How Xavier Bell’s swat, not his points, sparked Roundhouse for Shockers in Tulane win
Extra-effort plays have long been appreciated by the crowd at Koch Arena and swung games in favor of the Shockers.
Sunday’s game against Tulane was the latest example.
With Wichita State clinging to a six-point lead in the final eight minutes, Tulane grabbed a rebound and started a three-on-two fast break the other way. A pass ahead was made, Xavier Bell lunged backward in desperation and the 6-foot-2 guard elevated to erase the layup attempt by Tulane’s 6-foot-7 forward Greg Glenn at the rim.
WSU grabbed the miss, sprinted in transition to beat Tulane down the floor and then found Bijan Cortes wide open in the right corner for a 3-pointer.
And just like that, instead of a potential one-possession game, WSU was on the right end of a five-point swing that extended its lead to nine. Tulane never recovered and the Shockers won their sixth straight American Athletic Conference game in a 78-67 victory on Sunday at Koch Arena.
“You always try to make those extra-effort kind of plays,” said Bell, who also scored a game-high 24 points. “When you’re in disadvantage basketball like that, you’re just trying to make a play and do the next right thing.”
With 10 blocks to his record before Sunday, Bell has proven himself plenty capable of swatting shots. But it has always been swiping a shot from an opposing guard, never a big man.
Any block is capable of igniting the Roundhouse. But a block like that? And one that leads to a 3 at the other end? Those are the kinds of plays that the Shockers have long feasted on.
“When you see a guy like X get up and get the ball like that, it hypes up the team and it hypes up the whole arena,” said shot-blocker extraordinaire Quincy Ballard, who added he gave Bell an “A for effort” for his grade of the block.
On the sideline, WSU head coach Paul Mills was still kicking himself for a decision he made at halftime when Bell was tracking back on defense to make the game-altering play.
“Harlond (Beverly) got an offensive rebound and that and-one at the end of the first half, so he asked me at halftime if he can offensive rebound,” Mills said. “I told him he could, but this isn’t ‘just trying.’ Numbers have to be produced. So he goes in on that play and I was mad at myself that I let Harlond go offensive rebound because of the disadvantage. And then X just makes a heck of a play.”
Mills said WSU actually drills “disadvantage” basketball plays like the one Bell made.
“We do not want to give guys and-ones, so we give guys two options,” Mills said. “One is the rear-view swipe and two is the run through.”
Bell has made plenty of rear-view swipe plays this season, but again, they’re typically against like-sized players and almost always in the half-court setting.
He wasn’t sure the rear-view block would be an option until he turned — after doing his first job of stopping the ball and forcing the pass.
“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to be that close to the ball,” Bell said. “I was just going to try to alter the shot since he was a little taller than me. But I was closer than I expected, so I just tried to make a play on the ball.”
Sunday’s win required many more winning plays than just the one that Bell made.
But hustle plays like that one are almost always rewarded in a big way in the Roundhouse.
“That was a huge momentum play, for them and also for us,” Mills said.
This story was originally published February 23, 2025 at 6:34 PM.
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