Ricky Council’s explosive game vs UCF leads Wichita State basketball to first AAC win
More than a month had passed since the last time the Wichita State men’s basketball team had felt the joy of winning. Even longer since it had beat a meaningful opponent.
“It’s a dreadful feeling,” WSU junior Dexter Dennis said.
“It hurts the locker room,” WSU junior Morris Udeze said. “It hurts a lot of stuff.”
The pain finally subsided on Wednesday, as the Shockers shed their Koch Arena woes behind a career-high, 31-point scoring explosion from Ricky Council IV in an 84-79 win over the UCF Knights.
It was the team’s first victory since Dec. 22 — 35 days, to be exact — and the breakthrough win for the Shockers (10-7, 1-4 AAC) in American Athletic Conference play. WSU also extended its dominance over UCF (12-6, 4-4 AAC) by improving to 8-0 against the Knights the last five seasons.
“I’ve always believed in this team,” WSU coach Isaac Brown said. “I think we’ve got enough on our team to win games at a high level in the AAC. I think the guys still have a lot of confidence and they’re going to continue to learn from their mistakes.”
Council’s potential flashed and the second-year freshman from Durham, North Carolina made a living at the foul line, where he scored more than half of career-best output with a 16-of-20 performance on free throws. It was the third-most free throws made in program history and tied the record in an AAC game, while Council became the first Shocker to exceed 30 points since Markis McDuffie scored 34 points in a win over Temple in the AAC tournament on March 15, 2019.
The foul stripe was where the Shockers gained their advantage, as they made 31 of 40 shots as a team and made more free throws than UCF (17 of 23) even attempted. Council spearheaded the effort, aggressively attacking UCF’s pressure defense to draw 11 fouls and making his first 14 free throws.
“He’s an aggressive player and he attacked all the time, so he put himself in a position to be fouled because of how hard he plays,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “It’s a compliment to him. He’s worked really hard on his game and I can see the improvements in his game from last year.”
Council scored 22 of his 31 points in the second half, multiple times helping WSU fend off a charge by the Knights. When UCF whittled WSU’s lead down to three points early in the second half, Council delivered two three-pointers, a pair of free throws and a baseline drive and soaring dunk to answer every UCF bucket and extend WSU’s lead to 59-52 with 7:51 remaining.
While it was far from a flawless close to the game — missed free throws and defensive lapses allowed UCF to trim a 10-point lead with 32 seconds to 83-79 with four seconds left — Council did enough to lead WSU to its first significant victory since Dec. 1 at Oklahoma State.
“I just wanted to win,” said Council, whose previous career-high was 23. “I was just tired of losing, so I just did what I had to do.”
WSU played inside-out through Morris Udeze, who started strong and finished with 16 points, while Dexter Dennis played a brilliant defensive game and added 13 points, six rebounds, two blocks and one steal. Craig Porter played a solid floor game, posting a team-high five assists and scoring eight points, including a vital, step-back triple late in the game to protect the lead. Leading scorer Tyson Etienne never established a rhythm and scored just five points on 2 of 13 shooting.
Blowing a double-digit lead has become a bad habit for the Shockers at home this season, as five of their six losses have followed that script. WSU was in danger of falling in the same trap, as a 16-point lead had been trimmed by UCF down to three points with 12:25 remaining in the second half.
Allowing UCF to surge ahead could have been a fatal blow mentally, which is why the players believe Wednesday’s performance, where WSU led for all but 76 seconds of the game, could be a breakthrough. It took the Shockers less than five minutes to establish a double-digit lead and they successfully protected it the rest of the game.
“We can’t go back and change those games,” Dennis said. “We lost. Now we can either be part of the problem or be part of the solution. We’re trying to be in the moment and do all we can to get these wins and not worry about the past so much.”
After averaging 63.5 points and 0.94 points per possession in the first four AAC games, WSU exploded for 84 points and 1.18 points per possession. The Shockers made just 40% of their field goals, but grabbed 15 offensive rebounds for 14 second-chance points and limited their turnovers to 12.
WSU will have a chance to potentially erase its slow start when it kicks off its busiest stretch of the season starting Saturday with an 11 a.m. tipoff at Tulane, followed by a home game against Tulsa on Feb. 1, a road trip to SMU on Feb. 3 and a home return date against the Mustangs on Feb. 5 — four games in an eight-day stretch.
“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” Udeze said.
Wichita State 84, UCF 79 basketball box score
This story was originally published January 26, 2022 at 9:26 PM.
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