The 3-point line doesn’t apply to Kenyon Giles. Memphis learned the hard way
Most shooters treat the college 3-point line, painted 22 feet, 1¾ inches from the center of the basket, as a reference point for where their best looks usually come from.
Kenyon Giles does not abide by that line.
For Wichita State’s star guard, it’s more decoration than boundary. Almost all of his biggest 3s this season have come from several feet beyond it, including his latest back-breaking dagger Thursday night at Memphis that helped lift the Shockers to an 88-82 win and a historic season sweep of the Tigers.
“If I can see the rim,” Giles said, “then I’m not really worried about anything else.”
Another big shot for Wichita State star Kenyon Giles
So many times this season, Giles has lulled defenders into a false sense of security because their feet are still above the 3-point arc. While that may be enough to deter most shooters, Giles has proven this season that he is not like most shooters.
So with the clock ticking under 30 seconds and WSU clinging to a one-point lead, Giles began to slowly dribble forward and watched as the defender steadily backed up. That was the mistake. If you back up on Giles, you are liable to have a front-row seat to a splash party after turning around to watch the shot go in.
Sure enough, Giles pulled from 26 feet away. The contest was late and the shot was pure, all but sealing WSU’s first win at FedExForum since 2018 and the first sweep of the Tigers since joining the American.
“When the ball is in his hands, we know something great is going to happen,” WSU teammate Karon Boyd said.
WSU has now won four straight for the first time this season and nine of its last 11 games, improving to 19-10 overall and 11-5 in the American Conference. The Shockers remain tied with Tulsa for second place in the league standings and currently hold the tiebreaker for the coveted No. 2 seed and triple-bye into the conference tournament semifinals.
And when the game reached winning time in Memphis, the script felt familiar: get the ball to Giles and get out of the way.
“You learn this one pretty early in coaching: get the ball to your best player,” WSU head coach Paul Mills said. “I just appreciate a guy who puts in that much work and possesses that much confidence.”
A look at Kenyon Giles’ historic season as a Shocker
That confidence has helped fuel the best scoring season by a Shocker this century. Giles is averaging 19.2 points per game and his 96 made 3s this season leave him three shy of WSU’s single-season record.
But what has made Giles so valuable to this WSU team isn’t only the volume. It’s the timing.
His laundry list of big plays keeps growing: the late 3 with 27 seconds left at UAB to help seal a win; the steal and layup with 20 seconds left in overtime to beat conference-leading South Florida on the road; the two miracle plays at East Carolina, first a four-point play at the end of regulation to force overtime, then another steal-and-score sequence to extend the game to a second overtime in an eventual WSU win.
“It never gets old,” teammate Dre Kindell said with a wide grin. “He gets mad at me sometimes when I’m telling him, ‘You’re cold, bro.’ And he’s like, ‘Bro, focus on the game.’ But I feel like I am, that is the game.”
How Kenyon Giles helped WSU win at Memphis
Giles’ unflappable swagger came in handy on Thursday, considering he went into halftime with just three points on 1-for-9 shooting. WSU managed to survive without its leading scorer in a rhythm for much of the game, but there came a time when the Shockers needed him and Giles was there to supply.
He finished with 22 points on 9-of-23 shooting, but the split told the story: 19 of those 22 came after halftime and 12 came in the final seven minutes.
With WSU trying to hold off Memphis, Giles made four of his final five shots and authored a stretch that steadied the Shockers when the game threatened to tilt.
After tracking down his own miss, Giles went to work in the post against 6-foot-4 Memphis stopper Quante Berry, a mismatch on paper, but Giles made it work with a quick spin and slick up-and-under move to score. On the next possession, he attacked off the dribble, lofted in a high-arcing floater and was fouled for a three-point play. Next, Giles uncorked a devastating crossover dribble at the top to shake his defender, took a push dribble into space and rose into a pull-up jumper that never touched the rim.
In less than 70 seconds, Giles had created a seven-point explosion by himself and nudged the Shockers ahead 77-69 with 5:35 remaining.
WSU still needed one more answer.
After the teams traded the lead six times in the final three minutes, WSU finally registered the first defensive stand and funneled the ball to Giles with a one-point lead and the clock under 30 seconds.
WSU had T.J. Williams nearby if Giles felt like he needed a screen, but the star quickly waved it off. He wanted the 1-on-1 matchup with Memphis leading scorer Sincere Parker in front of him. Parker continued to take steps backwards as Giles slowly advanced and then out of the corner of his eye, he saw Memphis bring a late double team his way.
Too late. Before the double team could arrive and before Parker could contest, the shot was gone. And a second later, it splashed through the net.
“I wouldn’t say it’s spur of the moment, I just wanted the shot that I wanted,” Giles said. “I saw that he was sitting back and I saw the trap coming, so I had my feet set and just let it fly and trusted my work and it went in.”
Kenyon Giles has the clutch gene for the Shockers
That has become the defining feeling around Giles in late possessions: not hope, but expectation.
In conference games, Giles is now 10 of 24 from 3 in the final five minutes of regulation, a 41.7% clip in the exact moments when defenses are most locked in.
“It’s weird to say, but at this point, it honestly doesn’t surprise me,” WSU center Will Berg said. “You see him wave off the screen and how locked into the moment he was. At that point, you knew it was game time.”
When told about WSU’s long drought in Memphis, Giles acknowledge the feat, but said this team was more focused on reeling off its first four-game winning streak of the season.
And when asked about his knack for hitting all of his biggest shots on the road, Giles said it has little to do with his motivation to silence the crowd.
“Forget the crowd, to me, it’s all about getting the win,” Giles said. “I’m not really big on talking trash or getting into it with anybody. I’m going to let the game do the talking. I’m not trying to get into an ego battle with anybody. That’s them. There’s a bigger prize out there. Winning is all that matters to me.”
On Thursday night, Giles’ game had plenty to say.
This story was originally published February 27, 2026 at 6:01 AM.
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