Wichita State basketball climbs American standings with Tulane road win
Wichita State continued its surge Sunday afternoon with a workmanlike 75-61 road win over Tulane at Fogelman Arena.
The Shockers secured their fifth victory in the last six games and another boost in the American Conference race. WSU improved to 15-9 overall and 7-4 in conference play, while Tulane slipped to 13-10 and 4-6.
The Shockers leaned on balance and toughness to overcome an off shooting night from star guard Kenyon Giles and still control the game most of the way. Dillon Battie delivered a career-high 19 points on an efficient 8-of-10 performance and grabbed nine rebounds, while Karon Boyd powered the effort with 18 points and four 3s to go with 11 boards.
In a sloppy contest that featured 29 combined turnovers, WSU separated with defense and rebounding, holding Tulane to 35.8% shooting and consistently winning the battle on the glass to secure the 14-point road victory.
“You don’t necessarily have to play good on the road, you have to play tough,” WSU head coach Paul Mills said.
Here are three takeaways:
1. Wichita State climbed American standings with Tulane road win
Winning on the road is often the clearest path to climbing the conference ladder, and Wichita State’s victory Sunday at Tulane fit that formula perfectly. While Tulane sits in the bottom half of the American standings, the Green Wave have proven dangerous by knocking off contenders like Florida Atlantic and Memphis, making this the type of potential trap game the Shockers had to survive.
By avoiding that land mine, WSU kept its push for a top-four finish firmly on track.
With results elsewhere around the American, the Shockers sit just one game back of first place with seven games remaining, part of a tightly packed six-team cluster separated by no more than a game at the top.
WSU created breathing room Sunday with defense, building a lead that grew to 18 points midway through the second half as Tulane struggled to find rhythm. The Green Wave answered with a 9-0 run to cut the margin to single digits, but the Shockers steadied behind a paint finish from Battie and a key late basket from Giles to halt the surge and close it out. A pivotal week now awaits back home at Koch Arena.
“If you told me that we held him (Giles) to (seven) ...” Tulane coach Ron Hunter said before shaking his head in frustration.
“A lot of credit to Wichita. I thought they played harder. I thought their effort was there.”
2. Karon Boyd’s 3-point improvement shined for Shockers
It can be difficult for WSU fans to fully grasp how much Boyd’s game has evolved, because this is their first extended look at him. But to those who watched his earlier career at East Tennessee State, the transformation is striking. Boyd has gone from a perimeter afterthought into a reliable, confident 3-point threat in the American.
In two seasons at ETSU, Boyd made just 21 total 3s and shot 19.1%, often left unguarded by defenses willing to gamble. That approach no longer works. Boyd has drilled 31 3s in 24 games for WSU while shooting 37%, forcing defenders to stay attached or risk giving up three points.
“It’s feels great,” Boyd said. “It’s definitely fulfilling seeing my game develop here. I want to impact the game offensively and defensively.”
What’s elevated his value is versatility. Boyd isn’t just spotting up — he’s hitting 3s off the bounce and under pressure. On Sunday, he buried a pull-up triple over a contest, a shot that underscored his growing offensive arsenal.
He paired that shot-making with toughness inside, finishing with 18 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and a block. Seven of those rebounds came on the offensive glass, fueling WSU’s 45-31 edge on the boards.
3. Dillon Battie gave WSU a lift in a sloppy first half
It was a ragged first half filled with empty trips, loose passes and blown finishes at the rim, as both teams committed nine turnovers and struggled to convert point-blank looks. Even so, WSU carried a 31-26 lead into the break thanks to slightly sharper shooting and the attacking mindset of Battie, whose downhill style proved effective against Tulane’s morphing zone.
The Green Wave successfully shadowed Giles and limited the Shocker star to just two first-half points, but Battie helped stabilize the offense.
Defensively, it was a mixed bag for WSU. The Shockers surrendered four backdoor cuts that led directly to uncontested layups, yet still forced nine turnovers and held Tulane to 38% shooting. Despite the breakdowns, the overall efficiency favored WSU, which limited the Green Wave to just 0.77 points per possession on their home floor.
The turning point came with a 7-0 burst late in the half, sparked by five Battie points, creating the only real separation in an otherwise grind-it-out opening 20 minutes. The rest of the half unfolded as a basket-for-basket exchange before WSU took its five-point cushion into halftime.
This story was originally published February 8, 2026 at 3:05 PM.
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