Wichita State basketball rollercoaster ride ends in bitter defeat to UCF on road
Wichita State men’s basketball fans didn’t need to travel to theme park capital of the world to experience the roller coasters.
The Shockers put their fans through a ride that would have made Universal Studios blush on Tuesday night in what became a 71-66 loss to UCF at Addition Financial Arena.
A fast climb, a fall faster and steeper than the Incredible Hulk Coaster, and the adrenaline rush of the wild twists and turns of an implausible comeback ended by a controversial non-call in the final minute of the game.
But no one on the team was smiling after this ride, as the Shockers dropped to 12-9 overall and 3-6 in American Athletic Conference play. Instead, the all-too-familiar sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach had returned.
“We kept fighting and we made some big plays to get back in it,” WSU star Tyson Etienne said. “But this one is definitely a gut punch, for sure.”
Etienne scored a game-high 26 points, including 17 in the second half, none bigger than the back-to-back three-pointers he drilled 30 seconds apart to trim UCF’s lead to 66-64 with 1:35 remaining.
The Shockers even had two chances to tie the game in the final minute, but Craig Porter’s 8-foot jumper missed and Morris Udeze’s desperation tip rolled around the rim and out. Perhaps they should have even had a third attempt, but referees appeared to miss UCF’s Brandon Mahan stepping out of bounds and then being the first player to touch the ball on the inbounds pass for what became a game-sealing three-point play to put UCF up 69-64 with 25.9 seconds left.
It was the first time UCF (14-8, 6-6 AAC) has defeated WSU in nine tries since the Shockers joined the conference for the 2017-18 season.
“(Mahan) took two steps out of bounds and in my head, I know the rules, I didn’t think he could come back in and touch it,” Porter said. “I saw him take two steps out and then catch it. I thought it was about to be our ball.”
Instead, it was the conclusion of a wild game that saw Wichita State jump out to an 11-2 lead, fall behind by 16 points, then reel off a 16-2 run to rally back. It was another display of resilience from the team, though that act is growing old to them as the losses pile up.
WSU’s last four AAC losses have been by a combined 10 points.
“It’s tough, but we’re going to battle back,” WSU coach Isaac Brown said. “These guys have high character. We’ll get back and get ready to go. We’ve got to clean up our mistakes and continue to get better.”
For the final 16 minutes of the first half and the first two minutes of the second half, there was almost too much for the Shockers to clean up.
It was a nightmare performance by WSU, a total collapse on the defensive end mixed with 10 first-half turnovers that were mostly from thoughtless mistakes. After building an 11-2 lead, WSU was eviscerated by UCF — a 41-18 demolition — for the next 16 minutes to fall behind by 14 points at halftime.
“We have to sharpen up our turnovers and I know we’ve been saying that since the Tulane game,” Etienne said.
After falling behind by 16 points early in the second half, WSU managed to produce the exact type of run it needed to stay alive. Dennis (11 points, six rebounds) and Porter (14 points, six rebounds, five assists, three steals) combined for three straight triples, then Etienne punished UCF for switching center Cheikh Mbacke Diong onto him in the pick-and-roll game by scoring three straight times — capped by a dazzling spin and rainbow jumper over the out-stretched hands of the 7-footer.
Etienne has scored at least 20 points in three of his last four games and hit five more three-pointers on Tuesday, giving him 19 total in his last four games.
“For me, it was just switching to attack mode and trusting my abilities and not being passive,” Etienne said. “I feel like I’ve been doing a good job lately of getting to my spots. IB told me if they switch, then go ahead. That meant a lot for my coach to say that. I just tried to take advantage.”
Hope appeared lost when Mahan, who scored a team-high 19 points, produced a four-point play when he drilled a three-pointer while being fouled by Dennis, doubling UCF’s lead to 66-58 with 3:34 remaining in a single trip.
“Brandon did a great job responding for our team,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “He loves those moments. Down the stretch, he’s usually at his best, making plays like that and he was able to do it again tonight for us.”
But that’s when Etienne came to the rescue, hitting an outrageous, off-balanced triple right in front of WSU’s bench, then following it up with another three in the span of 30 seconds.
When WSU had a chance to potentially tie or take the lead in the final minute, Etienne attacked and kicked to Porter, who had a look at a potential go-ahead shot from beyond the arc, but turned it down in favor of driving and taking a short jumper. The shot missed but Udeze nearly tipped it in to tie the score.
“Obviously I made a bad read, I had a wide-open three that I could’ve took,” Porter said. “But I still got to my mid-range and took a good look. It just didn’t fall.
“It hurts, but that’s basketball. Things don’t always go your way.”
Rather than second-guess shots or calls down the stretch, Brown chose to focus instead on UCF’s 11 offensive rebounds. The three offensive rebounds WSU allowed in the final six minutes of the game stuck out in Brown’s mind. While UCF scored just two points off those second chances, those two points loomed large during WSU’s comeback bid.
“I thought that was the key to the game,” Brown said. “They came up with offensive rebounds when they had to. It was just us not checking out and giving up second chances in the end. The entire team has got to gang rebound. If you’re trying to win at this level, you can’t give teams second shots, especially in a tight game.”
“When you sit down and guard and UCF has some really good players, so when you guard them and force them close to a shot-clock violation and then let up an offensive rebound, that’s tough,” Etienne said. “That definitely hurts after playing good defense for 30 seconds.”
UCF 71, Wichita State 66 men’s basketball box score
This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 10:18 PM.
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