Wichita State basketball expecting answers right away from road season-opening game

The Wichita State men’s basketball team will not have to wait long to figure out where it stands following Monday’s season opener.

For the first time in more than three decades, the Shockers open the season with a true road game at 7 p.m. Monday at Western Kentucky with a television broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

The Hilltoppers enter the season ranked No. 25 in the Mid-Major Top 25 poll with 12 seniors and two-thirds of their production back from last season’s Conference USA championship and NCAA Tournament squad. A ring ceremony will take place before Monday’s game, which should make for a raucous environment in the 7,523-seat Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

It’s a hefty test for a WSU team that wants to chase a title and March Madness experience of its own this season, which is just the way head coach Paul Mills wanted it.

“We could have waited until December to play this game, but I didn’t want to wait to see if we were capable and good enough to (win) on the road,” Mills said. “I wanted to get questions answered early about who we are. I wasn’t going to wait until December 10th to figure out if we can handle challenges on the road.”

WSU started last season 7-1, including a 71-61 victory over WKU at Koch Arena, but lost 10 of its next 11 games following its first true road game of the season in December.

First-year WKU coach Hank Plona feels the same way as Mills, which is why he agreed to play WSU in the opener and then scheduled a difficult road test at Grand Canyon on Saturday.

“You want to try to figure out where you stand early,” Plona told The Eagle. “We have a team that made the NCAA Tournament last year and we have goals of getting back there, which won’t be easy to do, but there’s no better way to figure out where you’re at early in the season than by playing other NCAA Tournament-caliber teams like Wichita State.”

To prepare for the road game, WSU has been piping in crowd noise during practices at Koch Arena. Mills knows signaling plays will be difficult, but he believes communication between his players on the floor will be even more important to the team’s success on Monday.

It’s a challenge, but one that a veteran team should be equipped to handle in a road environment. New point guard Justin Hill will be put to the test immediately, as will returning guards Harlond Beverly, Bijan Cortes and Xavier Bell.

“It’s going to be on the players to make sure the pace (is right),” Mills said. “You can’t start things too early. If you start too early, then things get out of sync. That’s all well and good inside a quiet arena or in your home environment, but to handle that on the road will be pretty significant.”

Pace will also be a key word in Monday’s game, as Western Kentucky played at the fastest pace in the country last season. An average WKU possession lasted less than 15 seconds, as the Hilltoppers thrived last season when the tempo was raised and their quickness and athleticism took over.

With three starters and eight of 11 rotation players back from last season, including star guard Don McHenry, first-year WKU coach Hank Plona isn’t looking to change much. But with a coaching change, Mills said he has done his due diligence and spoke with coaches from UAB and Mississippi State, both of whom played WKU this preseason.

With so many returners back on both sides, Plona believes there are certain things that can be taken away from last year’s meeting. Most importantly, at least in his eyes, was how WSU’s defense held the Hilltoppers to under 30% shooting.

“I think in last year’s game, the physical strength of their guards was an issue for us, especially in the second half of the game at both ends,” Plona said. “They got to their spots on offense, then they used their strength on defense more than we were able to use our quickness and that was a big factor in the game.”

It’s not often offenses hit their stride in November, especially for a pair of defensive-minded programs like WSU and WKU.

Both coaches expect the winner on Monday to be forced to grind out a victory.

“It’s not going to be pretty basketball, but it will be competitive basketball,” Mills said. “You have to enjoy these types of atmospheres and enjoy this type of adversity. You have to understand teams are going to go on runs and so are you. I encouraged our guys, we’re not here to play the scoreboard, whether we’re up 30 or down 30, we’re here to play the game. We need to dominate whatever possession, whatever matchup that we have.

“The most important thing for us in these situations is poise and that happens with older guys. Can we embrace it? You have to embrace things that don’t go your way and you’ve got to clean them up. This is not a team that’s going to get rattled. I feel that way and that’s why I’m anxious to play this game.”

Wichita State at Western Kentucky basketball preview

When: 7 p.m. Monday

Where: E.A. Diddle Arena

How to watch: CBS Sports Network (Carter Blackburn with Pete Gillen)

Radio: KEYN, 103.7-FM (Mike Kennedy with Bob Hull)

KenPom says: WKU 75, WSU 74

Projected starting lineups

Wichita State Shockers

Coach: Paul Mills, second season, 15-19

Note: All statistics are from the 2023-24 season.

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers

Coach: Hank Plona, first season

Note: All statistics are from the 2023-24 season.