Missed layups too much to overcome in AAC tournament loss for Wichita State basketball
For two months straight, the Wichita State men’s basketball team was one of the best teams in the country at converting 2-point shots.
For one night in Fort Worth, the Shockers couldn’t seem to make anything close to the basket.
It ultimately ended Wichita State’s run in the quarterfinals of American Athletic Conference tournament, as grit wasn’t enough to overcome so many short-range misses in an 82-76 loss to Tulane at Dickies Arena late Friday evening.
The Shockers finished shooting a paltry 32% (10 for 31) at the rim, a staggering number considering the team was third nationally in 2-point shooting percentage (62.7%) with a rim success rate north of 68%.
“We missed a lot of shots at the rim tonight,” WSU head coach Isaac Brown said. “They did a great job of jumping straight up without fouling. In the second half, we missed some more layups and that was the difference in the game. Give them all the credit. They came out, they were on fire early, our guys battled. But we normally make those shots. Tonight we weren’t able to make them.”
It was perhaps fitting for an up-and-down season to have one last bizarre twist with WSU shooting a better percentage beyond the arc (42.9%) than inside it (34.6%).
The loss likely concludes Wichita State’s season with a 17-15 record and a resume nowhere close to consideration for an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament or NIT. After winning the program’s first AAC championship in 2021 as an interim coach, Brown has led WSU to a 32-28 combined record the last two season with no postseason bid for the second year in a row.
“They kept fighting and they’ve been fighting all year long,” Brown said. “We lost some close games early. They came to practice every day with high character, ready to fight. (The seniors) did a tremendous job in the locker room not allowing guys to point fingers. And then in the second half (of the season), they started defending, rebounding, playing with toughness. We just came up short tonight.”
WSU senior point guard Craig Porter finished with his second straight double-double in AAC tournament play, notching a team-high 22 points and tying his career-high of 11 assists to go along with six rebounds and two steals. The team also had three others who scored double-figures: James Rojas (14), Jaykwon Walton (13) and Jaron Pierre (12). WSU finished shooting 37% from the field and 68% from the foul line, while Tulane made 46% of its shots and was led in scoring by a game-high 24 points and 13 rebounds from Kevin Cross.
After falling behind by as many as 13 points in the first half, WSU clawed back to within one point on four different occasions in the first 10 minutes of the second half. But the Shockers never could produce the shot or stop they needed to get over the hump.
Tulane’s rim protection (a school-record 13 blocks) played a large role in preventing WSU from ever taking the lead in the second half.
“Honestly, it was just us sticking to the game plan,” Cross said. “Knowing how they play and how their players play.”
After R.J. McGee (career-high 17 points) hit a 3-pointer to give Tulane a 65-57 lead with 5:29 left, WSU rattled off five straight points to force its way back in the game. But Porter missed a back-end free throw and Tulane reeled off five straight points of its own to push its lead back out to 70-62 with 2:45 remaining.
WSU wouldn’t go away silently. Porter and Walton connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to trim Tulane’s lead to 74-70 with 1:11 remaining. WSU played out the ensuing possession — a stop would give it the chance to make it a 1-possession game — but it never had the chance after Cross buried a corner 3 at the end of the shot clock to essentially seal the victory with 40 seconds left.
Tulane improved to 20-10 this season and advanced to hits third AAC tournament semifinals in program history to face Memphis on Saturday.
This story was originally published March 10, 2023 at 10:55 PM.
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