Wichita State Shockers: Markis McDuffie needs more help

The Wichita State Shockers have struggled during the early part of this season, but Markis McDuffie is excelling out on the court. He needs more help if the Shockers are going to turn things around this season.

While the Wichita State Shockers as a team have struggled to start the 2018-2019 season, there is one player who has been excelling. Markis McDuffie has been making plays and giving his team multiple opportunities to win.

The 6’8″, 185 pound forward is giving Wichita State everything he has and he’s been phenomenal during the early part of the season, but the Shockers can’t solely rely on him to win games this year. Markis McDuffie needs more help on the court.

First and foremost, it’s important to recognize just how good McDuffie has been so everything can be put into context here. Through the first five games of the year, McDuffie has been shooting lights out and is scorching defenses.

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He’s shooting more shots per game than he has at any other point in his career and has a notably higher field goal percentage than in the past. McDuffie is averaging 21.6 points per game, and he’s making exactly 50 percent of his shots this season. To get there, McDuffie is averaging 14.8 shots per game and is draining 7.4 of them.

And on top of all of that, Markis McDuffie is even better from behind the three-point line than he is from shooting anywhere else. Wichita State has been lucky to have his steady shot from downtown this year as he’s making 3.2 of the 6.2 three-pointers he attempts per game.

McDuffie is the clear leader for this team on offense, but he needs more help.

As good as Markis McDuffie has been to start the season, he still needs help. The one time McDuffie didn’t score in the double digits this year is the only time that the Wichita State Shockers have lost by double digits.

In the first game of the season against Louisiana Tech, McDuffie had an off night. He only made 27.3 percent of his shots for a total of 8 points. The Shockers lost that game by 13 points.

Since that game, the senior forward has been on a hot streak, but the Shockers are still inconsistent and losing games. In Wichita State’s 57-53 loss to Davidson, Samajae Haynes-Jones was the only other player aside from McDuffie to get into the double digits scoring with 15 points.

All of that said, McDuffie’s teammates were able to step up against Alabama on offense. While McDuffie had 26 points and 8 rebounds against the Crimson Tide, Haynes-Jones and Jaime Echenique each added 13 points of their own and Dexter Dixon, from the bench, put up 19 points. For the Shockers’ sake, hopefully this becomes a trend that will continue.

If the Wichita State Shockers are going to get things turned around this season, Markis McDuffie must continue to play at a high level. But he can’t do it by himself. He’ll need plenty of help going forward and hopefully he can get it.

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