‘Everything is about confidence’: Pohto coming into his own for Wichita State basketball

The last 10 games for the Wichita State men’s basketball team have seen sophomore center Kenny Pohto come into his own.

The 6-foot-11 Sweden native came to WSU as a pick-and-pop specialist, but he has since found a groove by almost completely eliminating the three-point shot from his arsenal, making a bigger commitment to rebounding and becoming a play-making hub for the team’s offense.

Pohto finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and a career-high six assists in the Shockers’ 86-75 win at Tulsa on Sunday, this coming after grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds against Houston in his previous game.

In his last 10 games, Pohto is averaging 11.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 blocks. Compared to his first 12 games of the season, when his averages were just 5.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 0.3 blocks, Pohto is starting to become the force that WSU coaches always believed he could be.

“Everything is about confidence, really,” Pohto said. “When you get on the floor, you don’t want to be scared. You want to be confident in your decisions and I think that’s where I’m at right now. I’m passing the ball with confidence and I’m just playing more confidently now.”

WSU coach Isaac Brown is a believer that Pohto is finally turning the corner because he’s fully healthy. Pohto arrived in Wichita late and injured this summer, which set him behind his teammates.

Pohto has worked himself into shape during the season and his endurance has increased as the season has gone on. He is averaging 29.2 minutes per game in American Athletic Conference play.

“He couldn’t really practice like he needed to when he first got here,” Brown said. “Now he’s getting in better shape and I think that’s what is giving him more confidence.”

A big reason why WSU has won five of its last eight games and seen a dramatic increase in efficiency on offense is because of the team’s new commitment to play inside-out. That means the ball is in Pohto’s hands more than ever, but that doesn’t mean he’s always looking to score. More times than not, Pohto takes advantage when the defense sends a second defender his way by finding open teammates for shots.

He finished with just 12 assists in 28 games as a freshman, but opportunities to showcase his passing were limited because of his role as a pick-and-pop big.

“Last year I was focused on popping all the time, but this year I feel like I’m seeing all of the floor now,” Pohto said. “It’s easier to find my teammates when I’m not just popping all of the time. My passing has always been there. In Europe, that’s how everyone plays. It’s a team game.”

Now WSU runs set plays to feed Pohto the ball in the post, where he can survey the help defense and pick out cutters or make skip passes to open shooters. He also routinely catches the ball at the top of the key and has proven to be a valuable play-maker for WSU’s offense, making reads and finding the open player.

In the pick-and-roll game, Pohto has transformed from a popping big looking to launch threes to a dangerous roll man. Against Tulsa, Pohto found success slipping the screen, catching the pass moving toward the basket and immediately passing to wherever the help defender came from. He found Jaykwon Walton for an easy layup, then again on a wide-open corner three that Walton canned.

“I love playing with a big like that who can make the right pass,” Walton said. “Kenny is playing with a lot of confidence right now and he’s getting all of us a lot of open shots.”

“He tells us all the time to cut and he’ll get us the ball,” WSU guard Jaron Pierre said. “When the defense traps him, he’s always keeping his eyes up and looking. You know he’s going to get you the ball.”

Point guard Craig Porter, who finished with seven assists of his own against Tulsa, says the elevated play of WSU’s two big men (James Rojas and Pohto) have been key in the offensive resurgence.

After failing to crack 50 points three separate times in December, WSU’s offense is averaging better than 76 points in its last eight games.

“It opens up our offense so much when you have big guys who can pass like that,” Porter said. “Kenny is really becoming a presence for us.”

“That’s really fun to see when you have two big guys like that who love getting assists,” Brown added.

The biggest adjustment Pohto has had to make from the European game to American college basketball is the toughness and physicality required to excel in the paint, especially in a conference like the AAC.

Consider it a work in progress, as Pohto is clearly making an effort to be more physical, though he still doesn’t finish as well close to the basket like a 6-11 center should. But his toughness was on full display against Houston, the standard of toughness in college basketball, when he grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds.

As the strength of schedule picks up for WSU in the final month of the regular season, starting with UCF coming to Koch Arena on Wednesday, Pohto believes he is ready for the upcoming challenges.

“I feel like I’m becoming a better all-around player now,” Pohto said. “The confidence is there now. The confidence was an issue in the beginning of the season, but now, there’s no issue.”