Six takeaways from coach Paul Mills on Wichita State basketball’s second win in Greece
In another Eagle exclusive with Paul Mills, the first-year Wichita State men’s basketball coach phoned home to give his thoughts from Greece, where the Shockers scored an 84-70 win over the University of Calgary on Monday.
Because the game finished so late on Monday evening and with a full day of sightseeing planned on Tuesday, the WSU coaching staff did not have a box score immediately available following the game.
Here are six topics Mills touched on during his conversation about the exhibition game victory over Calgary, a Canadian university program that has the talent roughly equivalent to a good low-major team in American college basketball.
1. WSU coaching staff using trip for discovery
Rather than play a starting lineup and rotations with winning the game in mind, Mills used the second exhibition to explore new combinations with development as the priority.
After leaning on the veteran duo of Colby Rogers and Kenny Pohto heavily the first game on this trip to Greece, Mills informed both beforehand of his intention to sit both out for Monday’s game to give more playing time to WSU’s younger and more inexperienced players.
“Instead of giving them some spot minutes and not letting them really get in a rhythm, it’s just easier to let them know ahead of time how it’s going to play out,” Mills said. “Given the circumstances, I don’t think spot minutes are going to do those guys any good. And they were terrific, not only in how they handled it, but how they cheered on other people’s successes.”
The adjustments allowed the coaching staff to give incoming freshmen Yanis Bamba and Joy Ighovodja extended playing time at the guard positions and allow transfers Harlond Beverly (Miami), Ronnie DeGray III (Missouri) and Dalen Ridgnal (Missouri State) to become larger parts of the offense.
Mills said a similar plan is in place for WSU’s third and final exhibition game, a rematch with Calgary slated for noon Central Wednesday in Athens.
“So much of this trip is about discovery,” Mills said. “It’s about finding out how they are as people, what’s important to them, how do they interact with their teammates and what are their true abilities on the basketball court and how do we believe we can make them fit during the course of the season.”
2. Ronnie DeGray capitalized on his opportunity
When scouting players on high-major teams in the transfer portal, Mills made it a priority to find players who posted high-efficiency numbers in limited minutes.
Ronnie DeGray III fit the bill: He averaged just 2.1 points in less than 10 minutes per game at Missouri last season, but posted a super-efficient 118.1 offensive rating. And when the 6-foot-6 forward played more than 25 minutes per game in his first year at Mizzou, DeGray made 55% of his 2-pointers, shot 76% at the foul line and finished with a 110.8 offensive rating.
Another thing that stood out about DeGray’s per-minute production was his ability to track down offensive rebounds. That was what Mills liked most about DeGray’s 19-point explosion in Monday’s exhibition.
“He’s a force on the offensive glass,” Mills said. “A kid with his size, and I think he has better speed than what people give him credit for, when you combine those two, it’s really difficult to keep him off the offensive glass. He was able to convert some of those and he was able to retrieve some and make plays off the bounce and even stretch it out and knock down some threes off the catch. He was really doing it all for us.”
Because DeGray, who began his career at Massachusetts, is a second-time transfer as an undergraduate, he will need a waiver from the NCAA to play immediately this season for the Shockers. The coaching staff is optimistic about his chances of receiving a waiver, although the NCAA has stated it wants to crack down on two-time transfers.
3. Harlond Beverly gives point guard a try
Much like DeGray, Mills views Miami transfer Harlond Beverly as a player who can play a much larger role at Wichita State.
Beverly returned from major back surgery to average 3.5 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 12.2 minutes per game for a Miami team that reached the Final Four last season.
Playing alongside star guards Nijel Pack and Isaiah Wong, Beverly was almost never asked to do much ball handling. But he did average 3.3 assists as a sophomore playing on the wing and Mills believes that passing is an untapped skill in the repertoire for the 6-6 guard, who is slated to play a secondary ball-handling role for the Shockers this season.
In the spirit of discovery, Mills wanted to see what Beverly looked like running point guard for WSU for an entire game. The results were encouraging, as Beverly finished with 16 points and likely five or more assists. (An official count was unavailable.)
“We knew he was capable as a secondary ball handler, but we wanted to watch him in that lead guard spot, so he played point guard for us,” Mills said. “We knew he could see (passing lanes). A lot of people can see them, the questions is, ‘Can he deliver?’ He actually delivered a lot of those passes (Monday).”
Clips from game action show Beverly running the pick-and-roll at the top of the key, analyzing the defensive movements and picking out the shooters on the weak side for catch-and-shoot 3-pointers. He showed a good knack for deciding when to be aggressive seeking out his own offense and when to look for cutters and shooters while running the offense.
Mills mentioned during WSU’s 10 practices leading up to the overseas trip that Beverly needed to improve his conditioning, a thought that was once again on the front of his mind after Monday’s game. Beverly has fully recovered from his back surgery, but is still working on building up his endurance to handle heavy loads like the one he received on Monday.
“Harlond did a great job for us until he got tired in the second half,” Mills said. “There’s still a shape issue of just being able to go, but I thought Harlond was great when he had his wind. There in the second half when he was a little tired, that’s when he got worn down a bit and struggled. But for the most part, I thought he played well.”
4. Quincy Ballard continues strong showing in Greece
Without his fellow two big men, Kenny Pohto and Jacob Germany, in Monday’s game, 7-foot junior center Quincy Ballard once again made the most out of his opportunity for extended playing time.
Ballard’s potential is tantalizing, but his career production has totaled just 59 points, 54 rebounds and 31 blocks in three seasons. So far in Greece, Ballard has been a force, tallying his second straight 16-point performance on Monday.
Granted, he will face much stiffer competition this upcoming season in the American Athletic Conference, as the local Greek team he played in the first game didn’t have much resistance, while Calgary had a team of mostly undersized, pick-and-pop centers.
Regardless, Mills has been pleased with the way Ballard is scoring: keeping the ball high when he catches and going straight up with it.
“If you’re a big and have great hands and great foot speed, relative to your size, it’s unique and he has both of those,” Mills said. “He has a tendency of sometimes forgetting he’s 7-foot tall and bringing the ball down to where guys my size can knock it out. I think that’s what he’s learning right now is how to play bigger, which I know sounds crazy for a 7-footer. But he has been really intentional about playing high with the basketball and not turning his 7-foot ability into 6-foot-5 ability. So that’s what I’ve been the most impressed with about his game.”
5. Dalen Ridgnal making a rebounding impression
The newest Shocker, Dalen Ridgnal, a 6-foot-7 forward who signed with the team right before the trip to Greece, continued to make an early impression on the coaching staff.
Ridgnal averaged 5.0 points and 4.3 rebounds in 17.7 minutes last season, while posting a 123.1 offensive rating (third-highest in the league) with a 59.7 effective field-goal percentage during Missouri Valley Conference play.
Much like with DeGray and Beverly, Mills believes Ridgnal can play an even larger role with the Shockers. Ridgnal delivered 12 points and close to double-digit rebounds in extended minutes in Monday’s game.
“I think if you talk to Tommy DeSalme at Hutch, he’ll tell you Dalen was the best rebounder that he’s ever coached,” Mills said. “We knew about his shot-making abilities, but his ability around the rim and his tenacity is what has been the discovery for me. I thought it was good already, but it’s better than what I even thought or any of our staff thought after watching his film.”
6. Shockers working on defending without fouling
One area Mills wants to see the Shockers improve during their final game on Wednesday is defending without fouling.
WSU racked up defensive fouls during Monday’s game, which helped spur Calgary’s third-quarter comeback to whittle WSU’s lead down to four points. While the Shockers ultimately rallied to win by double-digits, the amount of fouls bothered the head coach.
Isaac Abidde and Xavier Bell both fouled out during the game, while Harlond Beverly and Jalen Ricks had four fouls apiece.
“I thought this last game was called a little tighter than the first game, but we do have to do a better job of defending without fouling,” Mills said. “A dunk or a layup is the best shot you can get in basketball, the second best shot you can get is a free throw. We can’t continue to allow a team to get to the free-throw line that much because we’re not being disciplined. Hopefully we can get better there in this last game and not send the other team to the foul line as much as we did.”
