How Jaron Pierre embraced the defensive end in first year with Wichita State basketball

Jaron Pierre came to Wichita State with a reputation of a pure scorer, known for hunting his shot and making difficult ones on the basketball court.

But in his third season of college basketball, and his first with the Shockers, Pierre is starting to embrace the dirty work of the game on the defensive end.

Wichita State’s culture regarding defense has rubbed off on him. He used to not fight through screens; now he barrels through them to blow up passes on the wing. He used to not want to get down in a stance and guard; now he’s taking on the defensive assignment for the other team’s best scorer.

Offense has motivated Pierre so long, but now he says defense is what motivates him for Wichita State entering Thursday’s showdown with Memphis at Koch Arena.

“I am taking a lot more pride in my defense,” Pierre said. “We always watch a lot of film and the coaches show up the guys who are scoring the ball a lot for the other team and I take pride in guarding those guys. The coaches have instilled in me that defense leads to offense, so that’s what I’ve been focused on.”

There was no better example of that mentality than in the first half of WSU’s 79-65 win at Temple last Thursday.

Pierre had just made a careless turnover on offense, stepping on the sideline out of bounds. In the past, he would have allowed the frustration of the mistake on offense to affect his intensity and desire on defense.

But this time, Pierre had no problem locking back in on defense. When Temple star Damian Dunn drove to the basket, Pierre helped off and swatted his shot to start a fast break the other way for the Shockers. Pierre sprinted down the left side of the floor, where James Rojas found him with a quick pass for a layup at the other end.

“That was a perfect example of my defense leading to my offense,” said Pierre, who finished with eight points. “That’s why you get after it on defense because you are going to be rewarded.”

Pierre is still seeking the consistency to be labeled as a lockdown defender, but the effort he’s giving on the defensive end is a step in the right direction of his development. He is averaging 9.5 points, third-highest on the team, with the most 3-pointers made on the team.

There are still things to improve on defense — like remaining locked in every second on defense, boxing out when a shot goes up and fighting through on-ball screens — but WSU head coach Isaac Brown is proud of the improvement Pierre has made since he arrived on campus.

“Defense is what is keeping him on the floor,” Brown said. “He’s defending his butt off. He’s become one of the better defenders in the league. He’s real athletic, so when he’s locked in on defense, he’s pretty good. He’s just got to continue to take good shots and they’ll eventually fall, but you always got to defend.”

Almost all of Pierre’s 23 minutes on the court against Temple were spent guarding the Owls’ dynamite duo of Damian Dunn and Khalif Battle. Pierre’s combination of athleticism and length helped bother both of them, as Dunn finished 3-of-13 from the field (and 0-for-8 inside the arc) and Battle was held scoreless for the first time in his Temple career.

“When I saw (those stats), that made me very happy,” Pierre said. “Coach was telling us about those matchups all week and how someone had to step up and play against a pro. That’s what others believe those guys are, but I’ve never seen them play before. Coach kept saying if you want to play against a pro, then there’s your matchup. I just did what I had to do.”

The Shockers (14-12, 7-7 AAC) are in the mix for a first-round bye in the AAC tournament, but need to continue racking up wins to keep pace with Cincinnati (18-10, 9-6 AAC) and Temple (15-13, 9-6 AAC). A win over an NCAA tournament-caliber team like Memphis (20-7, 10-4 AAC) on Thursday would go a long way in accomplishing that goal.

Wichita State’s team defense has regressed in American Athletic Conference play, but the Shockers still rank 18th in the country in field goal percentage defense (39.8%).

WSU has the potential for one of the best perimeter defenses in the conference with point guard Craig Porter generally regarded as the team’s best overall defender and 6-foot-7 junior Jaykwon Walton presenting even more length. When Pierre is locked in on the defensive end, he can be on that tier as well.

“I’m proud of Jaron because even when shots aren’t falling, I know he’s going to play some real good defense for us,” Walton said. “When he picks it up on defense, our team becomes way better. It’s hard to score on us because we have a lot of length with me being 6-7 and him being 6-5. It’s hard for smaller guards to score against us.”