The halftime fixes that fueled Wichita State’s comeback win at UAB
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- Wichita State overcame a 16-point halftime deficit to win 75-70 at UAB.
- Shockers attacked the offensive glass, grabbing 15 rebounds on that end of court.
- Players emphasized physicality at halftime and executed a decisive response.
Wichita State looked rattled, rushed and on the ropes for much of the first half Wednesday in Birmingham.
Then the Shockers regrouped, recalibrated and flipped the script after halftime to storm back from a 16-point deficit to capture a 75-70 road win over UAB.
The victory moved WSU to 9-5 overall and 1-0 in the American, snapping a four-year skid in conference openers. It also set up a chance to sweep the road swing Saturday with a 5 p.m. game at Charlotte.
Here are the three keys to how the Shockers pulled off a key road win.
Solving the 1-3-1: From panic to poise
UAB’s extended 1-3-1 zone trap completely unraveled Wichita State in the first half.
WSU faced the trap 11 times in the first half, committing turnovers on six of those possessions and only scoring five points. One by one, the Shockers wilted. Dre Kindell simply lost the ball near halfcourt. Kenyon Giles was swallowed up by length for back-to-back turnovers. Karon Boyd threw the ball away before even getting across midcourt. T.J. Williams retreated under pressure for an over-and-back violation.
After the last giveaway pushed the margin to 40-24, WSU limped into the locker room down 13 and looking disjointed.
“We were just doing silly things,” coach Paul Mills said. “We were trying to pass East-West, instead of playing North-South. We just looked really timid in that process.”
What frustrated Mills most was that his team had prepared for the 1-3-1. But preparation doesn’t always replicate the speed, length and relentless pressure of seeing it live.
The halftime fix was simple: Mills stationed WSU’s center deep in the corner as a release valve and told his guards to find them immediately after crossing halfcourt. The wrinkle did two things: it relieved the pressure and, more importantly, it broke the zone.
Any time the ball hit the corner, UAB’s rules dictated it abandon the 1-3-1 and scramble into man-to-man coverage. And when the center caught it against a wing, Mills empowered them to attack. On one pivotal possession midway through the second half, Okorafor started a post-up from the corner and finished with a left-handed hook, a play that effectively ended UAB’s reliance on the zone.
WSU didn’t commit a single turnover against the 1-3-1 after halftime.
“We came into halftime and just said, ‘New half,’” WSU guard Kenyon Giles said. “We can’t control what happened in the past. So we were just focused on controlling the next half and we did that as a team.”
Better defense from WSU also starved UAB’s trap. Because the Blazers only set the 1-3-1 after made baskets — and managed just six scores in its first 17 second-half possessions — chances to apply pressure evaporated.
“We had opportunities when it was eight or eight to get it back to 10 or 12,” UAB coach Andy Kennedy said. “They expended a lot of energy in getting back into the game. But we couldn’t score, so we couldn’t get back to the 1-3-1. It was like a double whammy.”
Fixing the leaks: How WSU’s defense shut off the rim
The defensive turnaround was just as dramatic.
In the first half, WSU gave up 42 points, 11 layups or dunks and a staggering 1.31 points per possession. UAB’s slip screens carved open the defense again and again. By slipping the screen instead of making contact, the Blazers punished WSU’s aggressive hedge coverage and put immense strain on backside help — a strain the Shockers couldn’t handle.
“We needed to recognize a slip is not a pick and roll,” Mills said. “So we just had to remind some players of some things.”
Even when Mills tried to adjust on the fly by telling his team to play ball screens straight up, confusion lingered. The result was a steady stream of easy baskets.
After halftime, clarity replaced chaos.
“We needed to change some things, especially from a pick-and-roll coverage standpoint,” Mills said. “We were botching coverages and putting two on the ball without any rim protection. So we needed to make some adjustments there.”
Those adjustments were twofold. Guards were told to “peel off” and momentarily switch onto the slipping big man, taking away the easy pass. Meanwhile, WSU’s centers dropped back in coverage instead of hedging, clogging the lane and forcing UAB into pull-up jumpers.
The impact was immediate. Early in the second half, Mike Gray Jr. peeled off to intercept a pass intended for a slipping big — a play that simply didn’t exist in the first half. The Blazers’ pipeline to the rim vanished, and their efficiency plummeted to 0.85 points per possession after the break.
The defining sequence came late. With WSU up one, UAB finally set a real screen. Ahmad Robinson drove downhill and fired a bounce pass to KyeRon Lindsay-Martin, only for Gray to peel off and disrupt it just long enough for Berg to recover and swat the potential go-ahead shot.
“There were a couple of times where the ship was shaking,” Mills said. “Even when we were down 16, there was never any loss of fight. There wasn’t anybody who didn’t think we were going to come back and find a way to win that game.”
Winning with force: How WSU owned the glass
The final pillar of the comeback was physical dominance.
UAB entered the night as a top-10 defensive rebounding team. In a battle of strength-on-strength, WSU prevailed. The Shockers grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, posted a 43% offensive rebounding rate — the worst UAB has allowed all season — and held the Blazers to a 28.6% offensive rebounding rate of their own, the second-worst mark of the season for UAB.
The tone was set immediately after halftime. WSU ripped down three offensive rebounds on one possession, capped by Boyd muscling in a put-back to fuel a 10-0 run that erased most of the deficit within the first four minutes of the second half.
Boyd, Williams and Berg combined for 10 offensive rebounds. Williams extended key possessions late. Berg delivered in the biggest moments, including two straight offensive boards and a put-back that pushed the lead to 67-64 with 2:58 left.
“We knew that we had to come out and punch (the second half),” Giles said. “UAB is a great team. This is a physical league. So we already knew we had to come out and hit a little bit more. We had to raise our physicality and I feel like we did that.”
Kennedy agreed.
“For this team to have a chance to be successful, we’ve got to play with force,” Kennedy said. “I thought Wichita State had much more force than us in the second half. We have to do everything with authority, then we have to respond. I thought we lost all three of those battles to Wichita State and that’s how they come into your building and beat you.”
This story was originally published January 2, 2026 at 1:59 PM.
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