The extreme youth on this season’s Wichita State men’s basketball team has kept Gregg Marshall and his coaching staff busy trying to make the transition to the Division I level as smooth as possible for nine first-year players.
Sometimes there are challenges that Marshall doesn’t think to prepare his players for until their inexperience make it an issue. That was the case on Saturday in WSU’s worst loss in 15 years and worst offensive performance in even longer, an 80-48 thumping at the hands of Oklahoma.
WSU’s list of problems on offense was long — too much standing around, not enough passing, no dribble penetration — but playing in Chesapeake Energy Arena, home to the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, added to it.