After 78 silent minutes, Karon Boyd never wavered. How his belief helped WSU win
For nearly two full games, Karon Boyd’s box score looked nothing like the steady double-digit contributor Wichita State had grown accustomed to seeing.
For 38 minutes in last Wednesday’s loss to South Florida, Boyd was held scoreless and recorded just one rebound. Three days later, Boyd was again looking like a non-factor against Tulsa. For 78 straight minutes of game action, Boyd went without a basket.
And yet when Wichita State needed someone to step up in the game’s biggest moments, Boyd didn’t hesitate.
He delivered the final five points and the game’s biggest defensive stop to propel the Shockers to a critical 81-77 win over Tulsa, a sequence that perfectly captured the unshakable confidence that teammates and coaches say define Boyd.
“It’s just part of life,” Boyd said of his recent struggles. “We’re constantly going through adversity, going through hardships. It’s about keeping your head down, staying confident and staying in the moment. Don’t worry about what’s gone wrong. It’s always about the next opportunity for me.”
Boyd was coming off one of the strangest stat lines of his career in a 66-58 home loss to South Florida: 38 minutes, zero points, one rebound. It snapped a seven-game double-digit scoring streak and marked the first time in 59 games he played a full contest without scoring.
WSU head coach Paul Mills didn’t let him forget about it, particularly in the rebounding department.
“He probably heard about it 50 times in the last 48 hours,” Mills said. “He got a rebound at practice and I said, ‘That’s your second rebound in 48 hours.’”
The Tulsa game actually followed a similar script for most of the night. Boyd was mired in foul trouble and missed his first three shots. As the clock ticked under three minutes with WSU trailing 75-74, Boyd was still scoreless — and still confident.
When Boyd caught a swing pass on the right wing early in the shot clock, he fired a 3 without hesitation. It missed. But the decision said everything about his mindset.
“When he took that 3 over there on the right wing, it was like, ‘OK, young fella, that’s some serious swag,’” Mills said. “But you want your guys to have that.”
The miss didn’t linger. Boyd didn’t flinch. Teammates say that emotional steadiness shows up daily, whether it be in film sessions, in huddles or in practice.
“Karon is an even-keeled guy,” WSU star Kenyon Giles said. “You notice it in the huddle and even at halftime, he never (looked) worried. Coming off of last game, going into practice he didn’t act any different. I already know when the moment comes, Karon is going to show up. He lets go of the past and he worries about the now.”
The now arrived fast.
With less than two minutes remaining and the shot clock winding down, Giles was cut off on a drive and shoveled the ball to Boyd on a late handoff. Instead of trying to give it back to the hot hand (Giles finished with 31), Boyd attacked. He lowered his shoulder, bumped his defender backward, used a pump fake to freeze the help and went up off two feet for a hook shot that curled in for a 78-75 lead with 1:29 left.
Tulsa answered to trim the lead to one. Again, the defense loaded up on Giles. Again, Boyd stepped into the action. He took another handoff, powered into the paint and lofted an off-balance, one-handed hook that kissed the backboard and dropped through for an 80-77 lead with 39 seconds left.
Boyd barely reacted. No fist pump. No shout. Just a sprint back on defense.
“I don’t really like to get too high,” Boyd said of his cool reactions. “I just know that every moment matters.”
His final — and perhaps biggest — moment came on the other end.
Matched up with Tulsa’s Tylen Riley, Boyd had probably been on the wrong end of the matchup for most of the game with the star guard scoring an efficient 21 points. But Boyd’s film study prepared him for exactly what was coming in crunch time.
“I knew when it comes to those late-clock situations, they’re trying to get to the line,” Boyd said. “(Riley) is known for getting to the paint, stopping, trying to pump fake and get you in the air, so I knew what he was going to do. It was all about giving him the best contest without fouling.”
Sure enough, Riley drove, stopped and pump-faked — just as Boyd expected. Boyd never left his feet. When Riley tried to create space and rose for a 10-footer, Boyd went up second and swatted the shot away for the stop that preserved the lead.
It was the kind of possession Boyd prides himself on: discipline over drama, preparation over panic.
“We don’t like to lose twice,” Boyd said. “We don’t like to lose at all. So seeing them come here on our home court, we didn’t want to lose again. It was an all-out battle.”
There was still one more nerve-wracking sequence left, thanks to WSU’s growing problem from the foul line. After Will Berg missed two free throws to give Tulsa one last chance, a potential tying 3 missed. Boyd secured the rebound and was fouled with 8.6 seconds left. He missed the first free throw and Tulsa called timeout to try to ice him — a scenario that echoed painful late-game misses in an earlier home loss to DePaul.
Boyd didn’t let the memory intrude.
“I’m honestly not worried about it, whatsoever,” Boyd said. “We’re focused on what’s going on after the free throw is made. I’m more so focused on the play call, not the shot. When they call timeout like that, they want you to really (focus) on the moment and try to be like, ‘I can’t miss, I can’t miss.’ For me, it’s all about just shooting and playing carefree.”
His second attempt, as high-arching as ever, splashed through cleanly to seal the win.
Boyd finished with just five points, but also eight rebounds, a steal and the game-saving block. For a player who refuses emotional swings, the rollercoaster week never changed his approach. He continued to defend, continued to study and continued to trust the work.
After 78 scoreless minutes, Boyd scored the five points that mattered most and helped propel Wichita State to a crucial conference win and into second place in the American standings.
No celebration required. Just business handled.
This story was originally published February 16, 2026 at 6:03 AM.
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