Final three minutes against Cincinnati show how painfully close WSU is from winning
It’s been a week of heartache for Wichita State.
After losing on a buzzer-beating three at Tulsa last Saturday, the Shockers again lost in the closing seconds on Thursday, 80-79 to Cincinnati at Koch Arena when Jarron Cumberland completed a three-point play with 3.5 seconds remaining.
Those two plays are the difference between WSU (17-5, 5-4 AAC) potentially being in a tie for first place in the American Athletic Conference and the reality of sixth place.
“It’s some minor things that we have to clean up, whether it’s on the defensive or offensive end,” WSU sophomore Jamarius Burton said. “The last few games, we’ve been a couple plays away from winning. All we can do is take these games and learn from them.”
An examination of the final three minutes of Thursday’s game — with four lead changes in the final minute — shows just how fine the line can be.
1. WSU scores by pushing the tempo
Trailing 73-67 in the final five minutes, WSU coach Gregg Marshall made sure he had his two point guards, Burton and Grant Sherfield, on the floor and instructed his team to push the pace in search of transition offense.
That’s exactly what Burton did after WSU rebounded a Cincinnati miss. Three seconds after receiving the outlet pass, Burton had already penetrated the three-point line on Cincinnati’s end. He kept probing until he was eight feet away from the basket, then raised up over a defender for a short jumper that started WSU’s final rally.
2. Shockers score again on a second chance
Marshall slapped on a full-court press in the final three minutes in an attempt to speed up Cincinnati and it worked, even though it meant WSU gave up some wide-open looks.
This time, however, WSU’s defense baited Cincinnati into exactly what it was looking for: a contested outside jumper. After Cincinnati broke the pressure, Jaevin Cumberland attempted missed a guarded three with 20 seconds remaining on the shot clock.
At the other end, Burton freed up Wade for an open three at the top of the key. The shot missed, but Burton elevated over UC’s Keith Williams for the offensive rebound, pump-faked — sending Williams in the air — then made a layup that trimmed UC’s lead to 73-71 with 2:26 remaining.
WSU was incredibly efficient with its second chances, as it turned 12 offensive rebounds into a 20-6 advantage in second-chance points.
3. Echenique comes up big for Shockers
WSU’s scrambling defense failed to communicate and ended up giving Jarron Cumberland an open look from three, even if it was well beyond the arc. But it ended up working out for the Shockers, as Cumberland missed and only took 10 seconds off the shot clock.
With a chance to tie, WSU funneled the ball to Echenique. The 6-foot-11 senior caught the ball on the right block and went to work against UC 7-foot-1 sophomore Chris Vogt. He executed a quick spin move to gain leverage on Vogt, then backed him down and used his size to finish at the rim. That tied the score at 73-73 with 1:55 remaining and capped a 6-0 WSU run.
“I think he’s been saving us in a lot of these games,” WSU sophomore Dexter Dennis said of Echenique, who finished with a team-high 17 points and 11 rebounds and his second straight double-double. “Not just on offense, but his defense too. Lately he’s been saving us and we just need to help him.”
4. Cincinnati regains the lead in transition
Marshall was visibly disgusted with his team’s transition defense.
That bad habit came back to haunt the Shockers in the final 90 seconds. After Echenique missed, Cumberland pushed the pace and WSU didn’t communicate in transition. Even though the Shockers had enough numbers back to wall off the fast break, Cumberland slipped a pass to Keith Williams for an open stroll down the lane and UC regained the lead at 75-73 with 1:08 remaining.
“I don’t know whether we’re not athletic enough or we’re jogging back, but I know we emphasized they wanted to score in transition, make or miss,” Marshall said. “It’s just unacceptable. I don’t know what to say other than I’ve got to go back and watch it and try to hold people accountable. It starts with me. I haven’t got the message across.”
5. Dexter Dennis comes up clutch with go-ahead three
Trailing by two in the final minute and desperately in need of a basket, Burton and Dennis hooked up.
Burton initiated the offense from the left wing, took what the defense gave him, drove baseline — drawing three defenders — and sent a bounce pass to Dennis on the right wing. Dennis fumbled the catch, but then fired the go-ahead three and WSU led 76-75 with 53.7 seconds remaining.
“He was playing at a high level all night,” said Burton of Dennis, who finished with 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting beyond the arc. “We needed him and he showed up big time. He put us in a position down the stretch to win, but the outcome was the outcome.”
6. Cumberland puts the Bearcats back up
Trailing by one in the final minute, Cincinnati put the ball in the hands of Jarron Cumberland. He drove to the right side while his cousin, Jaevin Cumberland, attempted to set a brush screen, which was enough of a distraction to allow Jarron Cumberland to gain the advantage toward the basket.
This is where WSU’s help defense on the back side, namely Echenique, had to be on point with its rotations to meet Cumberland before he reached the rim. But Echenique was a tick too late to react, which is all Cumberland needed to draw a foul on Echenique.
Cumberland made both free throws with 40.3 seconds remaining and UC led 77-76.
7. Grant Sherfield drills a go-ahead three
WSU once again tried to go to Echenique inside, but this time Cincinnati brought a double team to force the ball out of his hands.
“I haven’t seen them double all year, so that’s a testament to Jaime and the quality of play he’s putting forth right now,” Marshall said.
Echenique kicked out to WSU freshman Grant Sherfield, then set a ball screen for him. When Echenique began to roll to the basket, Cincinnati was so concerned with him that both defenders took a step backward.
Sherfield sensed an opportunity and rose up at the perfect time for the open shot and drilled a three for a 79-77 lead with 16.3 seconds remaining.
8. Jarron Cumberland ties it, then wins it for Cincinnati
Once again facing a deficit in the final minute, Cincinnati put the ball in the hands of Cumberland to make a play at the top of the key. Here’s where the details matter for WSU.
When Cumberland received the inbounds pass, Dennis was correctly shading Cumberland to take away his right-hand drive. But after a jab step, Dennis had to reset his defensive stance and he started to shade Cumberland the other way. That allowed Cumberland to drive to his preferred side with his right hand.
Another question for WSU was if it could have double-teamed Cumberland to force the ball out of his hands. UC actually ran Vogt up top for a dummy screen that put Echenique in the vicinity for a potential trap. But asking a 6-11 player to move his feet and not foul that far away from the basket would be a tall order, especially against a player so adept at drawing fouls like Cumberland.
Of course, in hindsight, putting Cumberland on the line for a one-and-one free throw would have been preferable to what came next: Cumberland driving down the right side with Dennis on his hip, absorbing contact in the air and somehow flipping the game-tying shot off the glass and in while drawing the foul. Cumberland would make what would become the game-winning free throw with 3.5 seconds left.
“Obviously we didn’t want to foul,” Marshall said. “And we didn’t want them coming off the three-point shooters. So we had to try to contest and (Cumberland) just made a great play.”
9. Last-second play for Shockers comes up empty
With 3.5 seconds remaining, 94 feet from the basket, WSU inbounded near Cincinnati’s bench and called timeout with 2.5 seconds left to advance the ball closer. But it was still short of Marshall’s desired destination, half court, to set up his final play.
After the timeout, Marshall entrusted Erik Stevenson to make the inbounds pass looking for Dennis streaking toward the basket after a back screen and Sherfield breaking toward the nearest corner. With neither option available, Stevenson instead threw to Echenique for a give-and-go play that nearly worked.
Stevenson sprinted toward Echenique for the handoff and launched the potential game-winner. It fell short off the rim.
“Erik was the fourth look,” Marshall said. “They did a good job defending. We had other options obviously when you look at the play that they took away.”
And just like that, two plays separated the Shockers from what could have been two monumental victories. WSU travels to conference leader Houston on Sunday to try to avoid its first three-game losing streak of the season.
“We’re close, but at some point we just have to make the plays and turn it around,” Dennis said.
This story was originally published February 7, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
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