Memphis cracks triple-digits to hand Wichita State basketball its fifth straight loss
With No. 13-ranked Memphis in the Roundhouse for Sunday’s game, the Wichita State men’s basketball team was looking for its first win over a nationally ranked opponent in nearly three years.
Instead, the Shockers found a piece of unwanted history that hadn’t happened in nearly three decades, as Memphis torched Wichita State in a runaway 112-86 win at Koch Arena behind a school-record 19 3-pointers.
It was the fifth-most points allowed in a game by WSU in program history and the first time the Shockers have allowed an opponent to crack triple-digits on the scoreboard since a 109-67 victory by Drake on Feb. 28, 1994. Memphis also came close to approaching the program record of 120 points allowed, which happened twice — in 1969 in a 120-94 loss to Drake and in 1967 when Lew Alcindor led No. 1-ranked UCLA to a 120-86 win.
“All I can say is, ‘Wow.’ I was just as shocked as everybody else,” said Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway, who improved to 9-1 against WSU in his tenure. “We finally made some 3s and when they came, they came in bunches.”
Memphis improved to 15-2 overall and 4-0 in American Athletic Conference play, as its offense exploded for the most points in the Hardaway era on 64.7% shooting from the field. The Tigers entered as just an average 3-point shooting team, but made 19 of 30 against the Shockers in a shooting spectacle for the 5,538 fans in attendance who braved the freezing temperatures outside.
For a team who has proclaimed defense as part of its identity, it was a tough 40 minutes to swallow for WSU. The Shockers (8-8, 0-3 AAC) have lost five in a row and seven of their last eight, as the five-game losing streak is the longest since 2009.
“Listen, if you’re not committed to defense, you better have five all-stars. We don’t,” WSU head coach Paul Mills said. “We need to make sure we are dominating the simple. Our guys were amped to play. I don’t think anybody is doing this on purpose. We’re going to have to shake some things up in order to dominate the simple defensively, which is what has to happen in order to give us an opportunity.”
For the first 20 minutes, the Shockers were able to elevate their play on offense to hang with Memphis. WSU made 60% of its shots, including a 6-of-10 mark on 3-pointers, to post its highest efficiency (1.24 points per possession) in a half since the second half of its Richmond win on Nov. 29.
Even when WSU’s shots were falling, the Shockers entered halftime in a 49-46 deficit. Mills didn’t like WSU’s odds if the game continued to be a shootout.
“I knew we were in a really precarious position given the fact that that’s not who we are,” Mills said. “We couldn’t get caught up in a shootout and we did. We’re not going to win those kind of games.”
“We kind of fell into the trip of thinking we can have a shootout with them,” said WSU leading scorer Colby Rogers, who finished with a team-high 20 points.
Any hope of an upset bid on Sunday went up in smoke in the first 12 minutes of the second half with one of the most remarkable sustained stretches of offense any team will have this season in college basketball.
Memphis pummeled WSU’s defense for 49 points in 23 possessions, a barrage that produced an outrageous points per possession mark of 2.13 and effective field goal percentage of 100%, courtesy of 10-of-12 shooting on 3-pointers.
That’s how a one-possession game ballooned to a 27-point blowout, 98-71, in less than 12 minutes.
“You don’t want to give up that many points, especially at home,” Rogers said. “We’re not going to win any games allowing teams to go 19-of-30 from 3. Kudos to them, they shot the ball well and they played their game. We’ve got to stay locked in defensively. If they hit tough shots, they hit though shots, but don’t get away from that. We’ve got to continue to make them take tough shots and make them work on offense. I think we got away from that.”
Former Shocker Jaykwon Walton looked as comfortable as ever in his former home, scoring a game-high 23 points with a career-best six 3-pointers. His teammate, Jahvon Quinerly, continued to build his case for AAC Player of the Year with 23 points and 11 assists, while David Jones scored 15 points in a five-minute flurry in the second half and finished with 19.
“Jaykwon has been paying his dues all year,” Hardaway said. “He’s sacrificed to be one of the guys. I know he wanted to have a great game here. We ran the first play of the game for him and he came out shooting. He’s very familiar with this building. In shootaround, he barely missed. Before the game, he barely missed. And then the game started and he barely missed.”
WSU’s 86 points were the most by the team since Nov. 19, as the Shockers finished shooting 55% from the field and 13-of-25 beyond the arc. But 18 turnovers once again plagued WSU, which also had strong games from Dalen Ridgnal (15 points, five rebounds) and Harlond Beverly (17 points, six assists, six turnovers).
“The urgency that’s required, sometimes players have to go through it in order to understand,” Mills said. “When that happens and there’s an understanding, there’s more of an urgency. Unfortunately, that urgency happened when we got down by way too much.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2024 at 2:01 PM.
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