Wichita State basketball again blows double-digit lead in home AAC loss to Cincinnati
It’s becoming a familiar refrain for the Wichita State men’s basketball team: build a double-digit lead at home, only to allow it to slip away for another gut-punch loss.
The Shockers’ frustrations only grew on Sunday afternoon with a 61-57 loss to Cincinnati at Koch Arena, their third straight weekend of losing an American Athletic Conference game on national television.
WSU (9-7) failed to protect a 10-point lead and dropped to 0-4 in conference, losing its sixth straight game to a top-150 opponent. Cincinnati improved to 13-5 (3-2 AAC).
Tyson Etienne scored a team-high 14 points and tied his career-high with six assists, while Morris Udeze scored 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting and Ricky Council IV added 11 points. It was the fourth time this season WSU has blown a double-digit lead at home in a loss.
Etienne came through with back-to-back tough finishes, first on a driving layup over a big man and then on a pull-up jumper to put the Shockers back in front with a 55-53 lead. Cincinnati’s 7-footer Hayden Koval, who had made six three-pointers all season, hit his third three-pointer of the game to put Cincinnati up one, then Etienne and DeJulius traded baskets that left Cincinnati up 58-57 with 2:16 remaining.
WSU turned to its ball-screen offense down the stretch, which left the Shockers struggling to produce great looks. Cincinnati capitalized when WSU’s offense sputtered, as Mika Adams-Woods put Cincinnati up 60-57 with 1:42 left following a WSU miss.
Etienne missed two shots in the final 90 seconds, then Dexter Dennis missed an open game-tying look with 14 seconds left to seal the game.
When Wichita State pushed its lead to as many as eight points in the second half, Cincinnati proved resilient, its will never breaking on the road under pressure. David DeJulius scored six straight and Mika Adams-Woods drilled a corner jumper as the shot clock expired, erasing the deficit and bringing Cincinnati level at 46 apiece with 8:33 remaining.
WSU’s defense was geared to prevent Cincinnati from reaching the paint and forcing the Bearcats into jump shots — for good reason, Cincinnati ranks as a below-average three-point shooting team. But Cincinnati traded shots with WSU down the stretch, time after time drilling outside looks to keep up with WSU and even take a 53-51 lead with 6:34 remaining on Jeremiah Davenport’s contested jumper at the end of the shot clock.
Wichita State made the first run of the game, a 15-5 stretch over a five-minute span to open up a 22-12 lead. Etienne was superb at the start of the run, dishing twice to an open Kenny Pohto for points then drilling a deep three-pointer. Monzy Jackson helped close the run with hustle plays, as he had a dump-off for another easy Pohto basket and his energy crashing the glass helped give Dexter Dennis an easy put-back.
The defense, spearheaded by Dennis’ job on Davenport, flirted with an elite standard for the first half, if not for a poor final 90 seconds that allowed Cincinnati to hit back-to-back three-pointers to trim a nine-point lead to a 31-28 advantage for the Shockers at halftime.
Etienne again sparked a run early in the second half, this time solely with his passing in transition. The Shockers were able to reel off a 6-0 spurt — all on Etienne assists — to build a 37-31 lead, as the WSU star pushed the tempo and found Udeze twice, then threw ahead to Council for another easy basket.
Etienne was playing primarily point guard against Cincinnati because WSU was missing starting point guard Craig Porter, who missed the game due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
This story was originally published January 16, 2022 at 2:02 PM.
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