Wichita State basketball beats WKU in Shockers’ 1st road season opener since 1992
Playing in the program’s first true road season opener since 1992, the Wichita State men’s basketball team escaped with a 91-84 victory at Western Kentucky on Monday evening at Diddle Arena.
Here are three takeaways from the Shockers’ first game of the season:
1. Wichita State comes up clutch down the stretch for road win
With the home crowd rocking and looking desperately to ignite in hopes of spurring on the Hilltoppers, WSU kept its cool and delivered under pressure.
After WKU clawed back to within two possessions, Bijan Cortes dialed up a pick-and-roll with Matej Bosnjak. The senior point guard lofted the perfect pass over the flailing defense to give the Croatian big man a feed for a basket and a foul. The three-point play restored WSU’s lead to 78-69 with 4:42 left.
But WKU responded with a bucket, which WSU senior Justin Hill matched at the other end with an ankle-breaking step-back move that lost a defender and ended with Hill draining the mid-range jumper for an 80-71 lead with 3:49 left.
WSU led 84-73 with 1:45 left, but missed five of six free throws and then fouled WKU on a rebound to allow the Hilltoppers cut the deficit to 85-82 with 29.3 seconds left. Hill closed out the game for the Shockers by making six straight free throws to ice the victory.
WSU initially found some breathing room midway through the second half thanks to the play of senior Xavier Bell off the bench. The Wichita native scored two straight layups to kick off a 10-1 run for a 68-59 lead with 10:22 remaining. Bell finished with 17 points.
2. Justin Hill shoulders the offensive load for Wichita State
Where would the Shockers have been in the first half without Hill?
When WSU’s offense was out of system, the transfer from Georgia was there to bail the Shockers out with timely shot-making. Like when WKU opened up a 30-24 lead, the senior point guard calmly drained a deep 3 to steady the waters.
Or just a bit later, with WKU up four, stepping back for another deep triple — this one contested.
Hill was superb in the first half with a team-high 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, doing a lot of the heavy lifting on offense to keep the Shockers afloat. Then they rallied with an 8-0 run to close the half for a 43-38 halftime lead.
Hill finished a standout debut with a team-high 31 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while knocking down four 3-pointers — tying a career high that he had only matched twice before in 122 career games.
3. Resilient close to first half for Shockers
WKU led the country in pace last season and its blistering pace in front of its home crowd threatened to leave WSU behind midway through the first half.
Shockers coach Paul Mills had to call a timeout after he watched WSU miss a 3-pointer, then saw WKU race down the floor off the rebound and score in transition to open up a 25-17 lead.
The first half was full of self-inflicted mistakes from the Shockers: They opened the season with a careless turnover out of bounds on their first possession, and fouled 3-point shooters on two occasions.
But to its credit, WSU never folded.
WSU steadily clawed back in the game, then left the home crowd stunned by closing the first half on an 8-0 run in the final two minutes to open up a 43-38 lead.
Xavier Bell connected on his second triple of the game on a kick-out pass from Matej Bosnjak, then Justin Hill gave WSU the lead on a tough finish in the paint while being fouled.
After holding for the final shot of the half, WSU executed a clip-board special from Mills that set two screens to free sharpshooter A.J. McGinnis for an open 3, which he buried to complete the flurry.
This story was originally published November 4, 2024 at 9:23 PM.
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