Limiting turnovers a concern for Wichita State basketball ahead of Temple road game

The maddening inconsistency of the Wichita State men’s basketball team can best be found in its turnover numbers this season.

The same team that set a program record with just two turnovers in a game earlier this season is coming off a game where it turned the ball over 25 times, the most by a WSU team in 15 years. And true to their bizarre nature, the Shockers lost by 10 points in the game where they had two turnovers and won the game they committed 25 turnovers.

Add them all up and the Shockers are averaging 12.6 turnovers per game, which actually sets them right in the middle of the national average. But there’s hardly anything average about WSU’s game-to-game turnover count, which has fluctuated from one extreme to the other throughout the season.

Limiting turnovers was the main topic of conversation for WSU head coach Isaac Brown ahead of an American Athletic Conference road trip for the Shockers (13-12, 6-7 AAC), who will meet Temple (14-12, 8-5 AAC) at 6 p.m. Thursday at Liacouras Center, where WSU has never won. The game will be available on ESPN+.

“I’ve told the players that we’re losing games because we’re turning the basketball over,” Brown said. “I watch college basketball games every night and the teams that are winning are the teams that don’t have careless turnovers. We’ve got to do a better job of valuing the basketball. If you value the basketball, you’ve got a chance of winning every game.”

In its last three conference losses to Tulane, Houston and UCF, untimely turnovers down the stretch cost WSU a chance of winning. In other games, the sheer amount of turnovers have piled up and been too much to overcome.

The Shockers turned the ball over 20 times against Missouri, 16 times against Kansas State and a total of 33 times in two games against UCF — they lost the four games by an average of 5.3 points.

Brown said he has to start substituting players out when they make too many mistakes. In the SMU game, he only played starters Jaron Pierre (five turnovers) and James Rojas (two turnovers) four minutes each after halftime — in the final 30 minutes of the game (counting two overtimes). The coach said that both players have been given a fresh start ahead of the Temple game, but the message that poor decision-making can affect playing time was sent.

“I’ve just got to take you out,” Brown said. “I’m not saying you’re not allowed one turnover, but when it’s something you shouldn’t be doing, that you know that you can’t do and it’s a silly turnover, then I’ve got to get you out of the game.”

Among the 25 turnovers against SMU were some of the most bizarre you will ever see — a blatant kicked ball missed by officials and a tipped pass sailing out of bounds that deflected off a referee and back into live play come to mind.

But the majority of WSU’s mistakes are self-inflicted, the result of poor decision-making, whether it’s on a pass into traffic, over-dribbling and having the ball poked out or barreling toward the rim out of control for a charge call.

What has made WSU’s recent uptick in turnovers even more frustrating is that they are severely holding down the team’s offensive efficiency in games when it is shooting well from the floor.

In its last two games, WSU has made 64.9% of its two-pointers on extremely high volume but scored a pedestrian 1.03 points per possession because it is turning the ball over on 28% of its possessions (43 combined turnovers). That’s more than a quarter of its total possessions ending without a shot at the basket, which is particularly painful when the offense is having so much success in the paint lately.

“When we don’t turn it over, we shoot a great percentage,” Brown said. “When we get the ball in the hands of Craig Porter and Jaykwon Walton and Kenny Pohto, those guys are able to get good shots.”

While they are WSU’s three best play-makers, they have not been immune to careless turnovers. Porter and Walton each logged six turnovers against SMU.

In practices, WSU tracks the count of turnovers players commit in drills and in full-court play. At the end of the practice, Brown said they have to run accordingly.

“We do a passing drill at the end of practice to see if guys are focused,” Brown said. “You’ve got to be locked in to make the passes and make the layups at the end. If you turn it over, you’ve got to run.

“We’ve been talking about turnovers every day, ever since the first loss of the year. We have to value the basketball and a good mark for turnovers would be 13 or under. That’s something we preach every day in practice and in film.”

The Shockers are 4-1 on the road in conference play, but have never beat Temple in Philadelphia. The Owls started 8-2 in conference but have lost three straight, including a loss to SMU, entering Thursday’s game.

Temple’s core is entirely made up of sophomores, as the Owls feature two of the best scoring guards in the conference in Khalif Battle (18.6 points) and Damian Dunn (14.3 points).

Wichita State at Temple basketball preview

Records: WSU 13-12, 6-7 AAC; Temple 14-12, 8-5 AAC

When: 6 p.m. Central time Thursday

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

Streaming: ESPN+

Radio: KEYN, 103.7-FM

KenPom says: Temple 69, WSU 64

Series: Temple leads 6-5 (2-0 in Philadelphia)

Projected starting lineups

Wichita State Shockers

Coach: Isaac Brown, third season, 44-31

Temple Owls

Coach: Aaron McKie, fourth season, 50-50