TJ Williams delivers again to power Wichita State past Wyoming for home NIT win

With Wichita State’s legs growing heavier by the minute and Wyoming selling out to make life miserable for Kenyon Giles, the Shockers needed somebody else to seize control with their season on the line.

They turned to T.J. Williams.

And the redshirt freshman answered again.

In a game that demanded grit more than beauty, Williams delivered the kind of all-around performance that hinted at why Wichita State believes his future could be so bright, powering the Shockers to a 74-70 win over Wyoming in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament on Tuesday night at Koch Arena.

Playing its third game in four days, WSU (23-11) advanced to the second round, where it will travel to Stillwater to face Oklahoma State (20-14) this weekend. But before the Shockers could start thinking about another road test, they needed a difference-maker to drag them across the finish line against a stubborn Wyoming team that entered as a top-100 KenPom opponent.

Williams was that player.

The 6-foot-5 freshman finished with a game-high 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting and ripped down a career-high 14 rebounds for a double-double that felt even larger than the stat line. He rebounded like a power forward, pushed the ball like a point guard and made winning plays in nearly every crucial moment of the second half.

“A lot of teams have been doing this, just how much they’re trying to take (Kenyon Giles) out,” Wichita State coach Paul Mills said. “So we needed a secondary playmaker in order to get that done. And T.J.’s ability to rebound, then break out and make plays and then his assertiveness around the rim was terrific.”

For much of this season, Williams has flashed the rare skill set that makes him such an intriguing piece for Wichita State. He has the size and toughness to bang inside, but also the handle and vision to initiate offense. On Tuesday, in a game where the Shockers often had to manufacture points the hard way, Williams’ versatility became the ace up WSU’s sleeve.

It wasn’t quite the same offensive eruption as his 27-point breakout at East Carolina, when he took over the second overtime of that road win. But given the stakes, the opponent and the way the game unfolded, this was certainly one of his best performances of his young career.

“What I appreciate is we can just give the ball to him and let’s space accordingly,” Mills said. “He can do that.”

Williams’ fingerprints were all over the biggest moments.

Early in the second half, WSU spread the floor and dusted off a pet play it once used for Xavier Bell, another left-handed player who thrived attacking with the left side opened up. Williams, also a lefty, got downhill and powered to the rim to give the Shockers a 41-36 lead.

Later, with Wichita State trailing 52-51 inside the final six minutes, Williams delivered one of the game’s most important possessions. Brian Amuneke’s corner attempt missed everything, but Williams flew in for the offensive rebound, missed the first put-back, stayed with the play, secured the miss again and muscled through contact for the basket. He completed the three-point play to put Wichita State back in front, 54-52.

On the very next possession, he struck again.

Off a baseline out-of-bounds set, Williams sliced hard down the lane, lost the defense and rose for a two-handed dunk that stretched the lead to 56-54.

He wasn’t done cleaning up possessions, either.

When Karon Boyd missed a free throw with 3:11 remaining and the Shockers clinging to a 59-56 lead, Williams slipped his box-out, pounced on the rebound and converted the put-back to make it 61-56.

It was the exact type of sequence Wyoming coach Sundance Wicks pointed to afterward.

“We’ve got to go get a four man who can go be like T.J. Williams and go dominate a game,” Wicks said. “From a rebounding perspective, from a bully basketball perspective, from a physicality performance, I thought he was the difference in the game.”

That assessment only became more obvious in the closing minutes.

With just over two minutes left, Williams put together the kind of possession that illustrated the full scope of his talent. He grabbed a contested defensive rebound in traffic, immediately pushed the ball himself in transition and attacked the rim. Wyoming had started shading him left, trying to sit on his dominant hand. So Williams countered by going right — and, maybe for the first time all season, finishing with his right hand at the rim.

The contested layup pushed Wichita State’s lead to 64-58 with 2:01 to play.

As he ran back on defense, Williams kept his right hand raised, a subtle acknowledgment of the growth in a part of his game he has been working to develop.

That basket mattered. So did what came next.

By then, Wichita State had little choice but to put more creation responsibility on Williams. Veteran guard Mike Gray Jr. had gotten tangled up with a Wyoming player and was hobbled down the stretch. Gray stayed on the floor, but he was clearly limited. Wyoming, meanwhile, kept hounding Giles, determined to make somebody else beat them.

So the Shockers handed the keys to Williams.

The first attempt didn’t work, as Williams was stripped trying to attack right out of a pick-and-roll. But WSU adjusted on the fly. Mills told him to run the action from the right side instead, allowing Williams to handle more comfortably with his left hand. When Wyoming sent extra attention to the ball, Williams stayed poised, stretched the defense dribbling along the sideline and then slipped a pass to Emmanuel Okorafor rolling free down the lane for a dunk and a 66-60 lead with 1:15 to go.

“I’m just trying to make the right play,” Williams said. “I saw they were helping, so I dumped it off and got Manny a dunk.”

Then came one more cut, one more instinctive winning play.

With 33.7 seconds remaining, Gray drove the baseline and pulled help toward him. The moment Williams saw his defender leave to help in the corner, he exploded from the wing to the rim. Gray found him for an easy layup that pushed Wichita State’s lead to 68-63 and gave the Shockers just enough breathing room to survive the final seconds.

There was one blemish in an otherwise brilliant night. Williams missed two free throws with 24.8 seconds left and finished just 1 of 5 from the line, leaving the door open for Wyoming. But that hardly changed the larger picture.

Without Williams, Wichita State may not have advanced at all.

Giles, Wichita State’s star, said the team already trusts the redshirt freshman in those moments.

“You know you can trust that guy down the stretch,” Giles said. “You saw it at ECU down the stretch. He just took over the whole game. So it’s a blessing to have a young guy like this that’s poised in these type of situations and can come through for us. I’m excited to see the future for him.”

For now, the future can wait. Wichita State’s season is still alive in the present.

Williams came into Tuesday averaging 8.5 points and 4.8 rebounds, productive numbers for a redshirt freshman still learning where and how he can impose himself. But the bigger story is what he is becoming for a team trying to keep its postseason alive: a matchup problem, a secondary creator, a rebounder with a nose for chaos and, increasingly, a player unafraid of the biggest possessions.

That combination is rare. And on Tuesday night, it was essential.

The Shockers didn’t have much left in the tank. They didn’t play a perfect game. They simply found a way, leaning on the poise and force of a freshman who looked completely at home in winning time.

“We’re trying to chase a banner and a ring,” he said.

This story was originally published March 18, 2026 at 6:03 AM.

Taylor Eldridge

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6270

Wichita State athletics beat reporter. Bringing you closer to the Shockers you love and inside the sports you love to watch.