Tyson Etienne delivers in clutch for Wichita State basketball in last-second UNLV win
Given a second chance, Tyson Etienne was determined not to let another win for the Wichita State men’s basketball team slip away at the foul line.
For the second straight Main Event tournament game in Las Vegas, the Shocker star found himself at the free throw line with the game on the line. This time, he cashed in to complete the comeback.
Etienne made the game-tying and game-winning free throws with 3.4 seconds left in Wichita State’s 74-73 win over UNLV at T-Mobile Arena, a late-night thrill for the fans back in Wichita who watched the Shockers win yet another nail-biter to improve to 4-1 this season in the early hours of Monday morning.
After missing two critical free throws Friday night in the final minute of regulation in the overtime loss to Arizona, Etienne’s free throws in the clutch capped a remarkable second half where he scored 23 of his game-high 28 points to help the Shockers erase a double-digit deficit. This time, WSU finished the comeback from 11 down.
“In life, if you hit something that you don’t do well or you mess up, you want to learn from your mistakes,” Etienne said. “I went back and watched film on how I shot the free throws. I looked at my balance on the two free throws that I missed (against Arizona). I stayed focus on my balance.
“It was myself in that position late, but I know if it was any of my teammates they were knocking it down. We were so close to beating Arizona and Arizona went on to win the championship, so we can’t let opportunities slip through the cracks.”
Etienne scored 15 of WSU’s 19 points in the final seven minutes of the game, including four three-pointers, to deliver the latest chapter in already a memorable third season with the Shockers. In the season-opener, Etienne went viral with his 32-foot, buzzer-beating logo shot, then on Friday night he hit the game-tying three to force overtime against Arizona.
He has not been without his faults to start the season, but Etienne once again proved his chops in the game’s biggest moments.
“That’s Tyson Etienne for you,” his WSU teammate Craig Porter said. “He’s going to give you everything you need from a star player that’s going to make in the NBA one day.”
“He had ice in his veins,” WSU coach Isaac Brown said.
“That’s like legendary,” WSU sophomore Monzy Jackson added about Etienne.
The final 60 seconds were so dramatic and tightly contested that it led to a postgame skirmish between WSU and UNLV in the handshake line. ESPN cameras caught a shouting match between assistant coaches from each team that led to some pushing and shoving from both sides.
Despite trailing for more than 32 minutes, WSU found itself with a 72-69 lead entering the final minute. But UNLV surged ahead, 73-72, when Etienne was caught ball-watching and his man, Keshon Gilbert, crashed the glass to score the go-ahead put-back with 5.5 seconds remaining.
Faced with the unenviable challenge of going the length of the court in less than six seconds, Etienne took the inbounds pass and raced up the right sideline with hopes of crossing halfcourt and calling WSU’s final timeout to set up a last-second play. Gilbert went step for step with Etienne, contact was made, Etienne went flailing and referees whistled for a blocking foul some 40 feet away from the basket and 3.4 seconds left on the clock.
“It’s kind of 50-50 in those situations, it really depends on the referee you have,” Etienne said. “I wasn’t expecting the call. We’re in Las Vegas. This is their hometown.”
UNLV’s frustrations boiled over when the game ended on a no-call when Josh Baker took a baseball pass and drove toward the basket, but stumbled and lost control of the ball — leaving the Runnin’ Rebels without a look for the win.
Afterward, UNLV coach Kevin Kruger refused to blame the whistles in the final five seconds for determining the outcome.
“I’m a firm believer that no one instance at the end of the game makes or breaks anything,” Kruger said. “Stepping to the line, down one with a make-or-break situation, that’s a tough responsibility and he stepped up and made them. That’s even more the make-or-break than the call. You still have to step up and make them. And he did.”
It was the best offensive outing of the season for WSU, which made 43% of its shots, including 12 three-pointers, and posted 1.09 points per possession. But the Shockers were still out-shot by their opponent, as UNLV made 49% of its shot, and managed to win by forcing 18 turnovers and grabbing 10 offensive rebounds to edge out UNLV for five more second-chance points.
Etienne scored his game-high 28 points on 8-of-17 shooting to go along with a team-high four assists, while Ricky Council IV added 10 points, four rebounds, three steals and a block off the bench. Freshman center Kenny Pohto gave WSU a lift with three three-pointers, his first of the season, to score 12 points in place of starter Morris Udeze, who fouled out in 20 minutes with eight points and six rebounds.
UNLV posted a season-high 1.09 points per possession against WSU’s defense, as Bryce Hamilton led the way with 18 points, while Jordan McCabe added 11 points, eight assists and four steals before fouling out with 2:14 left. The Shockers held UNLV to just one field goal, the put-back with 5.5 seconds left, in the final 10 minutes of the game.
WSU looked out of sorts early in the second half, as Etienne botched a 2-on-1 fast break and the team fell asleep on an inbounds play that allowed UNLV to make an open three-pointer. An eight-point halftime deficit quickly grew to 11.
But Pohto, a 6-foot-11 true freshman, gave the Shockers a spark with a three-pointer and another put-back dunk in traffic. He started and ended an 8-2 run that brought WSU back to within 51-48 with more than 13 minutes to go.
“Kenny came up huge,” Brown said. “He hasn’t made a three in a game yet, but in every practice he makes four, five threes. We ran a lot of plays where Tyson got double-teamed on those ball screens and he made a great point-guard decision throwing it back to Kenny and he stepped up and made some big shots. He was huge for us tonight. If Kenny doesn’t play, we don’t win that game.”
“It felt great to finally see my shots start falling,” said Pohto, who was 0-for-6 on threes before Sunday. “I think it’s just having confidence in my shot in games. In practice, I feel like they go in a lot. So in game, I just need to keep my confidence up.”
Etienne’s shooting percentages have dipped early in this season as the degree of difficulty on his shot selection has gone up. Sunday started in the same vein, as Etienne was just 4 of 12 from the field in the game’s first 33 minutes.
But when he finds a rhythm, Etienne showed just how deadly he can be in the final seven minutes. His three straight triples in a two-minute span turned a six-point deficit into a three-point WSU lead with 4:41 remaining. He ended the game making four of his final five beyond the arc, including a go-ahead shot from range with 1:41 left.
“When I worked out by myself, I just focused on making sure I was on balance on all of my shots,” Etienne said. “I felt way more on balance today in all of my shots, whether it was from the three or in the mid-range or from the free throw line. And that comes with continuing to get back in a flow. That’s really what my focus was on.”
Leaving Vegas with at least one win was important to WSU, especially after feeling like it failed to steal a win over Arizona on Friday and then watching the Wildcats trounce No. 4-ranked Michigan by 18 points in the championship game on Sunday.
The most importance stretch of non-conference play continues for the Shockers (4-1) on Friday when they travel to Missouri (3-1) for their first true road game of the season.
“We have a tough road ahead of us and I think this game helps give us confidence knowing we can play against a lot of these teams that we have coming up on our schedule,” Brown said.
“That loss to Arizona is still bothering me, but we got the win tonight and we’re going back to Wichita happy,” Jackson said.
Wichita State 74, UNLV 73 box score
This story was originally published November 22, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
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