A bubble blow: Memphis handles Wichita State in road defeat for Shockers
There was no improbable comeback this time, no miracle in Memphis.
This time Wichita State dug too large of a hole against too good of a defensive team and lost 68-60 to Memphis on Thursday at FedExForum. Unlike last week, where WSU rallied from seven down late against Temple and 24 down at SMU, there was no spectacular comeback from the Shockers.
“We just could not get any traction,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “For 40 minutes, could not get any traction.”
For a team squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble, WSU did itself no favors in letting another Quadrant-1 opportunity slip by. Losing at Memphis does not damage WSU’s postseason resume for a one-game result, but the absence of a win this late in the season could very well push the Shockers (22-8) out of March Madness projections.
The loss also means WSU no longer controls its destiny for the fourth seed and a first-round bye at the American Athletic Conference Tournament next week in Fort Worth, Texas. WSU, which plays host to Tulsa, and Memphis, which travels to Houston, are tied at 10-7 in conference play heading into the season finale on Sunday with Memphis holding the tiebreaker in a two-way tie scenario.
“We’re back in a tough position now,” WSU sophomore Dexter Dennis said. “Now we go back home on Sunday and it’s no question, we’ve got to win. And then the conference tournament, we’ll probably have to make some noise there as well. From here on out, we just have to win.”
WSU will certainly need a much better effort than it put forth on the road on Thursday evening. In what has become a constant refrain this season, the Shockers posted putrid shooting percentages: 34.4% from the field, 26.1% from the three-point line and 54.5% from the free throw line. Dexter Dennis (15 points), Jamarius Burton (13), Jaime Echenique (13) and Grant Sherfield (11) combined for 87% of WSU’s production, while Tyler Harris scored a game-high 19 points for Memphis and Precious Achiuwa added 14 points and 16 rebounds.
In a battle of two top 10 defenses, Memphis prevailed because it applied more pressure and pushed the Shockers far outside of their comfort zone. Memphis’ tremendous pressure on the perimeter begged WSU to create off the dribble, a challenge it could not meet, evident by the team’s eight assists on 21 made baskets.
Marshall said afterward that it was reminiscent of what WSU did to Memphis in the Shockers’ 76-67 win at Koch Arena on January 9.
“It was a mirror image,” Marshall said. “We were the ones causing havoc. We were the ones denying them, making it hard. (Thursday), it was the other way around. They did a great job pressuring our guards. When you do that, the middle should be open. You’ve got to be able to make a play and get it in the lane. Many, many times we had the opportunity to make a play and make it more of a game. We had chances, but we could never make the play to really put any pressure on them.”
The closest WSU came to doing that was early in the second half when a 6-0 spurt, which featured a three-pointer and acrobatic layup by Burton, brought the Shockers to within 36-32 with more than 16 minutes remaining. The next four WSU possessions? Miss, turnover, miss, miss.
That became WSU’s last real chance at challenging Memphis, which reeled off an 8-0 run and was never threatened again after it staked claim to the 44-32 lead with 13:55 remaining.
Even though WSU punished Memphis on the boards, grabbing 13 offensive rebounds for a plus-five advantage, the Shockers couldn’t capitalize on those second chances against the No. 1 field goal percentage defense in the country.
“I think it’s the game plans that we come up with,” said Memphis coach Penny Hardaway in explaining his team’s defensive success this season. “We understand the strengths and weaknesses of each player and we try to put their best players in the worst positions that we can. We attack the weaknesses of the other team.”
Memphis identified the weakness of WSU’s ball handlers against the kind of immense pressure the Tigers can apply. Memphis also over-played on the wings to make the one pass away harder to complete, which disrupted the timing of WSU’s sets.
While Memphis deserves credit for making it difficult for WSU, the Shockers also felt they deserved some blame for making their offense easier to guard than it should have been.
“I just felt like we were really stagnant on offense,” Echenique said. “We weren’t moving the ball very well and we were playing their game. We didn’t take advantage of how aggressive they were pressing the ball. We just didn’t execute. We didn’t get what we wanted. It was just a lack of execution.”
Marshall was also perturbed by the number of loose balls that were recovered in favor of Memphis.
“There were many times where the ball was right there,” Marshall said. “We just didn’t seem... there was no handle for us. We couldn’t grab it. They took the ball from us too many times tonight for my taste. We’ll have to be a little tougher.”
WSU appeared up for the challenge in the first four minutes of the game when it took a 7-0 lead and forced Hardaway to burn a 30-second timeout before the first media timeout. But that strong start was undone by WSU’s lack of offense, as it went more than seven minutes without a point — a stretch where they missed 10 field goals, a pair of free throws and committed a turnover.
Memphis scored 24 of the next 30 points to open up an 11-point lead late in the first half. Even when WSU produced its lone run of the game, an 11-2 spurt, it was deflated by a last-second three-pointer by Harris heading into the locker room.
For a team that relied on coming from behind last week to keep its postseason dreams alive, WSU found out the hard way why relying on those late comebacks isn’t a great option.
“Nobody wants to be in the situation where you have to come back every game like that,” Echenique said. “It’s not necessary to always come back to show that you are a good team. I think we have to do a better job of setting our pace from beginning to end. We just have to be better.”
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 10:07 PM.
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