‘We’ve got to grow up’: Frustration mounts for WSU with double-digit loss at Memphis
The Shockers are still searching for their first road win after three tries this season.
Wichita State lost its first conference-opening game since 2010 in an 85-74 loss at Memphis late Thursday evening at the FedEx Forum. The Shockers (7-6) dropped their first American Athletic Conference game, while Memphis (9-5) extended its winning streak to four games.
Although WSU offered its first sign of resilience on the road, the ultimate result was the same: a double-digit defeat.
“We’re tired of losing, man,” WSU senior Markis McDuffie said.
“It’s frustrating because we know what we’re capable of. We’ve had great games where we’ve played hard like Providence. People thought we were going to get smacked, then we went out there and played like vets. I don’t know what’s up. Maybe certain guys are mentally tired, mentally worn out. We’ve got to all come together as a team and believe in ourselves right now. That’s our problem: we’re not believing in ourselves. We’re letting certain guys put their head down. We’ve got to grow up.”
It was an entirely different experience than one year ago when WSU came to a mostly-empty FedEx Forum and had its way with Memphis in a 20-point victory.
On Thursday, there was no doubt who was the aggressor: Memphis made half of its shots, shot 25 more free throws than WSU, outscored WSU 44-26 in points in the paint and won the rebounding battle, 35-29, over the Shockers in front of a raucous crowd of more than 10,000.
“That’s a different Memphis than what they’re used to seeing,” Memphis coach Penny Hardaway said. “Last year they had their way with the team physically. A lot of teams feel like they could come and beat us up. To be able to take that physicality and put it back on them and play just as physical as them, I’m definitely proud of that.”
While WSU was only whistled for six more fouls than Memphis, it shot 25 less free throws. But afterward, WSU coach Gregg Marshall didn’t feel like he could argue much about the disparity in the foul-line shots.
“We’ve got to drive the ball better and hopefully get the benefit of the doubt every once in a while,” Marshall said after dismissing any claim the referees played a role in the outcome. “We took too many threes.”
The numbers back up Marshall’s claim. Not only did WSU take half of its shots (33 of 66) beyond the three-point arc, but it only generated 32 percent of its offense inside the paint. Compare that to Memphis, which took 66 percent (37 of 56) of its shots inside the paint and the difference in quality was clear.
While taking more threes is a growing trend in college basketball, it hasn’t proved to be a particularly fruitful one for WSU. Even though WSU made 10 threes for just the third time this season, it did so on 30-percent accuracy. On the season, the Shockers are making just 30.9 percent of their three-pointers, which 283rd out of 353 teams in the country.
If they don’t have their two seniors shoot well, they’re often times in trouble. On Thursday, McDuffie and Samajae Haynes-Jones combined for 34 points but on 35-percent shooting and 34 shots. Outside of a burst from Jaime Echenique (8 points) and the first dunk of the season by Dexter Dennis (12 points), the lone bright spot was freshman Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler scoring a career-high 12 points off the bench.
Poor Bear-Chandler hit his first two outside shots of the season, connecting on a pair of three-pointers, then also finishing inside with a left-handed hook. He also added five rebounds in a season-high 22 minutes with Echenique’s normal backup, Morris Udeze, out due to a shoulder injury.
“I felt like I had to step up for my team and do what I can do to provide for my team,” Poor Bear-Chandler said.
For the game’s first 10 minutes, WSU effectively mucked up the game. It was playing physical defense on Memphis and not allowing the Tigers to run in transition. As a result, WSU led 14-11. By the 7:32 mark, WSU still held a 20-16 advantage, but that’s when the Tigers took off.
“We went small because we had to speed them up,” Hardaway said. “There was no way we could let them walk the ball down the court, get it to their bigs and then dump it inside. It was to our advantage to speed them up and it worked out in our favor.”
In the final nine minutes of the first half, Memphis scored 33 points in 18 possessions as WSU registered exactly two defensive stops in that time span. The Tigers took a 44-32 lead into halftime.
This is the part where WSU fell apart on the road at Oklahoma and VCU. But in what an optimistic could view as a baby step forward, this team had two runs left in it.
The first came in the first 150 seconds of the second half when WSU reeled off a 9-2 run to cut Memphis’ lead to five, 46-41, and force Hardaway to burn a timeout. Echenique scored the first three times he touched it, then Haynes-Jones capped the run with a corner three.
“We need to play with that urgency, that Play Angry,” Echenique said. “We have to remember what we’re fighting for. We’re fighting for everybody on this team, for ourselves, fighting for our school. We have to keep that in our minds.”
The final run came when Memphis had slowly pushed its lead back out to 16 points with six minutes remaining. WSU rallied to within 81-74 with 2:06 remaining on a monstrous dunk by Dennis with a foul, as McDuffie and Haynes-Jones each scored six points to ignite a 16-7 run.
But that is as close as the Shockers would come.
Former WSU recruit Alex Lomax, who signed with the Shockers but was ultimately released from his letter of intent by Marshall in March, finished with eight points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals against the Shockers.
Hardaway entered into his rookie season coaching collegiate basketball with questions surrounding his coaching acumen. After Thursday’s conference-opening win, he hoped he showed he’s not just a recruiter.
“First of all, I have the utmost respect for coach Marshall and all the veteran coaches in this league,” Hardaway said. “But I’m a workaholic. I study the game and I understand the game. I wasn’t afraid to coach against anybody. I was really relishing the moment and really wanted that because I wanted to see where I stood up when it came to those guys. They’re legends and I’m just trying to make my own mark for this school and for this team.”
While the signs of fight are encouraging for the Shockers, who return home to face Temple on Sunday, they are ready to start winning.
“We wait until we’re down to play hard,” McDuffie said. “We’ve got to put it all together and come out strong. We just have to start winning games. We’ve got to show our promise, that we can handle big teams. It starts right now. I know we have a lot of young guys, but it’s conference season. These guys should know what we’re doing by now. It’s time for us to get going, come together and grow up.”
This story was originally published January 3, 2019 at 10:50 PM.
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