Wichita State basketball finds a spark in Shocker walk-on for blowout win over Longwood
Fans of the Wichita State men’s basketball team may have been checking the roster to identify the spark for the Shockers in their 81-63 win over Longwood at Koch Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Melvion Flanagan was an unknown after the first five weeks of the season, a first-year walk-on in the program who hadn’t played since the tail-end of the season-opening blowout win more than a month ago.
Flanagan certainly made a name for himself with Saturday’s performance, coming out of nowhere to play 24 minutes and score 14 points, including four three-pointers, against Longwood.
WSU (5-4) snapped its two-game losing streak against the defending Big South champion that played in last season’s NCAA Tournament and debuted at No. 162 in this year’s NET rankings, as Longwood dropped to 5-5 on the season.
“If y’all were at practice every day, y’all would know,” WSU senior point guard Craig Porter said. “Every time we scrimmage, he’s constantly doing things like that. We knew everything he’s capable of, so it’s not a surprise to us. It’s just a matter of him getting an opportunity. And as soon as he got it, he made the most of it.”
A player who wasn’t even listed on the scouting report helped flip the game for the Shockers, which trailed by nine points after the first 10 minutes and then crushed Longwood by 23 points with Flanagan on the floor — tied for the best plus-minus rating of any WSU player — for the rest of the game.
But Flanagan is not the typical walk-on: He came to WSU with serious scoring credentials after averaging more than 20 points per game in his two-year career at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.
Flanagan’s contribution helped WSU deliver one of its best offensive performances of the season, as the Shockers made a season-high 13 three-pointers on 41.9% accuracy and made 48.3% of their field goals overall. After 37 turnovers the last two games, WSU dropped its turnover count to 10 on Saturday, which helped the Shockers score 1.21 points per possession — their second-best efficiency of the season.
“Wichita was struggling to shoot the basketball, so we really felt if we could force them to shoot over the top of us and then do a good job of boxing out then we would live with that,” Longwood coach Griff Aldrich said. “To their credit, they shot the ball extremely well. Credit to them.”
After being benched for all of WSU’s last game a week ago at K-State, sophomore guard Jaron Pierre Jr. bounced back in a big way with a WSU career-high 20 points in 24 minutes off the bench. Jaykwon Walton scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half, including a highlight-reel dunk that electrified the crowd of 7,073 at Koch Arena, and Craig Porter added 16 points, five rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
Flanagan needed unique circumstances to receive his chance to play, as head coach Isaac Brown turned to the walk-on less than seven minutes into the game after back-up point guard Shammah Scott turned the ball over and Porter was on the bench with two fouls.
“We were struggling and a little sluggish, so I felt like it was time to give him an opportunity and he took full advantage,” Brown said.
WSU was off to a disjointed start on offense against Longwood and Flanagan’s first minutes on the court didn’t help, as he committed a turnover right away and WSU fell behind 19-10 with 9 minutes, 38 seconds remaining.
But on the next trip down, Flanagan drilled a three with his unorthodox shot that looks like he has a hitch on his release. The shot didn’t feel especially important in the moment, but it would kick off what became a dominant performance by WSU in the final nine minutes of the half.
The Shockers steamrolled through Longwood, outscoring the Lancers 33-10, in the final nine minutes, as they scored 1.94 points per possession during the prolonged stretch. It was only fitting for Flanagan to finish it off, as the 5-foot-10 walk-on danced past his defender and finished a high-arching floater that swished through the net as the buzzer sounded.
“I thought we were out-competing Wichita and were controlling the play and forcing them into some tough shots, and then we got on our heels and never really responded,” Aldrich said. “I thought the last 30 minutes they out-competed us.”
“The message was we weren’t playing with enough passion,” Brown said of his team’s slow start. “We aren’t playing hard enough. You can’t allow another team to come in and play harder than you. That’s when we went to the bench and those guys responded.”
What felt like was shaping up to be another grind-it-out battle turned into WSU’s second-largest win of the season.
Unlike past games where the Shockers have allowed opponents to stick around, WSU was quick to bury Longwood in the second half.
Longwood closed to within 11 early in the second half, but WSU extended its lead to 21 within the first six minutes behind the aggressive play of Walton following the break. WSU’s lead ballooned to as many as 26 points in the second half before a late rally helped Longwood close to within 18.
Longwood entered shooting 50% from the field and 39% on three-pointers, but the Shockers’ defense limited the Big South’s premier attack. The Lancers finished shooting 35.9% with their top two players, DeShaun Wade and Isaiah Wilkins, combining for 13 points on 16 shots.
WSU was also encouraged by its play on offense, as the Shockers delivered their third above-average offensive showing in their last four games.
“I think our offense is starting to catch up with our defense,” Walton said. “We’re starting to make the open shots. Our big thing is we just have to take the right shots.”
WSU played without senior James Rojas — who had started the six previous games — due to an illness. He was not at Koch Arena on Saturday, but Brown said afterward that he expected the big man to be back in practice on Monday and to potentially be ready in time for Tuesday’s home game against Mississippi Valley State.
This story was originally published December 10, 2022 at 4:49 PM.
.jpg)