‘Not a one-time thing’: Xavier Bell is here to stay in Wichita State’s starting 5
By Taylor Eldridge – The Wichita Eagle (TNS)
Dec. 28—In his first start of the season, senior guard Xavier Bell scored a season-high 24 points and led the Wichita State men’s basketball team to a 19-point thumping of Kansas State.
Bell is no stranger to the starting lineup with the Shockers, starting a total of 25 games the past two seasons, and it sounds like he has secured a spot in WSU’s starting five moving forward.
It was a calculated gamble by WSU head coach Paul Mills to shake up the first five against K-State, inserting Bell and A.J. McGinnis in place of Bijan Cortes and Harlond Beverly, and the move was a hit. WSU won Bell’s 31 minutes by 18 points against the Wildcats, as he gave the team instant offense.
Mills told local media on Friday that Bell’s promotion to the starting five “wasn’t a one-time thing” entering Sunday’s 5 p.m. game against Friends at Koch Arena with the start of American Athletic Conference play right around the corner.
“Who you are internally will eventually get exhibited externally,” Mills said. “You may be able to hide that stuff for a little while, but people are eventually going to see just who you are. Your root determines your fruit.
“(Bell’s) internal competitiveness, his care factor is as high as we have in anybody on the roster. How much he wants to see Wichita State win, not only being a local guy, but it’s backed up through his work ethic.”
For the second straight season, Bell has thrived against WSU’s nonconference opponents. The 6-foot-3 guard is currently averaging a career-best 12.4 points in WSU’s 9-3 start to the season, one year after averaging a team-high 14.4 points in 13 nonconference games last season. He also reached 1,000 career points earlier this month, courtesy of a four straight double-digit scoring games and back-to-back 20-point scoring games.
It has proven easier for Bell, a dominant left-handed player, to score going left against teams who have only scouted him for a day or two. The next challenge for the Wichita native will be to continue to find ways to be effective against league teams who have two years of scouting reports on him.
Mills praised Bell for how receptive he has been to addressing those concerns this past offseason.
“We had very frank talks with him coming out of last year, but he never once wavered,” Mills said. “He cares about Wichita State, he cares about doing well and he cares about winning. The thing that I love about Xavier is that he reminds me of (former NBA left-handed star) Manu Ginobili. Everybody in the world knows you’re going left and you’re still able to do what everybody already knows. That’s a sign of a really good player.”
Bell and the rest of the Shockers will look to knock off the holiday rust on Sunday after an eight-day layoff in between games and avoid a drop-off following an emotional victory over in-state rival K-State.
If things go according to plan against an NAIA opponent, Sunday’s game, which counts as a real contest for WSU and an exhibition for Friends, will be an opportunity for rotation players like A.J. McGinnis and Matej Bosnjak to gain confidence and offer younger players like Joy Ighovodja, Zion Pipkin and Yanis Bamba an extended opportunity to show what they can do.
Mills wasn’t taking anything for granted on Friday, particularly after WSU’s stumble against Kansas City earlier this month. He said his only goal for Sunday’s game is “to get better.”
“There’s nothing we can change about the past,” Mills said. “(The Kansas City loss) happened. (The DePaul loss) happened. It’s recorded. There’s nothing you can do about it. The only way to really make an impact on the future and what it’s going to be is you better be able to make the most out of today. If you can’t make today your masterpiece and you can’t stack days together and you don’t care about today, you can forget that future stuff because you’re not going to do anything at all.”
On the injury front, Mills said none of WSU’s trio of injured players are close to returning to the court for Sunday’s game. While freshman T.J. Williams suited up for the first time this season against K-State, Mills said the Wichita native hasn’t been cleared yet to participate in games and the coach is still unsure whether the 6-foot-5 wing will redshirt this season or not.
Mills also said senior forward Ronnie DeGray III (fractured wrist) and senior center Zane Meeks (knee scope) are “probably weeks away” from being back.
After Sunday’s game, WSU will have another four days off to prepare for the conference opener at Temple, a team projected for the top-half of the standings this season. There should be plenty motivation for last year’s returners on WSU, as the Owls swept the Shockers in last season’s home-and-home series.
But before WSU can worry about conference play, Mills wants his players to make the most of the 40 minutes on Sunday.
“When you get your players back from Christmas, you don’t know how much atrophy has set in,” Mills said. “It’s probably a lot of laying around and I get it, trust me. It’s hard to get that motor turned back up and get them back in that frame of mind, so it’s important to play a game like this and it’s important to play one at home and it’s important that you play one where you’re going to be challenged if you don’t do this the right way.
“A lot of coaches are terrified of the game after Christmas and I am no different than anybody else.”
Friends at Wichita State basketball preview
Records: FU 8-4, WSU 9-3
When: 5 p.m. Sunday
Where: Koch Arena (10,506), Wichita
How to watch: ESPN+ (Shane Dennis with Bob Hull)
Radio: KEYN, 103.7-FM (Mike Kennedy with Dave Dahl)
Series history: WSU leads 40-11
Betting line: No odds yet
KenPom says: No line for non-D1 games
Projected starting lineups
Friends Falcons (8-4)
Pos.
No.
Player
Hometown
Ht.
Year
Pts.
Reb.
Ast.
G
4
Randy Woolf Jr. Waco, Texas 6-4 Jr. 10.0
3.9
3.3
G
3
Kee’on Hutton Wichita, Kan. 6-4 Jr.
10.9
3.6
1.6
G
13
Josh Price Edmond, Okla. 6-3 Jr.
6.3
2.0
1.4
F
11
Ring Deng Grand Prairie, Texas 6-6 Jr.
9.6
5.3
2.8
F 5 K.J. Spiller Kansas City, Mo. 6-6 Sr. 16.3 6.8 2.2
Coach: Phil McClintock, second season, 17-22
Wichita State Shockers (8-3)
Pos.
No.
Player
Hometown
Ht.
Wt.
Year
Pts.
Reb.
Ast.
G
11
Justin Hill
Houston, Texas
5-11
191
Sr.
14.0
3.4
3.2
G
1
Xavier Bell
Wichita, Kan.
6-2
185
Sr.
12.4
3.1
1.2
G
A.J. McGinnis
Huntsville, Ala.
6-3
178
Sr.
4.3
0.6
0.3
F
6
Corey Washington
Little Rock, Ark.
6-5
188
Jr.
12.7
6.9
0.6
C
15
Quincy Ballard
Syracuse, N.Y.
6-11
251
Sr.
9.2
7.0
0.2
Coach: Paul Mills, second season, 24-22
This story was originally published December 28, 2024, 7:02 AM.
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