Wichita State basketball does it again: Shockers erase 16-point deficit in Tulsa win
If a victory doesn’t feature a nail-biting finish on the heels of a double-digit second-half comeback, it doesn’t seem to interest this Wichita State men’s basketball team.
One weekend after scoring their first win in American Athletic Conference play in such fashion, the Shockers pulled the largest second-half comeback in program history on Saturday afternoon when they rallied from a 16-point second-half deficit in scoring a 73-69 victory over Tulsa at Koch Arena.
The team that led for 37 minutes, 35 seconds was left wondering how that didn’t translate to a victory, while the team that led for just 70 seconds — the final 70 seconds — notched the fourth-largest second-half comeback in WSU history.
“When you’ve got a new basketball team and those guys can make comebacks like this, it gives them confidence,” WSU head coach Isaac Brown said. “They know you can get down double-figures and fight back, but we’ve got to learn from this and get off to better starts. Next game we’re going to go in (like we’re) down 18 from the tip.”
In danger of suffering an embarrassing defeat on its home court to the lowest-rated KenPom team in the conference, WSU made 58% of its shots, made 15 of 17 free throws and scored 1.31 points per possession in the second half in completing the thrilling come-from-behind victory in the final minutes.
In the process, the Shockers (9-8, 2-3 AAC) maintained their dominance in Wichita over Tulsa, their third-oldest rival, as Saturday’s win in front of 7,157 fans marked WSU’s 11th straight home victory in the series against the Golden Hurricane (4-12, 0-5 AAC).
“You need the crowd behind you when you’re trying to come back, and they helped us out a lot down the stretch,” said WSU junior Jaykwon Walton, who returned from an ankle injury after missing the last two games to score a team-high 19 points. “We just kept feeding off that momentum and energy.”
After playing from behind for the entire game, WSU finally climbed out of the hole in the final 90 seconds.
The dramatic sequence began when Craig Porter smothered a mid-range jumper attempted by Sam Griffin, which ignited a fastbreak for the Shockers. James Rojas passed ahead to Jaron Pierre Jr., who collected the ball beyond the three-point arc but let his momentum carry him all the way to the rim for an acrobatic layup that gave WSU its first lead of the game, 70-69, with 1:10 remaining.
“James passed me the ball, and when I took off, I didn’t know I was that far,” Pierre said. “I saw (the defender) try to set up for a charge, so I moved my body in the air and just tried to slow myself down and put it off the glass and finish.”
But the block by Porter? It was arguably the play of the game, especially considering Griffin, who scored a game-high 25 points, was torturing WSU’s defense with jumper after jumper in the second half.
Following the lead change, Tulsa never recovered. In fact, the team committed turnovers on its next two crucial possessions in the final minute. Walton iced the game with two free throws with 10.2 seconds left.
“I just tried to make him make a decision based on how I was going to guard,” said Porter, who finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals in another 40-minute performance. “(Griffin) did exactly what I wanted him to do, and he went exactly where I knew he would.”
The end result will lessen the sting of the first 22 minutes of the game, but it will still rank as one of the lowest points of the season; Brown was forced to call timeout in the first two minutes out of halftime when WSU fell behind by 16 points.
The WSU crowd sat in silence, pondering how it was possible for an opponent with one of the least-efficient offenses and worst three-point-shooting percentage in the conference to come into Koch Arena and pummel the Shockers for 1.27 points per possession on 61% shooting with a 9-for-13 shooting performance beyond the arc.
“The whole time we knew there was going to be urgency from them in the second half,” Tulsa coach Eric Konkol said. “Wichita State is a proud program, and I have a lot of respect for coach Brown. I kept telling our guys, ‘They’re not just going to go away and lay down and let us have a win.’”
Brown, normally even-keeled during timeouts, didn’t hold back in chewing out his team for such a lackadaisical start to the second half.
“Coach IB, he’s not really the yelling type. He usually tries to see the best out of every situation, but sometimes you can’t do that,” Porter said. “He put his foot down and he got on us. That’s what we needed.”
“Because we wasn’t defending at a high level,” Brown said about why he was frustrated. “It’s one thing when you play a team and those guys are making tough shots. But we just wasn’t defending, and I thought our energy was better after that timeout. Those guys really took the coaching.”
With their backs against the wall, the Shockers stopped settling for jumpers and attacked the basket. Pierre, Walton, Porter and Kenny Pohto (11 points, seven rebounds, three assists) all scored layups immediately following the timeout.
James Rojas (11 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, two steals) added a three-point play and Xavier Bell (10 second-half points) and Porter scored two more baskets in the paint; within six minutes of Brown’s timeout, WSU had managed to whittle a 16-point deficit down to 50-46 with more than 12 minutes still remaining.
Even with Griffin delivering five jumpers to halt WSU runs each time, the Shockers’ wave of momentum overwhelmed the Golden Hurricane down the stretch. WSU outscored Tulsa 11-2 in the final four minutes., while Pohto (four blocks, two steals) played superb defense on Tulsa star center Bryant Selebangue, who was held 10 points under his scoring average in conference play with eight points on just six attempts.
“We got ourselves in a hole to start the game, and it took us getting punched a couple more times to have that will and urge to come back and win,” Porter said. “But it’s not always going to work out that way, so we need to start getting after it from the jump.”
Wichita State 73, Tulsa 69 basketball box score
This story was originally published January 14, 2023 at 5:08 PM.
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