Wichita State basketball closes out most successful decade in program history with win
The most successful decade in Wichita State men’s basketball history came to a close in winning fashion Sunday as the Shockers dispatched Abilene Christian 84-66 at Koch Arena.
WSU closed out the decade having won 78.9% (280-75) of its games under coach Gregg Marshall, a 10-year stretch that included seven NCAA Tournaments, three NIT’s, 18 postseason victories, five regular-season conference titles and two conference tournament championships.
“It was good for us to end 2019 with a win like we did,” WSU freshman Tyson Etienne said. “It’s just setting the tone for the next decade and what we’ll do in the 2020s. I’m grateful to be able to close out an amazing decade for Shocker basketball, one of the greatest programs in college sports. We’re just excited for the future.”
For this season, the Shockers won their fifth straight game to improve to 11-1. After No. 21 Washington lost this week, WSU could enter The Associated Press Top 25 come Monday for the first time in nearly two years. WSU received the most points outside of the ranked teams in last week’s poll.
“If we don’t allow good to become the enemy of great, we can make a statement this year,” Marshall said. “We don’t have to wait for next year or the year after because we have 10 underclassmen. We can be good this year if we continue to work and dream it and make it happen.”
WSU made 50.9% of its shots from the field and outrebounded Abilene Christian by 11, 39-28. WSU had its best stretches in the second half, where the lead grew to as many as 27 points, but it was far from a crisp performance from the Shockers, who were plagued by 20 fouls and 16 turnovers.
Freshman Grant Sherfield led the Shockers with 15 points and a career-high 11 rebounds for his first career double-double to go with three steals and a block in 26 minutes. WSU continued to wield a balanced scoring attack, with Tyson Etienne (13 points), Jaime Echenique (12), Jamarius Burton (11), Morris Udeze (eight) and Asbjorn Midtgaard (season-high eight) all between 13 and eight points.
Abilene Christian was led by Maize South product Payten Ricks, who finished with a game-high 19 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals.
Abilene Christian didn’t come within single digits the entire second half, and WSU delivered the knockout blow with a 13-4 spurt that upped the lead to 63-43 with 9:19 remaining.
Sherfield was spectacular in the second half, making all five of his shots and scoring 11 of his 15 points. He started the run with two straight shots in the paint, then capped it off by drilling a deep three-pointer on a handoff from freshman DeAntoni Gordon.
Playing in his first game since Dec. 8 at Oklahoma State, Gordon had flashes playing a season-high 21 minutes. He finished with three points and a season-high seven rebounds to go with an assist and a block. Gordon finished with four offensive rebounds, including his best play when he wrestled away an offensive rebound and scored a putback on the other side.
“He’s an example of trusting the process,” Sherfield said.
“I’m so happy for him,” Echenique said. “In practice, he’s so patient and he doesn’t ever put his head down. He’s always ready for his time coming. He’s great in practice, he’s a great teammate and a great person. He was able to show what he can do and I’m really happy that he had that opportunity today.”
The combination of an eight-day layoff and Abilene Christian’s aggressive defense (the Wildcats entered 12th in the country with 9.9 steals per game) made for a sloppy first half for the Shockers.
WSU played well in certain regards. The Shockers shot 54.2% from the field and finished with nine assists on 13 field goals on top of outrebounding ACU 19-14. But 11 turnovers in 36 first-half possessions wasn’t the kind of crisp play Marshall was expecting.
That sloppiness played a role in allowing ACU to whittle a 10-point deficit down to one, 22-21, with 7:13 remaining in the first half. The Shockers committed six turnovers during that span, as ACU turned a pair of steals into easy layups to cap an 11-3 run.
“I knew it would be a tougher game than our guys probably thought it would be,” Marshall said. “I’m impressed with the stuff that (ACU) runs and how their kids compete. So it doesn’t surprise me that we were a little sloppy with the basketball. Our mindset wasn’t correct. That’s my fault for not getting that point across well enough. They get up into you, they deny passing lanes and they blow up handoffs.”
That’s when WSU went back inside to capitalize on its size advantage with ACU’s lone center, 7-footer Kolton Kohl, strapped with foul trouble the entire first half. Marshall exploited it earlier in the game by playing two centers together, even without his usual arsenal of big men, which was missing sophomore Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler (illness).
After ACU drew to within one, Echenique answered with back-to-back baskets to steady the Shockers. WSU then made seven straight free throws, the last two from Echenique to respond with an 11-0 run that pushed the lead to 33-21 with 4 minutes remaining.
The first-half lead grew to as many as 16 points following an Etienne four-point play. He had a split-second opening when he caught the ball on the wing, but instead of rushing the shot, he pump-faked the charging defender into the air, took a side dribble and swished a three while another defender hit him on the release for the foul.
Etienne made three of four from beyond the arc in the first half as WSU took a 41-29 lead into halftime.
“We defended pretty well, we shot a good percentage and we outrebounded them by 11 and ended up with an 18-point win,” Marshall said. “It’s good to get that one over. That was kind of a trap game coming out of the holidays and with conference starting on (Jan. 1).”
This story was originally published December 29, 2019 at 4:03 PM.
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