Wichita State Shockers basketball team routs Prairie View A&M with 102-point outburst
For some fans, a 36-point victory over a winless college basketball team isn’t going to prove anything about the prospects of the Wichita State men’s basketball team entering conference play.
The Shockers know much tougher competition is right around the corner following their 102-66 win over Prairie View A&M on Wednesday evening at Koch Arena, which completed a 9-3 nonconference schedule for WSU. The Shockers open American Athletic Conference play on the road next Wednesday at East Carolina.
But to the players, it was important — regardless of the competition level — to shed their recent offensive problems with the program’s first 100-point game since Nov. 16, 2019. WSU made 48% of its shots, tied a season-high with 12 three-pointers on 40% accuracy, made 28 free throws, scored a season-best 1.38 points per possession and finished with 20 assists on 31 baskets.
“Really we set the tone earlier in the locker room today, just having fun and playing the game,” WSU junior point guard Qua Grant said. “Sometimes you get so hard on yourself and you forget to have fun. So when you have fun, everything else kind of falls (in place).”
There wasn’t much fun the last time the Shockers played at Koch Arena, where they went through a nearly 13-minute scoring drought and gave up a 20-0 run in an ugly loss to North Texas last Saturday.
WSU coach Isaac Brown was pleased with how his team responded four days later.
“They talked about responding the right way to a tough week of practice,” Brown said. “I’ve been on them hard. The assistants have been on them hard. We’ve been watching a lot of film and having a lot of individual meetings and those guys responded the right way. I thought it was a great overall effort.”
WSU was down two starters — Craig Porter (ankle) and Joe Pleasant (hamstring), who are both considered day-to-day — and played the game with just eight players.
The opportunity to make an impression on the coaching staff in extended playing time was available for many players and just about every one of them capitalized.
That was certainly the case with the two players promoted to the starting lineup. Sophomore forward Monzy Jackson scored a career-high 15 points on 5 of 9 shooting, tied his career-high with eight rebounds and added two steals in his first career start. Grant, a first-year transfer, made his second start and delivered a career-high eight assists without a turnover in 30 minutes.
“It was like surreal,” Jackson said of his first Division I start. “It was my time, my time to produce and my time to show the world my abilities and what I’m capable of doing. I haven’t been able to show what I can do coming off the bench in limited time, so today I was able to (start) and embrace the opportunity that I have.”
It was a get-right game for just about everyone who played.
Tyson Etienne returned to his efficient ways, scoring 20 points on 11 shots to go along with five assists, no turnovers, four rebounds and a career-high four steals. Morris Udeze notched his seventh straight game in double-figures, scoring 16 points on eight shots, and Dexter Dennis added 14 points and nine rebounds, both season-highs.
It was also a career-best game for freshman guard Chaunce Jenkins, who was coming off a knee injury and still scored a career-high 11 points with three blocks and a steal in 25 minutes. Freshman center Kenny Pohto added 12 points, nine rebounds, including five on the offensive end, and three blocks.
“We really needed this one to get our spirits back up from the last one,” Grant said. “It was a tough one, but it’s in the past now. We’re going to build off of this one.”
WSU will have to wait another week to truly prove the team has corrected its offensive woes, but an optimist could find encouraging nuggets from Wednesday’s performance — if for no other reason than just to see WSU, a team that has struggled so much recently with scoring droughts, to shoot this well and score 103 points.
While Prairie View A&M dropped to 0-10 this season, it has played the second-hardest schedule in the country, per the NET, and faced nothing but top-120 KenPom teams on the road. Despite its nonconference record, Prairie View A&M is the pride of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and the three-time defending regular-season champions.
For what it’s worth, no other team this season has been able to score on Prairie View A&M at the rate WSU did on Wednesday, as the Shockers became the first team since 2018 to score 100 points against Prairie View A&M. Even more encouraging, WSU committed just nine turnovers in 78 possessions — a season-low for a Prairie View A&M defense that was top-40 nationally in forcing 17 turnovers per game.
“Regardless of who you play, the ball still got to go through the basket,” Brown said. “I felt like we played with a high basketball IQ tonight.”
It was a rout from the start, as Jackson wasted no time making the most of his first start. He brought the same energy that typically sparks the Shockers when he comes off the bench to the opening minutes of the game, scoring six points immediately to stake WSU to a 9-2 lead within the first two minutes.
The Shockers had their way with Prairie View A&M in the first half, scoring in just about whatever way they pleased. Their offensive efficiency was superb in the first 10 minutes, as a highlight-reel dunk by Dennis actually lowered WSU’s points per possession — WSU finished the first 10 minutes of the game with 32 points on 16 possessions.
And for the first time all season, WSU never eased up — another encouraging tidbit heading into Christmas break.
“It was very important,” Grant said. “We’ve got to learn to be consistent. Sometimes we break away and we take our foot off the gas. We’re still learning and it’s a long season, so it was good to see us keep our foot on the gas.”
Wichita State 102, Prairie View A&M 66 basketball box score
This story was originally published December 22, 2021 at 7:58 PM.
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