Statistically-speaking, Xavier Bell is coming off the best season of his college basketball career.
He averaged 11.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals while playing 30.2 minutes — all career highs — last season for Wichita State.
But in Bell’s mind, the season was not a success because the team finished with a 15-19 record. Wins are the most important number the Wichita native is focused on for his final season with the Shockers.
“I’ve seen what winning basketball was like for Wichita State and know what this program can get to,” Bell said. “I want to be a part of something special, whether that’s somebody coming off the bench, somebody being a role guy, whatever the team needs me to be; I’m focused on that and what I can do better to make our team better.”
Bell’s demeanor has made him a natural leader throughout his college career. He had a strong voice in the locker room last season because of his status on the team, but there’s no doubt the dynamics have changed for this upcoming season.
While Bell (2,440 career minutes) was one of only a handful of players with extensive Division I experience last season, he is one of many this season. WSU head coach Paul Mills has upgraded the roster with a wealth of college basketball experience, as transfer-portal additions like point guard Justin Hill (3,280 career minutes), sharpshooter A.J. McGinnis (2,112), big man Zane Meeks (1,941) and forward Corey Washington (1,302) all come with meaningful minutes under their belts.
As a third-year Shocker, tied with Quincy Ballard for the longest-tenured player in the program, Bell has embraced a different kind of leadership role on this year’s team.
“I’m trying to be more commanding and more assertive,” Bell said. “Just being a lot more confident in myself. But it’s not all about me. We’ve got a lot of older guys coming in and I just want to be a part of what could be something special for us.”
For the first six weeks of last season, Bell’s downhill scoring binges were a constant for the Shockers. He averaged a team-best 14.4 points through the first 11 games, as he did most of his damage through bully ball on smaller defenders in the paint.
But once defenses fully scouted Bell and WSU’s poor outside shooting failed to provide him enough space to operate, Bell’s scoring was sporadic for the rest of the season. Capturing that early season form again has been the mission this summer.
“I think X better understands the spacing that’s required in order to give him his advantages,” Mills said. “He understands an empty corner vs. an occupied corner now. In order for us to be able to showcase his physical ability, he had to understand where guys needed to be and what he needed to do. I think as players get older, they better understand that stuff and what’s required in order to take advantage of it.”
Another focal point this summer for Bell was to work on the consistency of his outside shot.
He connected on 35.7% (10 of 28) of his 3-pointers during his 11-game scoring binge to kick off the season, but he finished just 21.2% (7 of 33) in the final three months of the season.
Bell was a 37.5% 3-point shooter on 96 career attempts at Drexel, so he has proven he can be an effective perimeter shooter. But after shooting 22.8% in 2022-23 and 29% in 2023-24 beyond the arc, Bell will have to prove it before defenses respect him from the 3-point line.
“I give X a lot of credit because he’s put in a lot of time there,” Mills said. “It’s paid off for him this summer. He’s shot the ball a lot better.”
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