Wichita State basketball beats South Florida, wins back-to-back road games
For the first time in the Paul Mills era, the Wichita State men’s basketball team has won consecutive road games.
The Shockers broke free from a back-and-forth game to exact their revenge on South Florida for a 19-point loss at Koch Arena last month in a 75-70 win at Yuengling Center on Sunday.
Not only did WSU (13-10, 3-7 AAC) win its second straight road game, but the Shockers are now just one game back in the loss column from seventh place in the American Athletic Conference standings. Meanwhile, WSU handed USF (12-12, 5-6 AAC) just its second home defeat in conference play.
Wichita native Xavier Bell delivered his fifth 20-point outburst of the season, finishing with a game-high 26 points, bolstered by a 14-of-15 performance from the foul line. Quincy Ballard notched his eighth double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Corey Washington added 11 points and eight rebounds.
USF was led by 18 points from Jamille Reynolds, as the Bulls shot 52% from the field but were pounded on the glass.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
1. Wichita State makes the winning plays to pull out road win
The Shockers found themselves in a position all too familiar under Paul Mills: locked in a tight game down the stretch in conference play.
This time, WSU made just enough winning plays to pull out the victory.
It started with the score tied at 60 entering the final five minutes when Xavier Bell scored on a tough left-handed floater to put WSU in front. That was followed by Ronnie DeGray III making just his sixth 3-pointer, then Corey Washington finishing a circus shot in the paint and then coming up with an athletic steal on the defensive end.
Tack on two free throws by Bell and WSU reeled off a 9-3 run to open up a 69-63 lead with 1:54 left.
True to the team’s nature, WSU struggled to close out the win cleanly. The Shockers turned the ball over against the press, fouled USF three straight times and allowed the Bulls to trim their deficit to 69-68 with 1:01 remaining.
After a WSU timeout, a set play gave Washington a point-blank shot that rimmed out and Quincy Ballard secured the rebound and was fouled. Ballard had missed his last four free throws and was shooting just 37.5% at the line in conference play, but the big man delivered in the clutch on Sunday with two straight makes to stake WSU to a 71-68 lead.
At the other end, USF’s Quincy Ademokoya inexplicably lost handle of the ball and turned the ball over. That was just the right amount of luck WSU needed to finish out the win, as the Shockers made 4 of 6 free throws late to secure victory.
2. Shockers dominate the rebounding battle at USF
How does a team that shot 39% beat a team that shot 52%? By pounding the glass for a 20-rebound advantage like Wichita State did on Sunday.
The Shockers fully exploited their 42-22 advantage on the glass against the Bulls, as they turned their 19-3 edge in offensive rebounding to a 24-2 advantage in second-chance points.
While WSU was plus-8 on the glass in the first meeting between the teams, those numbers were inflated because USF torched the Shockers and hardly missed in a 19-point win at Koch Arena. This time around, the plus-20 effort was a legitimate dominant performance from WSU, who retrieved 50% of its own misses and limited USF to just an 12% offensive rebound rate.
It wasn’t a stretch on Sunday to say sometimes WSU’s best offense was missing a shot, which allowed Quincy Ballard or Ronnie DeGray III or Corey Washington to retrieve the offensive rebound and score close to the basket. Ballard led the way with seven offensive rebounds, while DeGray and Washington each secured three on the offensive glass.
That’s exactly what DeGray did to fuel a 9-0 run early in the second half to help WSU open up a 43-40 lead. The senior forward grabbed a miss and scored a put-back, then on the very next possession, did the same thing and was fouled in the process for a 3-point play.
3. Injuries leave Wichita State thin at point guard
With starting point guard Justin Hill (toe) returning to practice this week, there was hope he would be able to play in Tampa.
Not only was that not the case, as Hill missed his second straight game, but freshman point guard Zion Pipkin did not travel with the team and missed Sunday’s game with an “illness,” according to a WSU spokesperson.
That left senior Bijan Cortes as the only available point guard for the Shockers on Sunday.
It was a rocky showing from Cortes, who did well to score seven points on 2-of-3 shooting but finished with six turnovers and just one assist in 29 minutes. WSU head coach Paul Mills opted to use Xavier Bell to run the offense down the stretch with Cortes on the bench.
Upcoming schedule for Shocker basketball
vs. UTSA, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+) on Wednesday, Feb. 12
vs. Memphis, 11 a.m. (ESPN/2/U) on Sunday, Feb. 16
at Florida Atlantic, 8 p.m. (ESPN+) on Thursday, Feb. 20
vs. Tulane, 1 p.m. (ESPN+) on Sunday, Feb. 23
vs. UAB, 8 p.m. (ESPN2/U) on Thursday, Feb. 27
American Athletic Conference basketball standings
10-1, Memphis (20-4)
8-2, UAB (15-8)
8-3, North Texas (17-6)
7-4 Tulane (13-11)
6-4, Florida Atlantic (13-10)
6-5, Temple (14-10)
5-6, East Carolina (13-11)
5-6, South Florida (12-12)
4-7, UTSA (10-13)
3-7, Wichita State (13-10)
3-8, Rice (12-12)
3-8, Tulsa (9-15)
2-9, Charlotte (9-15)
This story was originally published February 9, 2025 at 3:05 PM.
.jpg)