‘No excuses’: Wichita State basketball player offers honest explanation on late turnover
Adrenaline was rushing through the veins of Jaykwon Walton.
He had just pulled down a defensive rebound and was dribbling up the floor with Wichita State trailing by two points and less than 30 seconds left in Tuesday’s Hall of Fame Classic championship game, sure the Shockers were about to finish off a stunning come-from-behind victory over San Francisco at T-Mobile Center.
Thanks to the superb play of Walton, WSU had whittled a 13-point deficit with less than six minutes left to two, and now the 6-foot-7 junior was pushing the ball in transition with the WSU crowd roaring in anticipation of the Shockers tying or taking the lead for the first time since the first minute of the game.
“The only thing going through our minds was winning the ball game,” Walton said.
Walton wanted to see if he could score an easy basket in transition and pushed the ball up the right sideline, but the moment he tried to plant his feet to stop, he slipped and lost control of WSU’s best chance to win the game.
He could have blamed a wet spot on the court, his shoes or even just plain bad luck, but Walton didn’t do any of those things. Instead, when asked about the play afterward he took the blame for the late-game turnover.
“I slipped,” Walton said. “I can’t make no excuses about it. I slipped. I can’t blame it on the shoes. I can’t blame it on the court. I just slipped.”
The Shockers (3-2) never had another chance to tie or take the lead, as San Francisco secured its 67-63 victory at the free throw line to improve to 6-0 this season.
There was no question WSU would not have been anywhere close to being in that position without Walton, who registered the first double-double of his career with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting (the rest of WSU shot 28%) and a game-high 10 rebounds.
But that didn’t make the Columbus, Ga.-native feel much better in the moments right after the game.
“It’s very tough,” Walton said. “My teammates and my coaches helped me keep my head high, so I’m feeling a little bit better about it now. But I still feel (the pain) inside of me.”
After watching WSU ride a wave of momentum by attacking the basket, San Francisco coach Chris Gerlufsen was just hoping his team could defend without fouling and come up with a rebound when he watched Walton race down the court.
“Unfortunately, I’ve been on the losing end of some of that stuff before,” Gerlufsen said. “I was just trying to stay positive in the moment.
“I told our guys after, ‘I’d rather learn after a win than have to lose a game and learn.’”
WSU had one timeout remaining when Walton raced the ball up the floor, but the coaching staff trusts Walton as a ball handler and chalked the turnover up as a fluke play that happened at the most inopportune time.
“He slipped. It’s part of the game, it happens,” WSU head coach Isaac Brown said. “We trust him bringing the ball up the court.”
This story was originally published November 22, 2022 at 6:38 PM.
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