Wichita State basketball fails to protect 15-point lead in late-game loss at Tulsa

Coughing up a 15-point lead in a loss is enough to make any college basketball head coach feel ill.

If the 79-68 loss to Tulsa wasn’t bad enough for Wichita State, Paul Mills was disgusted when examining the final free throw count in the rivalry game played Wednesday evening at the Reynolds Center.

For the entire game prep, Mills chirped at his players about the significance of defending without fouling against the Golden Hurricane and their star freshman, P.J. Haggerty. Keeping Tulsa off the line was the easiest route to victory and the team’s first winning streak since November.

Easier said than done.

Haggerty shot 14 free throws, made all of them, and Tulsa used a 20-2 scoring advantage at the foul line to erase a double-digit deficit and break free from a tied game late by out-scoring WSU 13-2 in the final 150 seconds.

“This all came down to the free throw line,” Mills said. “You’re not going to win games when there’s that level of disparity and you can’t defend without fouling. The crazy thing is we’re the best in the league at defending without fouling, but somehow the script flips when we go on the road. We’ve got to do a better job at defending without fouling on the road.”

WSU is one of the best teams in the country (No. 19 in defensive free throw rate) at limiting free throws for the season. But Mills is correct to point out a major discrepancy in the home-road split for the Shockers.

Inside Koch Arena, WSU has the No. 1 free throw prevention defense (17.2% free throw rate) and attempts an average amount of free throws during American Athletic Conference play. However, on the road, WSU’s defensive foul rate balloons to 32.5% and the team ranks dead last in free throw rate on offense in conference play. Even scrubbing late-game fouling from the end of losses, WSU’s defensive foul rate has been above 30% in its last three road games.

After WSU attempted 38 shots in the paint against Tulsa, according to a film study by The Eagle, Mills was perplexed why his team continues to struggle to reach the foul line.

“I think 81% of all foul calls are within eight feet of the rim and I thought we were getting shots within eight feet of the rim,” Mills said.

“You’ve got to go back and look at the film and evaluate it, but yeah, that’s pretty hard to stomach.”

Mills acknowledged the Shockers (9-12, 1-7 AAC) have plenty more to blame than just free-throw dispairty for their latest loss, their 11th in the last 13 games.

Even with blowing a 15-point lead with another post-halftime collapse, WSU still led by six, 63-57, entering the final six minutes and was tied, 66-66, entering the final three.

A difference in physicality is what the coach felt like separated the two teams down the stretch. WSU’s defense was exploited three straight times on cross switches with guards unable to defend bigger Tulsa players, which resulted in breakdowns and three straight scores for the Golden Hurricane to pull out just their fourth win over WSU in the last 24 games of the 93-year-old rivalry series.

“It just came down to our lack of physicality there late,” Mills said. “If we ever get cross matched, we’ve got to have better physicality out of our guards, especially if you’re not up against some elite offensive rebounder.”

With the game tied at 66, WSU’s defense forced a long miss but guard Colby Rogers (13 points) was left trying to box out Tulsa center Jared Garcia underneath. Garcia won that battle and converted a three-point play for a 69-66 lead with 2 minutes, 24 seconds left.

After Ronnie DeGray III (eight points) scored on a cut for WSU, Tulsa split a pair of free throws for a 70-68 lead. Rogers missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:24 remaining, then another WSU guard, this time Xavier Bell (10 points), was caught on a cross-switch in the post, which led to a defensive collapse and Tulsa’s Isaiah Barnes drilled a dagger 3-pointer in the corner for a 73-68 lead with 53 seconds left. WSU never threatened again.

“We came out in the second half with a lot more aggression,” said Haggerty, one of the nation’s best foul-drawers who shot 12 free throws in the second half. “We locked down on defense. We came out and played harder as a team. We told each other that’s what we had to do to come out with a win and that’s what we did.”

The offense that ended the game for WSU was barely recognizable from the one that excelled pushing the tempo and running the floor in the first half. The Shockers scored 25 points in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock, per a film study by The Eagle, and pumped out a healthy 1.34 points per possession while shooting 58% from the floor in the first half to build a 43-31 advantage.

It felt like the team was turning the corner, coming off a 77-72 win over SMU on Sunday, but WSU never was able to replicate the same flow in the second half.

In fact, the Shockers sputtered more than they have all season out of halftime with nine straight empty possessions, including six straight misses and five turnovers. It took less than seven minutes for Tulsa to erase the double-digit halftime deficit and level the score.

“They jumped out on that run on us out of the gate in the second half,” Bell said. “We’ve got to be able to respond better. We have got to come out with the right mindset and finish the game.”

After seizing the win on Sunday, the Shockers fumbled away the victory on Wednesday with the offense producing an abysmal 0.71 points per possession after halftime.

Instead, it was Tulsa (12-8, 3-5 AAC) which elevated its play during winning time to grab its third conference win in its last four tries and improve to 11-2 at home this season in front of 5,028 fans.

“Wichita State always travels well adn they brought some fans, so you could feel the energy in the building,” second-year Tulsa coach Eric Konkol said. “Anytime you have a statistic that says this game has been played more than any other in your history, you know there’s something a little extra in that. I love games like this.”

Tulsa was led by its dynamic backcourt of Haggerty and Carlous Williams, who combined for 44 points. Meanwhile, WSU had five scorers in double-figures that also included Harlond Beverly (12 points on 6-of-17 shooting, six rebounds, five assists, two steals), Dalen Ridgnal (11 points, four rebounds) and Kenny Pohto (10 points, six rebounds, two steals).

WSU’s road swing continues later this week in a showdown between two teams desperately looking for a win, as Memphis (15-6, 4-4 AAC) hosts the Shockers for a noon tip-off Saturday for a nationally-televised broadcast on CBS. The Tigers enter on a four-game losing streak since last winning at Koch Arena on Jan. 14.

“It’s very frustrating because you want to win every single time out there,” Beverly said. “And then it adds to the frustration when you’re leading by double-digits and you give that up. We just have to get back in the film room, get back to practice and get better.”

Tulsa 79, Wichita State 68 basketball box score