle missed five of six shot and scored six points.
Over those final 10 minutes, Carlyle fell out of his comfort zone with Kindell buzzing around him. Poking at the ball. Contesting shots from odd angles. Guarding full court. Carlyle, who played the entire first half, wore down and Kindell's unrelenting pressure and invasion of his space contributed.
Mills said the coaching staff's first change at halftime was assigning Kindell to Carlyle. Carlyle, Mills said, scored his lone second-half basket with Kindell off the court.
"
Dre Kindell really limited touches," Mills said. "We needed to do a good job of eliminating (Carlyle)."
Kindell's job started with denying Carlyle the ball. When he got the ball, nothing came easy.
"Use my quickness and speed, my strength, to help the team," Kindell said. "Quick hands. Being able to touch the ball when somebody goes up to shoot. I smack the ball a little bit, throw the shot off a little bit, make them adjust in the air."
Kindell, 168 pounds, can challenge a scorer with more than quickness. He credits work in the weight room with improving his ability to take a blow to his chest from a ball-handler and not give ground.
"I'm getting stronger all the time," Kindell said.
Carlyle spent much of the first half dealing with Boyd, who is a bigger, stronger defender. The one-two punch of rock-solid Boyd and lightning-quick Kindell works.
"It's definitely a different approach," Boyd said. "Dre is definitely in your head the whole time. You go to sleep. You wake up. He's right there."
When the Shocker defense drained the life from the Owls, the offense put on a show.
Giles made a step-back jumper for a 75-64 lead. Kindell broke FAU's press by finding Giles open for a three and a 78-67 lead.
Dillon Battie, on his way to career highs with 22 points and 12 rebounds, threw down a windmill dunk to make it 80-67.
Emmanuel Okorafor, who scored a career-high 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting, slammed a vicious dunk over a defender to put WSU up 86-68.
That burst allowed Mills to pull Giles, Boyd and Okorafor to take their senior bows. It was, Mills observed, the way a senior day script is written. The seniors enjoyed it, and so did Kindell.
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
