Udeze’s career-best game powers Wichita State basketball to season sweep of Tulsa
The dominance of Wichita State over Tulsa at Koch Arena continues.
Behind a career-best performance from junior center Morris Udeze, who scored a career-high 20 points, Wichita State turned away Tulsa, 72-53, on Wednesday evening in front of a 20% capacity crowd (2,048 fans) at Koch Arena.
The victory — WSU’s ninth straight over Tulsa in Wichita — completed a season sweep of the Golden Hurricane, as the Shockers remained the only team in the American Athletic Conference to have defeated Tulsa. In fact, WSU snapped the six-game winning streak of Tulsa (7-4, 4-2 AAC) that began following WSU’s 67-63 win at the Reynolds Center on Dec. 15.
The Shockers (8-3) have won seven of their last eight games and moved into sole possession of second place in the AAC, a half-game behind No. 11 Houston (10-1, 5-1 AAC).
“It was a huge win and I definitely wanted the crowd involved early because I knew the magnitude of the game,” said WSU leading scorer Tyson Etienne, who poured in another 20 points on Wednesday. “In order for us to have a chance to win the league, we needed to win this game. It gives us that tiebreaker in case anything come down to it at the end of the schedule.”
The wire-to-wire victory was highlighted by Udeze, who scored a career-high 20 points on just seven shots. That’s because Udeze, who was a 46% career foul shooter entering this season, drilled 8-of-9 free throws to pad his total. After a season-long struggle with defensive rebounding, Udeze also added a season-best eight rebounds (all defensive) against Tulsa.
After two quiet seasons to begin his career at WSU and dabbling in the transfer porter this past summer before ultimately deciding to return, Udeze is enjoying a breakout junior campaign. He’s averaging 9.4 points, the second-highest total on the team.
“You can’t rush it. It’s like a marathon,” Udeze said. “You’ve got to keep pushing every day and one day it’s going to break through for you. My dad kept telling me to just keep pushing and fighting every day.”
On Wednesday, Udeze showcased all parts of his new-and-improved game.
WSU fed him on the low block and cleared out to let him bully his way in for two points. The Shockers used him in the dunker spot on offense, where he waited to pounce when Alterique Gilbert (season-high eight assists) collapsed the defense and dished a no-look pass to him for an and-one slam. It no longer felt like a wasted possession when he was fouled and sent to the line.
After going through the early conference slate without much of a post presence, Wednesday’s performance was a nice change-up for WSU’s offense.
“Teams are going to have different scouting reports where they might take me away or somebody else,” Etienne said. “To have somebody we know we can throw it to and get us a few buckets is huge. I’m happy for him. I’m glad. I’m not surprised, though, because I see him do it all the time. I knew he could do this.”
Tulsa’s match-up zone, which entered as one of the most effective defenses in the country, didn’t particularly take away anything from WSU’s offense. The Shockers finished shooting 41.9% from the field and made 11 three-pointers, tied for the most Tulsa has allowed all season.
After being bumped, pushed, face-guarded and generally hounded in the half-court for the past month, Etienne was stunned to find himself swishing three-pointers with no defender in sight. He was tied his season-high with five three-pointers, most of which came without a hand in his face.
“Our motion was probably better than it’s been all year,” Etienne said. “Especially finding guys in the middle of the floor and then looking opposite. We kept the ball moving, kept the ball hopping. I was surprised I got so many open looks today. I think we locked into the scouting report and did a great job practicing that.”
WSU’s ball and player movement against the zone were at their best in the first half when the Shockers connected on eight three-pointers, a season-high, topping their previous high of seven — set in the first half of their first game against Tulsa.
The Shockers drilled three straight triples with freshman Ricky Council IV (11 points, five rebounds) began and ended the run on swishes from the outside with a Dexter Dennis (nine points) three-pointer sandwiched in between. The 9-0 spurt ballooned WSU’s lead to 37-22 late in the first half.
“We’re doing a better job of moving without the ball,” Gilbert said. “The past couple of games, we were a little stagnant on offense. Coach (Isaac) Brown emphasized cutting and moving without the ball, setting screens and getting guys open and just playing together as a team.”
A seven-minute field goal drought midway through the second half led to some nervous moments for WSU, which saw a 17-point lead dwindle all the way down to 47-42 with more than nine minutes still remaining.
When WSU absolutely needed positive momentum, Council delivered with a nifty, behind-the-back crossover that left a Tulsa defender flailing in the other direction and then finished a three-point play in the paint with a layup and foul. A Dennis three not long after restored WSU’s lead to 53-44 with 8:30 remaining and Tulsa never threatened again.
“You have to understand that they’re going to make runs too,” Etienne said. “They’re going to make shots. We’re going to have some mishaps. But you have to be able to stay in the moment, stay present. You can’t be up, up, up when it’s good and down, down, down when it’s down. You have to be able to stay steady and even.”
It was one of WSU’s finer defensive performance of the season, as it held Tulsa to 34.4% shooting from the floor and forced the Golden Hurricane out of their comfort zone and into 4-for-29 shooting on three-pointers. Tulsa’s leading scorer Brandon Rachal, who entered averaging 15 points, finished with just five points on 2-of-15 shooting.
It was a crucial season sweep for WSU, which now owns the tiebreaker over one of the teams that appears to be a contender for a high finish in the conference. Tulsa also entered with road wins already over Memphis, Cincinnati and South Florida, so defending home court against the Golden Hurricane gives the Shockers an edge against those teams as well.
“You have to have confidence in yourself and they’re walking around with a swagger,” WSU interim coach Isaac Brown said. “They believe they can win games. When you go on the road and beat Ole Miss and South Florida, that gives you confidence. It brings them together.
“But the number one thing we talk about in our locker room is energy. When you play with a lot of energy, it just makes things a lot easier for you on the basketball court. You tend to defend at a high level, you tend to rebound at a high level and you just make shots because of your energy level.”
Brown confirmed with The Eagle following Wednesday’s game that the knee injury that forced junior guard Craig Porter to exit the game with in the first half was not expected to be a long-term injury. Porter, WSU’s back-up point guard, played just six minutes and was held out of the rest of the game as a precaution.
Since it was announced earlier Wednesday’s that WSU’s Sunday road trip to SMU has now been postponed due to COVID-19 problems within SMU’s programs, the Shockers will have an eight-day layoff until their next game next Thursday at Memphis.
This story was originally published January 13, 2021 at 7:51 PM.
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