Last-second call drops Wichita State basketball to 0-3 in AAC play with Tulane loss
The whistle blew, the crowd erupted and the referee began to make his call.
What came next would determine in a split-second if another painful chapter would be added to the last six weeks of disappointment or if the Wichita State men’s basketball team, for one night at least, could celebrate.
Ricky Council IV had barreled down the lane and finished through contact for what surely would have been the game-winning shot with 0.4 seconds remaining. Instead, the game-winning play was made by Tulane’s Nobal Days, who slid into position for a charge call that negated the basket.
For the first time ever, Tulane defeated Wichita State in a stunning 68-67 win Wednesday at Koch Arena in a game where the Shockers led by as many as 16 points. Frustration continues to mount in Wichita for the defending American Athletic Conference champions, who have lost five of their last eight games and are off to an 0-3 start in conference play.
“To lose this game…it is deflating,” WSU star Tyson Etienne said. “But you don’t give up in the fourth round of a fight. I’m going to the grave with this team, regardless. We’re 0-3. Can’t change it. We gotta keep going.”
It’s the third time this season Wichita State has allowed a double-digit lead to slip away in a home loss. In fact, Ken Pomeroy’s win probability gave the Shockers better than a 90% chance of winning all three games — 91% when WSU led Kansas State by 12 in the first half; 91.5% when WSU led North Texas by 10 early in the second half; and 96.6% when WSU led Tulane 37-21 late in the first half on Wednesday.
Allowing Tulane to rally for victory with a 3.4% win probability was the most WSU has squandered in a loss since allowing Temple to come back from a 2.1% win probability when the Owls erased an 11-point deficit in the final 3:32 of regulation to win 85-81 in overtime on Jan. 6, 2019.
“Nah, not really,” WSU coach Isaac Brown said when asked if the loss was more painful given the circumstances. “Whether we were down 10 or up 10, the final score, it don’t say how much you were up. We didn’t do enough to win the game.”
But it’s hard to imagine the loss didn’t take more of a toll on the psyche of the Shockers, especially because they played so well shorthanded in a game without their two veterans and starters in wing Dexter Dennis and center Morris Udeze, both of whom were out due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
There were plenty of positives: Etienne pumped in six three-pointers to score a game-high 20 points; Craig Porter played the best game of his career, setting career-highs in points (18), rebounds (9) and steals (4) to go along with a team-high four assists; Council grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds and notched his first career double-double with 12 points.
But they all felt hollow when WSU failed to capitalize on a chance to change the trajectory of its season.
“Shoot, it don’t mean nothing now,” Council said. “We lost.
“We had some positives, but I’m tired of having positives and losing. I want to have positives in wins.”
WSU will have plenty to nit-pick about its offensive performance — like pulling the trigger on three-pointers on more than half of its shots, despite 4-of-21 shooting beyond the arc after a hot start — but it ultimately lost the game because its defense continued a worrying decline to mediocrity. It was the third straight game WSU has allowed an opponent to score more than one point per possession after not allowing a single nonconference opponent to hit that mark.
Tulane had its way with the Shockers after halftime, shooting 58.3% from the field and scoring 1.33 points per possession in the second half — the worst half of defense WSU has played all season. Jaylen Forbes scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, while Jalen Cook added 18 points and five assists and Kevin Cross put Tulane ahead for good with his basket inside with 1:55 remaining for a 68-67 lead that ended up standing.
Afterward, Tulane coach Ron Hunter recalled his passionate halftime speech that lit a fire in his team.
“Why even go back out there?” Hunter recalled saying. “They’re just better than we are. They’re better. Cook, you’re the worst player on the floor. Forbes, you’re the worst player on the floor. If I had all four of (Wichita State’s players), man, we’d be undefeated.”
Hunter was smiling by the time he finished.
“They proved me wrong,” he said.
Falling behind 11-0 to start the game to Wichita State at Koch Arena would have been enough to fold Tulane in the past. But not this squad in Hunter’s third season, as the Green Wave have become the surprise team in the AAC to date.
Tulane, once picked ninth in the preseason poll, is off to a 4-1 start in conference play, alone in second place only behind No. 12 Houston, with an impressive trio of wins over Cincinnati and WSU on the road and over Memphis at home.
“We’ve been blown out every time we’ve been here,” Hunter said. “I was here when I was at IUPUI as head coach and every time I’ve been in this building, I’ve gotten drilled. It feels good because I think this is one of the hardest places in the country to play. I really believe that. You talk about Indiana or Purdue or Butler, I think this is one of the hardest places in the country to play. To come in here and get a win, that tells me a lot about my kids.
“If you want to be a contender, you’ve got to win here. Not many people come in and win in Wichita.”
In the first half, it was WSU decimating Tulane’s zone defense, nailing six of its first nine three-pointers and finishing with 10 assists on 14 baskets. A deep triple by Etienne late in the half put WSU up by as many as 16 points, while Council delivered a highlight-reel, put-back dunk while being fouled to send the Shockers to halftime with a 14-point lead.
The Shockers may have been wearing brand-new yellow uniforms, but they suffered through the same-old lengthy scoring drought that has plagued the team in losses this season. This time it was a nearly four-minute scoreless stretch that aided a Tulane 15-3 run that trimmed the deficit to two points with still more than 11 minutes remaining.
A one-handed push shot from Porter in the lane put WSU ahead 67-66 with under three minutes remaining, but the Shockers would come up empty of their final four possessions. Qua Grant and Porter both missed wide-open three-pointers that would have either extended the lead or put WSU back in front, then Council’s dramatic foray to the basket in the last second proved to be WSU’s final chance.
“We got punched. We hit the mat,” Etienne said. “I know the guys in our locker room, I know the guys in the office, we don’t give up. At the end of the day, we’re the ones that go out there and play. We’re the ones that prepare for the game. So as long as everybody who comes to Charles Koch Arena every single day and goes to practice and works hard, as long as we believe, we’re going to be alright. We have to believe in each other. That’s it.”
Tulane 68, Wichita State 67 box score
This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 9:16 PM.
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