Shocker fans nearing Wichita TBT attendance record for title game at Koch Arena
The AfterShocks have already delivered a summer to remember in The Basketball Tournament.
Now Wichita State fans are trying to cap it off with history in the stands.
With just one day remaining before Sunday’s 3 p.m. championship game at Koch Arena, sources tell The Eagle that around 6,600 tickets have been sold — putting the all-time Wichita TBT attendance record of 7,202 well within reach. Tickets as low as $10 are available on GoShockers.com.
But ticket sales slowed on Saturday and organizers are urging fans to keep buying to give Wichita a chance at its first sellout at Koch Arena since March 8, 2020. The most attended game since the pandemic was 9,070 fans who watched the Shockers take on Houston in 2022.
It would be a fitting finale for a team that’s played with old-school Shocker grit and fed off raucous crowds all tournament. The Wichita State alumni team will play Eberlein Drive for the $1 million prize and a chance to be crowned TBT champions, all in front of a national television audience on FOX.
While TBT has staged championship games for a decade, Sunday will be the first time one is played on a team’s home floor — a major reason why Wichita is poised to smash the previous record. That number was unofficially eclipsed by the lines outside the box office following Thursday’s semifinal win over We Are D3, with fans rushing to grab a seat for what promises to be one of the most electric atmospheres in the history of the event.
“Most people don’t get to do something like this,” AfterShocks coach Zach Bush said. “Even in the good regionals in TBT, there’s very few who experience something like this and the amount of times we’ve experienced it.
“Every time I walk out, I take a deep breath and look around and just think, ‘This is so cool.’ It’s incredibly special to be able to do this with guys who are like family to me.”
Wichita already owns 10 of the 17 most-attended games in TBT history, and Sunday’s finale will make it 11. The city has cracked the 6,000 mark multiples times, something no other TBT host has accomplished. While Louisville still holds the single-game record (13,506 in 2023), no market has shown up with the consistency or fervor of Wichita.
The crowds have steadily swelled throughout this year’s run: 4,424 fans packed Koch Arena for the quarterfinal win over Heartfire, followed by 5,512 for the semifinal victory on Thursday.
Sunday’s game will also mark another milestone for TBT. With tickets sold now surpassing 100,000 for the tournament’s 11-year history, the organization will commemorate the moment by awarding a special prize pack to a fan in attendance.
“As soon as we stepped foot in Koch Arena, we saw how special this fan base was,” TBT founder Jon Mugar said. “I love how educated they are here and what they cheer for. There truly is nothing like the Wichita fan base, in my opinion.”
The AfterShocks have rewarded that support with a brand of basketball that’s reminded fans of Wichita State’s heyday: tough defense, bruising rebounding, unselfish offense.
Marcus McDuffie, one of the team’s emotional leaders, said they’ve carried the lessons from their WSU days into this summer’s run.
“We could come here and lollygag and play around, but we’re showing what we learned in those four years and we’re bringing it to summer basketball,” McDuffie said. “We’re doing the things that Shocker fans loved us for. We know what it takes to win from playing here.”
Now the fans have a chance to deliver one last assist: a packed crowd that could push the AfterShocks to one more win — and bring the true Koch Arena experience back to life.
This story was originally published August 2, 2025 at 3:18 PM.
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