AfterShocks channel Wichita State MTXE to take down Houston alumni in TBT war
Before the AfterShocks even stepped onto the floor Tuesday night, Rashard Kelly made sure they understood the assignment.
The 2018 Wichita State graduate dropped a highlight video in the team group chat, a throwback to Jan. 4, 2018, when the Shockers pummeled Houston 81-63 in their first-ever American Athletic Conference home game at Koch Arena.
Kelly, Conner Frankamp and Markis McDuffie were all part of that win. So was the Roundhouse crowd. So was the toughness, the fight, the identity that defined an era.
Kelly added a simple message to the video:
“This is what we do to Houston when they come to our house.”
It landed.
Hours later, in the same building, a different roster summoned that same MTXE spirit and outlasted Forever Coogs, 66-63, in a Sweet 16 battle in The Basketball Tournament that felt ripped straight from the WSU-Houston wars of the past.
And just like in those battles, it wasn’t finesse that decided it. It was grit. It was rebounding. It was defense. And ultimately, it was Marcus Keene, who ruse up with the Elam Ending target score at 66 and drilled a towering, side-step 3 that seemed to hang in the air forever before splashing through the net.
“After Rashard sent that video to us,” Keene said, “we all wanted to put on for Wichita State.”
They did exactly that, answering every punch from a Forever Coogs squad that bore the same DNA as Kelvin Sampson’s old Houston teams: tough, physical, unrelenting.
From the opening tip, Tuesday’s regional championship was less a basketball game and more a test of wills. Both teams hit the floor with fury. Tensions spilled over in the fourth quarter, with players need to be separated. There was a mutual respect from their days competing under Sampson and Gregg Marshall, but no love lost.
“It was a fist fight,” AfterShocks coach Zach Bush said. “There were absolute wars going on the glass. Unbelievable toughness we showed. We gave up a few, but man, our guys battled their butts off. That really made it feel special, like those old Wichita State-Houston games.”
It wasn’t just nostalgia fueling the battle. There were real ties on both sides. Along with Kelly, Frankamp and McDuffie, Trey Wade suited up for the AfterShocks — a key member of the 2021 WSU team that knocked off No. 6 Houston at Koch Arena on the way to the program’s lone AAC title.
Forever Coogs countered with Galen Robinson Jr. and J’Wan Roberts, both veterans of past WSU-Houston showdowns.
“When I first got to Wichita State, Houston was known as the bullies of the league,” Wade said. “It got to the point where you had to fight back with them or else they were just going to run you over. That year we beat them, we had to fight for a full 40 minutes. That’s what it felt like tonight.”
Marcus Santos-Silva, a TBT newcomer but a natural fit in the AfterShocks’ blue-collar identity, thrived in the physicality. He scored 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting.
“I love those kind of games because the crowd gets into it and all of the little things matter,” he said. “The little stops, doing the dirty work, it gets the crowd going and then the crowd gets us hype.”
It wasn’t always pretty. Both teams went cold for long stretches. Possessions turned into scrums. But the effort never waned.
The AfterShocks owned the glass, winning the rebounding battle 38-25. They ripped down 15 offensive rebounds on 31 misses for a stunning 48% offensive rebounding rate and parlayed that into a 13-11 edge in second-chance points.
And in the end, it all set the stage for a classic Koch Arena moment.
With The Roundhouse pulsing and the game tied at 63, Keene rose for the kind of shot you don’t take unless you believe it’s going in — a side-step 3 that hung in the air forever before splashing through the net.
The crowd exploded. The bench stormed the court. And in the chaos, Kelly’s message came full circle.
“We know what Houston is about and Houston knows what we’re about,” Kelly said. “We both come from the same pedigree. Tough-nosed basketball, rely on defense, crash the glass, extra-effort plays.
“It could have gone either way tonight, but in the end, we just have a team built for those moments.”
This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 7:20 AM.
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