Three takeaways from Wichita State basketball’s closer-than-expected win over Monmouth
Monmouth will receive a $75,000 check in the mail for playing Monday’s game at Koch Arena against the Wichita State men’s basketball team.
The Hawks nearly took home a win, too.
Wichita State needed a critical 3-pointer from Corey Washington to break a tie in the final two minutes and provide the separation needed for a 70-66 win over what was the No. 293-ranked team in the country by Ken Pomeroy’s metrics.
Washington led all scorers with 20 points, upping his season-high by one, and added eight rebounds and five turnovers. He was joined by four others in double-digit scoring: Harlond Beverly (15 points, six rebounds, four assists, four steals), Xavier Bell (12 points, five rebounds, four steals), Matej Bosnjak (12 points) and Justin Hill (11 points, five rebounds, five assists).
WSU erased a seven-point deficit in the second half against a 16.5-point underdog to escape with a late victory to improve to 4-0 in the season.
Corey Washington led WSU with 20 points, including a crucial late 3 to help the Shockers pull away, to go along with eight rebounds. He was joined by four others in double-digits, as senior Harlond Beverly had 15 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals with Xavier Bell (12 points, five rebounds, four steals), Matej Bosnjak (12 points) and Justin Hill (11 points, five rebounds, five assists) chipping in.
Monmouth was led by 15 points from Abdi Bashir Jr., which was eight points below his season average.
Here are the three takeaways from the performance that moved WSU to 4-0 this season:
1. Shockers need late Washington points to avoid major upset
A half-full crowd showed up to Koch Arena on Monday expecting to see the Shockers deliver another blowout in what should have been a comfortable victory for a 4-0 start.
For 38 minutes, fans inside the Roundhouse had to nervously wait to see the home team pull away.
It wasn’t until Washington drilled a catch-and-shoot 3 with 1:39 remaining to break a tie and put WSU ahead 62-59 that the Shockers finally gained control of the game. WSU added to its lead when an errant pass by Monmouth’s Jack Collins was stolen by Xavier Bell, who dished ahead to Washington for a breakaway dunk to bring the crowd to its feet.
While WSU’s veterans made the big plays when it counted down the stretch, it was a bit of a disappointing showing from a veteran team — even with a shorthanded roster.
When the Shockers looked like they were on the cusp of pulling away — when they executed their alley-oop play to Harlond Beverly followed by another dunk seconds later by Washington for a 56-54 lead — they immediately gave up a basket, turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds pass against light pressure and gave up another basket to allow Monmouth to take a 58-56 lead.
WSU finished with its worst shooting performance of the season, making just 44.4% of its shots from the field, 13.3% of its shots beyond the arc (2 for 15) and 64.5% of its shots from the foul line. And the free-throw performance was bolstered by 6-for-6 execution at the charity stripe to close out the game in the final 40 seconds.
Another disappointment came on the glass, where Monmouth out-rebounded WSU 41-34 and retrieved 11 offensive rebounds.
2. The 16.5-point underdogs take a halftime lead
It was an uninspiring first half of basketball from the Shockers, who looked lethargic against an opponent that Vegas had deemed 16.5-point underdogs at Koch Arena.
WSU looked like anything but the favorite for the first 20 minutes on Monday, as it sputtered to a 31-30 halftime deficit against the 0-4 Hawks.
Monmouth entered with the No. 338-ranked defense in the country, allowing opponents to make 60.3% of their 2-pointers. But WSU could only manage 30 points in 36 first-half possessions with a paltry 33.3% field goal percentage.
Not only did WSU struggle to make shots from the field, the struggles extended to the free throw line, where the team had made nearly 78% of its shots in the first three games. On Monday, the Shockers missed 10 of 21 free throws in the first half.
While other opponents found wild success inside against Monmouth, WSU was unable to manufacture baskets in the paint — what had been a specialty of the team in the first three games.
3. Injuries leave Wichita State roster shorthanded
Monday even had an inauspicious start, as Wichita State’s 6-foot-11 starting center Quincy Ballard was a late scratch from the lineup.
Ballard, who was averaging 9.7 points and 4.7 rebounds, tweaked his ankle in the final minutes of WSU’s 79-73 win over Northern Iowa last Thursday and was considered a game-time decision. He went through Monday’s pregame warmups without incident, but the decision was made just before tipoff that he would sit out as a precaution.
WSU was already without senior center Zane Meeks, who is recovering from a knee injury, and to make matters worse, senior forward Ronnie DeGray III, the only player who could play spot minutes at center, injured his hand early in the second half and missed the final 18 minutes.
That left the Shockers with unusual lineup combinations and 6-foot-4 sophomore Joy Ighovodja playing power forward and 6-foot-5 junior Corey Washington playing center.
Without Ballard and down to only one healthy center, Matej Bosnjak delivered a season-high 12 points. Ighovodja saw his first significant action of the season, playing seven minutes off the bench.
With three more days of rest, Ballard is expected to recover in time to play in Friday’s game against Saint Louis. DeGray’s status, however, is more up in the air.
Up next: Shockers vs. Saint Louis, 9:30 p.m. Friday
WSU will face perhaps its toughest test of the young season when it faces off against a Billikens (2-1) squad that could welcome back star big man Robbie Avila, who has missed the last two games due to injury.
The game is the second game in a doubleheader as part of the Hall of Fame Classic at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. It will be available only through streaming on Peacock.
More notes from Wichita State-Monmouth game
- Typical of most low-major programs, Monmouth travels around the country collecting checks from guarantee games to raise funds for its program. WSU will send Monmouth a $75,000 check for Monday’s game, while the Hawks won’t play their first home game until Dec. 21.
- It was just the third time WSU and Monmouth have met on the basketball court. The Shockers won the first meeting 65-59 in overtime on Dec. 29, 1993, with Chad Elstun leading the way with 14 points, while Monmouth knocked off WSU 59-50 in the Paradise Jam on Nov. 17, 2007, during Gregg Marshall’s first season.
- Wichita State entered Monday’s game ranked No. 9 nationally in free throws made per game (22.3) and No. 42 in free throw percentage (77.9%).
- Monday’s game concluded a three-game homestand for the Shockers, who will play their next three games at neutral sites.
- WSU improved to 4-0 for the second straight season and 25th time in program history. WSU head coach Paul Mills also won his 125th career game.
- Monmouth head coach King Rice is in the midst of his 14th season and is the program’s all-time winningest coach with 207 victories. Rice has won the John McLendon National Coach of the Year award and been named a finalist for the Ben Jobe award. He has three MAAC Coach of the Year honors and three MAAC regular season championships to his credit, while also owning the program records for wins in a season (28) and consecutive victories (17).
- Monmouth sophomore Abdi Bashir Jr. entered Monday averaging 23.3 points with 17 made 3s in just four games. The 6-foot-7 sharpshooter was coming off a career-best performance in Monmouth’s 98-81 loss at Rutgers, scoring 38 points and making 10 3-pointers.
- On this date in 2014, No. 11-ranked WSU beat Memphis 71-56 before they became conference rivals behind Ron Baker’s 21 points and 24 forced turnovers in Sioux Falls, S.D. at the Sanford Pentagon.
This story was originally published November 18, 2024 at 8:34 PM.
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