‘Put a tombstone on it’: WSU kills Houston loss and ‘uncertainty’ with Tulane win
Dexter Dennis cupped his fingers around his eyes like binoculars as he ran back on defense.
The sophomore had just launched from outside the restricted area for what looked like it would be another iconic dunk. Instead, he tucked the ball under two Tulane defenders and passed to Erik Stevenson left unmarked under the hoop.
The basket gave Wichita State a 32-point lead in the first half.
The Shockers beat Tulane 82-57 on Sunday at Koch Arena in what felt like their most comprehensive victory of the season. They allowed only 20 points in the first half for a second straight game, which marked the first time that had happened since 2007, and their 30-point halftime lead was tied for the sixth-largest in school history.
The win came seven days after the Shockers lost by 33 at Houston. After that loss, WSU coach Gregg Marshall said he had to do a never-before-seen level of mental coaching. The Shockers responded with a win at Central Florida on Thursday, and Marshall killed off any talk of that Houston loss after the Tulane win.
“We got shelled at Houston. OK,” Marshall said. “That’s the last time I’m gonna talk about it. If you want to talk about it, I’m not gonna answer. That’s it. We’re gonna bury that one. OK?
“Put a tombstone on it.”
That loss was the largest in the Marshall era at WSU, but wildly juxtaposed the team Shocker fans saw Sunday. Marshall said Houston simply “has our number,” but that the team has moved on. Marshall said the narrative surrounding the Shockers has been “all the uncertainty.”
He said at least 50% of teams in the country would have traded their position for the Shockers’ even after the Houston game.
“They’re a team that’s trying to get into the NCAA Tournament,” Tulane coach Ron Hunter said. “That’s the difference in our programs right now.”
The Shockers seem to have found pieces to their recipe bouncing back after the most recent loss.
Over the past three games (at Houston, at UCF and vs. Tulane), WSU has extended its bench. The Shockers have averaged 11.3 players touching the floor in the past three outings, and 9.6 players are averaging at least 10 minutes.
In the three previous games (vs. UCF, at Tulsa and vs. Cincinnati), the Shockers averaged only 9.3 players getting into the game and seven reaching at least 10 minutes.
There has been perhaps no greater example of the Shockers’ new depth than recently promoted starter Noah Fernandes. From the start of AAC play until the Houston loss, Fernandes averaged 1.7 minutes per game and didn’t play five times.
Against Houston, he played an AAC high 12 minutes, and he doubled that against UCF. Sunday, he played 18 minutes. He didn’t score but assisted the first three WSU baskets and came up with one of the most energetic steals of the season that led to a Dennis layup in transition.
With about five minutes left in the first half, Fernandes had a 218.3 offensive rating, which looks at points produced by a player per 100 possessions. That was 74.6 points higher than the next-highest Shocker.
Marshall said he wanted to beat Tulane in transition by using his depth. In the first half, all 12 scholarship players touched the floor.
“(Tulane has) been playing seven guys for the most part,” Marshall said. “Those seven are playing pretty hard. They’re warriors. ... I wanted to make this an up-and-down affair. Emphasis was energy and transition.
“I’ll take it game-by-game.”
WSU outscored Tulane 12-0 in transition and 21-4 off the bench.
Sunday was also the first time WSU has had two players finish with at least 20 points. Dennis had a career-high 21, and Tyson Etienne was a point away from his career-high finishing with 20.
Twelve of their 15 combined baskets were assisted, and that’s where the Shockers said they’ve got their swagger back.
“If you look at our stats and the games we’ve won by a lot of points, you see the assist numbers, and it’s because we play together,” Etienne said. “That’s our basketball. We’re a young team. We’re all gonna make mistakes, but it’s about how you bounce back.”
WSU had four assists at Houston, and against Cincinnati and Tulsa, they had one more combined assist than they finished with Sunday.
WSU has 41 assists over its past two games. That is the most over a two-game stretch since the Shockers beat UT Martin and Gardner-Webb; they scored 177 points over those two games.
They scored 157 in their two most recent.
Killing the uncertainty, extending the bench, running in transition and assisting: Those four attributes have led to outscoring the past two opponents by 42 points and 43 by halftime.
“I’m not going to dwell on that game all year long,” Marshall said. “That game was one game. It cost us one loss. It wasn’t like it cost us six losses. It was one loss. And today we win by 25. That’s one win.”