Shock and advance: Wichita State stuns Memphis to keep season alive in AAC tournament
In the end, the Wichita State men’s basketball team figured out how to close out a victory.
It wasn’t flawless, but it was good enough to survive and advance — the name of the game in March — as WSU kept its season alive with a 71-65 win over No. 5 seed Memphis on Thursday afternoon at Dickies Arena.
WSU became the lowest seed to win two games in the history of the American Athletic Conference tournament, as the 12th-seeded Shockers (15-18) advanced to the quarterfinals to play No. 4 UAB (20-11) at approximately 2 p.m. Friday with the game broadcast on ESPN2. It will be the first game for UAB in Fort Worth, while WSU will play its third game in three days.
“This wasn’t a good win, a great win, an ugly win. It was an expected win,” WSU head coach Paul Mills said. “We have guys who expect to win this time of year. Everybody’s here to do the same thing and that’s to win a championship. We’re not even halfway there.”
Not only did WSU snap its eight-game losing streak to Memphis, claiming its first win in the series since Jan. 9, 2020, the Shockers likely ended the season for the Tigers, which entered with hopes of securing an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament — hopes that were dashed by Thursday’s result. Afterward, Memphis coach Penny Hardaway was adamant he would not accept an invitation to the NIT.
It was a particularly satisfying victory for WSU, which still remembered the picture Memphis posted on social media following its blowout win at Koch Arena; players held up WSU shirts and gestured thumbs down in the picture.
Two months later, the Shockers exacted their revenge, as players mockingly celebrated with thumbs down at center court following the win on Thursday.
“Winning this time of the year, this is when it matters the most,” WSU leading scorer Colby Rogers said. “It shows hard work pays off when you just stay faithful, stay determined, keep working as a team and keep believing in each other.”
WSU played well to build a 14-point lead with 10 minutes to go, then overcame its habit of blowing double-digit leads.
The Shockers went without a field goal for seven straight minutes, allowing David Jones (game-high 24 points) to score 10 points during a 17-2 run to stake the Tigers to a 58-57 lead with 3:30 remaining.
WSU wilted against the pressure when Memphis cranked up its run-and-jump full-court press. Rogers turned the ball over on an inbound pass, WSU’s third such turnover for the game, leading to a 3 by Memphis’ Nae’Qwan Tomlin. Seconds later, Jones tied up Rogers to force another turnover and the two players had to be separated as tempers flared and technicals were assessed.
Memphis squeezed and squeezed and then squeezed some more and it appeared as if WSU was going to succumb.
“We don’t have your stats that you have (during the game), so we don’t really think about it,” Mills said. “You just trust (the players) to make plays and that’s what happened late.”
Finally, WSU punched back with a clever halfcourt set to clear out the backside to give Quincy Ballard (eight points, eight rebounds, three blocks) a free runway for an alley-oop dunk he slammed home from Bijan Cortes (11 points, six rebounds, five assists).
That was followed by a contested triple Rogers canned to rescue WSU late in the shot clock, a pivotal swing that put WSU up four. The next possession, Ronnie DeGray III extended the lead to 64-58 with 1:33 left, and WSU’s lead was never threatened again.
Harlond Beverly helped put the finishing touches on the win with a pair of baskets, giving him a team-high 17 points to go along with six rebounds, three assists, five blocks and five steals.
“The coaches really believed in us and we had no choice but to believe in ourselves,” Beverly said. “It paid off.”
WSU traded blow for blow with Memphis in the first half, stumbling only when it settled for 3-pointers against the Tigers’ zone defense. But WSU regained its footing when it started attacking the paint again, reeling off a 7-0 run just before halftime to take a 35-33 lead.
After Memphis dominated the glass in the previous meeting, Mills said WSU’s focus was to limit second-chance opportunities. The Shockers did just that, holding Memphis to well under its season average for offensive rebounding percentage (26.7%) and just three second-chance points.
Hardaway was disappointed in his team’s performance with so much at stake.
“Wichita State did a phenomenal job,” Hardaway said. “They were the hungrier team today. When you beat a team two times, you’ve got to come in with way more energy because you know what you’re going to face.”
