Wichita State basketball comes up just short in road loss at North Texas: Takeaways
A resilient effort on the road was ultimately not rewarded with a victory for the Wichita State men’s basketball team.
The Shockers had a chance to tie or win the game on the final possession, but came up empty and North Texas survived for a 68-66 win at the Super Pit on Monday evening.
Battling back from an early 12-point deficit on the road against the No. 1 scoring defense in the American Athletic Conference isn’t easy, but WSU managed to battle back to take a lead in the second half and have a chance in the final minute.
Atin Wright scored a game-high 21 points, as North Texas shot 51% from the field and 41% on 3-pointers to improve to 22-6 overall and 13-3 in conference play — just one game back from Memphis for the lead with two games remaining. Meanwhile, Xavier Bell scored 19 points to lead the Shockers.
Following a 6-game winning streak, WSU has now lost back-to-back games — albeit to two of the conference’s best teams. Xavier Bell scored a team-high 19 points, as the Shockers dropped to 17-12 overall and 7-9 in the American.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
1. Wichita State showed resolve, but ultimately came up short
After facing a 6-point deficit entering the final two minutes, WSU made the plays to put itself in position to tie or win the game in the final seconds.
Xavier Bell scored four straight points to help bring the Shockers back, then Justin Hill scored a layup to trim the deficit to 68-66 with 37 seconds left. Needing a stop, WSU’s defense forced a shot-clock violation in the final 10 seconds to set up a chance to steal a road win.
After a timeout with 7.9 seconds left, Bell attacked the left side of the defense and tried to throw back to Corey Washington as soon as the junior forward began to cut. The miscommunication led to an errant pass and left Washington heaving the ball from near mid-court as time expired, as the shot came up well short.
During its recent 6-game winning streak, WSU was consistently the team that executed better down the stretch of close games. While the Shockers made some heady plays, namely Ronnie DeGray III on the defensive end, they were out-numbered by North Texas.
Like when WSU took a 47-43 lead in the second half, then followed it up by giving up two straight 3s and fouling a 3-pointer shooter to juice a 9-0 run by the Mean Green. The Shockers cut the deficit to one on two separate occasions, but never took the lead again.
WSU also didn’t have its usual domination on the glass, as North Texas won the rebounding battle, 29-24, and limited the Shockers to just eight second-chance points.
2. Harlond Beverly delivered a bounce-back game
In WSU’s 80-72 loss to UAB last Thursday, senior Harlond Beverly played just 15 minutes off the bench — by far the fewest minutes he has played since joining the Shockers last season — and had two points and two turnovers.
After looking off in his last performance, Beverly returned close to his best form on Monday with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting in 27 minutes off the bench.
Beverly drilled a 3-pointer early in the second half, which put WSU in position to take the lead on the following possession — its first of the game after trailing by as many as 12 points.
Not long after, Beverly finished a basket in the paint and then followed it with a 3-point play to help stake the Shockers to a 47-43 lead.
3. Wichita State clawed back after slow start
Falling behind by double digits almost immediately on the road can typically lead to a blow-out loss.
That certainly felt possible in the first seven minutes of Monday’s game when WSU head coach Paul Mills was forced to call time out with the Shockers in a 16-4 deficit.
But Mills tinkered with his team’s defense and the offense began manufacturing points from the foul line and in the paint, as the Shockers battled their way back to within 31-28 by halftime.
The offense took on a new life with aggressive play of Bijan Cortes and Harlond Beverly, who combined for 15 first-half points.
After committing turnovers on the first three possessions of the game, WSU limited its turnover count to just four more the final 54 possessions.
Upcoming schedule for Shocker basketball
at Rice, 7 p.m. (ESPN+) on Thursday, March 6
vs. Tulsa, 1 p.m. (ESPN+) on Sunday, March 9
vs. TBD in AAC tournament, TBD on Thursday, March 13
American Athletic Conference basketball standings
14-2, Memphis (24-5)
13-3, North Texas (22-6)
12-4, UAB (19-10)
11-5 Tulane (17-12)
9-7, East Carolina (17-12)
9-7, Florida Atlantic (16-13)
7-9, Wichita State (17-12)
7-9, Temple (15-14)
6-11, South Florida (13-17)
5-11, UTSA (11-17)
5-11, Tulsa (11-18)
4-13, Rice (13-17)
3-13, Charlotte (10-19)
This story was originally published March 3, 2025 at 10:28 PM.
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