Say hello to the first-place Shockers: WSU knocks off No. 6 Houston in historic win
The Wichita State men’s basketball team captured its highest-ranked win at home in 54 years on Thursday in a 68-63 win over the No. 6-ranked Houston Cougars at Koch Arena.
As they have all season, the Shockers showed their mettle — this time in the highest-stakes game of the season and with a national television audience watching — in rallying from a double-digit deficit to snap a six-game losing streak to Houston.
Not only did WSU (13-4, 9-2 AAC) vault over Houston (17-3, 11-3 AAC) for first place in the American Athletic Conference with four games remaining, but it also gave the Shockers the card it needed — a marquee victory over the No. 5-ranked team in the NET — to improve its hand for an NCAA Tournament at-large selection.
“It felt legendary,” said WSU’s Dexter Dennis, who had 12 points, six rebounds and two steals.
“To be honest with you, I’ve been overcome with emotion,” added WSU leading scorer Tyson Etienne, who tied the game-high with 16 points.
“I’m just so excited for these kids with all that they’ve went through,” said WSU interim coach Isaac Brown, who all but locked up the AAC Coach of the Year award on Thursday. “And we’ve got the best fans in the country. I’m so happy for the fans and I’m also happy for the players that they’re getting this attention now.”
The Shockers have perfected the art of the “No-yes-yes-no-no-yes!” win this season. Every 40 minutes (sometimes longer) WSU takes its fans through a new adventure that elicits the full spectrum of emotions.
In Thursday’s game alone, WSU somehow went from looking like it didn’t belong on the same floor as Houston to torching one of the nation’s best defenses — all in the same game.
“Resilience is the perfect word to describe it,” Etienne said. “Just to be in this moment before the game fighting for first place was a blessing. To be on the other side of that and to say we’re number one, it’s unbelievable and something I’m so grateful I can experience and everyone else in our program can experience because that’s not something that comes around all the time.”
Entering Thursday, WSU was 0-6 at home against teams ranked No. 6 or better since knocking off No. 2 Louisville, 84-78, on Feb. 25, 1967. WSU’s last win over a top 10 team was a 76-72 triumph at No. 5 Cincinnati on Feb. 18, 2018, while its last win over a top 10 team at Koch Arena came on Feb. 28, 2015, when the Shockers topped No. 10 Northern Iowa 74-60.
WSU won its third straight game by five points or less and improved to 8-1 in such games this season, tied for the most close wins in the nation. And Thursday’s game followed a familiar script, as WSU did well to build a lead, did poorly to let that lead nearly slip away, then made the clutch plays late to pull out the victory.
The Shockers led 62-54 with less than three minutes left, but allowed Houston to score six unanswered points to close within two points with 55.6 seconds left. Even though WSU senior Alterique Gilbert (16 points) scored a layup to restore a two-possession lead, Houston was the latest team to bank in a crucial three-pointer against the Shockers when Quentin Grimes went off glass with 19.2 seconds left to trim the deficit to 64-63.
Etienne had a chance to extend the lead at the free throw line, but missed the front-end of his bonus free throw. Houston looked like it would have a shot in the closing seconds to take the lead, but the Cougars attempted a reckless cross-court pass that Dennis was sitting on like a ball-hawking safety reading the quarterback’s eyes.
“There is absolutely no reason he should’ve passed the ball,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “The cross-court pass was mind-boggling.”
As soon as Dejon Jarreau tried to throw ahead to Grimes, Dennis broke on the ball, picked off the pass in stride and forced Houston’s Justin Gorham to commit a Flagrant 2 foul that led to his ejection with 11.4 seconds left. Dennis made both free throws and Etienne followed with two more free throws to secure the 68-63 victory.
Gilbert described Dennis’ defensive play as “life-saving,” while Etienne said without a doubt “that was the play of the game. He saved us.” Brown agreed that it “sealed the deal for the win.”
“I was kind of hiding behind somebody,” Dennis said. “I knew (Jarreau) didn’t really see me. Once he picked it up, I was watching his eyes and once it left his hands, I just ran through the ball.”
Despite being out-shot from the field (42.4% to 40.8%), out-scored in points off turnovers (18-11) and out-scored in second-chance points (21-15), the Shockers prevailed because they hit 10 three-pointers and out-scored Houston at the foul line 18-5 to scorch Houston’s top-10 defense for 1.15 points per possession — the third-best efficiency against the Cougars in the last three seasons.
But the statistic that delighted Brown the most was the rebounding battle, where the Shockers out-rebounded Houston, 35-33, and became just the fourth team in the last two seasons to grab a higher percentage of offensive rebounds (45.5% to 42.9%) than Houston.
“We’ve been a good rebounding team here for a long time,” Sampson said. “I just thought that team was tougher than us on the boards. I don’t know how many times I’ve said that in seven years, especially the last six years. Very rarely. That team was tougher than we were on the boards, and that’s certainly disappointing.
“They did to us what we usually do to other teams.”
That was a monumental win in the game-within-the-game for the Shockers, as they entered as one of the nation’s worst defensive rebounding teams up against the best offensive rebounding team in the country. While Houston grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, so did WSU — on fewer chances. Morris Udeze led the way with six rebounds, four offensive, and a career-high five blocks.
“I’m just so excited about that,” Brown said. “They met the challenge. Coming into the game, that’s all we talked about. This game was coming to come down to three keys: rebounding, rebounding and rebounding. Every time the ball is up in the air, you’ve got to find someone to touch. I thought our guys did a great job of going to make contact.”
For the game’s first 15 minutes, many of the nightmare scenarios unfolded for the Shockers. They couldn’t keep Houston off the offensive glass. Their offense was neutered by Houston’s aggressive trapping defense on ball screens. And WSU looked completely out-classed during an 11-minute stretch where it could only muster one made field goal.
But with WSU facing a 28-16 deficit and the threat of things turning ugly on its home court, the Shockers procured perhaps their finest shooting stretch of the season.
Ricky Council (11 points) started the turnaround with a guarded triple from the wing. Etienne followed with another three, then Council hit another one from deep. WSU closed the half on a 17-6 run to draw to within 34-33 of halftime.
The break didn’t cool off the Shockers, who made seven consecutive three-pointers over the span of the last five minutes of the first half and the first three minutes of the second half. It was a remarkable feat for a team that ranked No. 246 in the country in three-point shooting percentage (32.3%) facing the third-best three-point shooting defense in the country.
Gilbert capped the 28-6 flurry with back-to-back three-pointers that turned a 12-point deficit into a 10-point lead for the Shockers.
“Just to be here and to be able to play the game of basketball is enough for me,” Gilbert said. “I’m overfilled with joy with this win. I’m very happy for my teammates. We’re just going to keep getting better and come in each and every day and work hard. We’re getting closer, too. I’m just blessed to be here at Wichita.”
This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 8:16 PM.
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