Here’s how Wichita State basketball can open AAC play with a road win at Temple

Last season’s Wichita State men’s basketball team never found a solution to its late-game woes that hamstrung the team in American Athletic Conference play.

The Shockers are seemingly better equipped to handle those situations this season. WSU has drastically cut down on its turnovers while increasing its accuracy from the foul line — two areas that led to a 2-8 record in games within two possessions entering the final 5 minutes of regulation in conference play.

But consistency still plagues the Shockers, who have looked like a team capable of contending for a conference championship in some games — against Kansas State, for example — but also like a squad capable of finishing in the AAC cellar (against the Kansas City Roos).

WSU’s mettle will be put to the test right away in conference play, as the Shockers (10-3) open up on the road against a Temple (8-5) team that was projected right behind them in the preseason coaches’ poll in a 6 p.m. game Friday at the Liacouras Center.

WSU will be looking to win a conference opener for the first time since the 2020-21 season.

“It’s a new season and it’s a fresh start,” WSU head coach Paul Mills said. “I’ve always thought of January as being a month where you can identify the teams that are competitive. At the end of the day, that’s what we’re trying to be.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge and it’s one that should happen when you have a veteran group.”

The Shockers looked like a new team on the road when they opened the season with an impressive 91-84 win at Western Kentucky. But in the two months since, WSU has lost senior forward Ronnie DeGray III (fractured wrist) to injury and allowed a close road game to snowball — much like last season — into a 19-point setback at DePaul.

Shot selection will be the name of the game on Friday for WSU, at least in the opinion of Mills.

Opponents know WSU wants to attack the rim and manufacture trips to the foul line, evident by a top-60 free throw rate, and the team struggles to connect from deep, evident by a team-wide 30.6% accuracy on 3s against Division I opponents. The cat-and-mouse game on Friday will be if Shockers will have the discipline to continue to work for the shots they desire, rather than settling for the 3-point shots that Temple will surely try to bait them into hoisting.

“You have to understand people are going to plug and keep things really tight and they’re going to try to bait us into doing things,” Mills said. “I was really pleased with the Kansas State games because we only took 10 (3s) and they were the right ones. We don’t need to take them just because people are baiting.

“At the end of the day, it’s about what kind of shots can you make them take and what kind of shots can you generate. So we’re very mindful of that knowing that these are going to be one-, two-possession games.”

The simple ability to get a shot up each time down the floor in crunch time would be a step in the right direction for a WSU team that cratered too many times last season by live-ball turnovers that not only ended offensive possessions, but put its defense in terrible positions.

The introduction of transfer point guard Justin Hill, who missed Sunday’s game against Friends with a minor hamstring injury but will play without limitation on Friday, has helped overhaul the team’s ball handling. WSU is now one of the best teams in the country at ball security, as the Shockers rank 14th nationally in turnover percentage against Division I opponents.

The ongoing challenge for WSU with a stable full of guards who love nothing more than to attack downhill is to pick its battles. Mills pointed out the Shockers rank first nationally in cutting (1.71 points per possession, per Synergy) and guards like Hill, Xavier Bell and Harlond Beverly need to keep that in mind before they attack and throw up heavily contested looks. Bell in particular could face the most attention, considering he is averaging 20.2 points in his last five games and coming off a WSU career-high 29 points.

“(Bell) is going to attract more attention, so now it’s about decision making,” Mills said. “The cutting has to be sharper and (Bell) needs to recognize that. This is where the cut is coming from in order to create an advantage. We’re as good as anybody at producing points off it, so he’s got to be mindful of these things. Because of the attention that he’s going to attract, he’s got to understand the floor geography on how this is going to play out when he approaches it this way.”

After a 4-4 start without its starting point guard, Temple has won four of its last five games with Lynn Greer back in the lineup. The Owls are led by transfer wing Jamal Mashburn Jr., who is third in the conference in scoring at 20.1 points, and 6-foot-10 stretch forward Steve Settle, who averages 12.1 points and 6.8 rebounds and scored 30 points in two games last season in a series sweep over the Shockers.

Losing twice to Temple will surely be fresh in the mind of returners like Bell, Beverly, Bijan Cortes and Quincy Ballard, who have a chance on Friday to show that this season will be different for the Shockers.

“Anytime that you’re left with a bad taste in your mouth,” Mills said, “you’re going to be pretty motivated.”

Shockers at Temple basketball preview

Records: WSU 10-3, 0-0 AAC; Temple 8-5, 0-0 AAC

When: 6 p.m. Central time Friday

Where: Liacouras Center (10,200), Philadelphia, Penn.

How to watch: ESPN2 (Mike Corey with Phil Martelli)

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

Series history: Temple leads 8-6 (3-1 in Philadelphia)

Betting line: WSU is a 1.5-point underdog

KenPom says: Temple 76, WSU 75

Projected starting lineups

Wichita State Shockers (10-3)

Coach: Paul Mills, second season, 25-22

Temple Owls (8-5)

Coach: Adam Fisher, second season, 24-25