AfterShocks launch TBT title defense with Game 1 rout over Enchantment
The black championship banner hanging over section 123 served as a reminder of what the AfterShocks accomplished last summer.
Then the defending champions spent Monday night showing why another one may be possible.
In a performance even more lopsided than the final score suggested, the AfterShocks overwhelmed the Enchantment with suffocating defense, overwhelming depth and a record-setting offensive eruption in a 98-77 victory at Koch Arena.
Before the first game of their best-of-three opening-round series, Wichita State raised a temporary banner commemorating the AfterShocks’ 2025 TBT championship. Once play began, the celebration continued with the most points the franchise has scored in a TBT game.
The opening possession carried symbolism of its own.
The AfterShocks ran a pick-and-roll with Marcus Keene and Morris Udeze, the former WSU center who transferred to New Mexico for his final college season but chose Wichita over the New Mexico alumni team for his TBT debut.
Keene floated an alley-oop toward the rim. Udeze punctuated his decision by throwing it down for a thunderous dunk only seconds into the game.
It was the beginning of a nearly flawless night.
The AfterShocks surpassed their previous high of 86 before the Elam Ending even began. They established another program record with 25 assists on 36 baskets, turned 14 Enchantment turnovers into 28 points and led by as many as 36.
All 11 AfterShocks played. All 11 scored. No starter logged more than 20 minutes.
“That’s been who we’ve been since 2019,” AfterShocks coach Zach Bush said. “No matter if shots are falling or not, we’re going to bring it defensively and let our defense be a catalyst for our offense. And then when both are going, we’re really dangerous.”
Corey Washington supplied the fury. Keene delivered the fireworks.
Washington dazzled in his AfterShocks debut with a team-high 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting and seven rebounds. His total tied for the fourth-highest scoring performance in franchise history, but the numbers captured only part of his impact.
The former WSU fan favorite played with the same reckless energy that endeared him to Koch Arena two years ago. He attacked the glass, sprinted the floor, hunted loose balls and helped transform stops into a stream of transition opportunities.
Q.J. Peterson added 18 points off the bench and announced himself early by drilling 3-pointers on one end and applying enough backcourt pressure to force 10-second violations on the other.
But no stretch electrified the Roundhouse quite like Keene’s second-quarter inferno.
With the game already spiraling beyond the Enchantment’s control, the MVP of last summer’s championship game made four consecutive 3-pointers in a little more than two minutes.
“I’m a scorer, so if I see one go in and the second go in, then I’m going to heat check,” Keene said. “My team has got a lot of confidence in me, so I just felt good. I wanted to show the fans that we ready and we’re trying to run it back again.”
After the second, Keene turned toward the crowd while retreating on defense and slapped hands with current WSU wing T.J. Williams along the sideline.
The next possession appeared broken when Keene fumbled a pass near his ankles on the right wing. Feeling the kind of heat that renders conventional shot selection irrelevant, he gathered the ball and rose immediately.
Swish.
Keene skipped down the floor after his third straight make and motioned toward the Enchantment bench, suggesting a timeout. When none came, he launched again on the next possession — this time from several feet beyond the arc.
Swish again.
Moments later, the AfterShocks grabbed a rebound and funneled the ball to Keene with a full head of steam. For a fleeting moment, he considered pulling up from half court in pursuit of a fifth straight 3.
Instead, Keene showed what he considered restraint: He took one dribble across half court and fired from beyond 30 feet. The shot fell just short, ending one of the most spectacular shooting displays in AfterShocks history.
“I wanted to shoot it from half, but I’m like, ‘Let’s still be serious,’” Keene said with a laugh. “We want to play the right way, but basketball is also about entertainment. We want to put on a show for the fans.”
On a heater like that, his coach didn’t mind the audacity.
“I would have pulled him if he didn’t shoot the fifth,” Bush said.
Keene finished with 16 points, but his four-shot flamethrower will join the defining highlights of AfterShocks history.
Long before that, the outcome had begun to feel inevitable.
Conner Frankamp opened the scoring with a 3 that jolted the crowd and the second unit soon demonstrated the depth that could make this roster especially dangerous. Peterson stretched the defense, Washington supplied the hustle and James Woodard resumed tossing in corner 3s as if he had never left.
The AfterShocks led 26-10 after the first quarter, then opened the second with eight unanswered points. That completed a stretch of more than seven minutes in which the Enchantment failed to score.
There were no comfortable routes to the basket. The AfterShocks’ connected, aggressive defense crowded the paint and forced the Enchantment into a steady diet of contested jumpers.
By halftime, the lead had ballooned to 48-22. Another surge to open the third quarter made it 57-22 after Markis McDuffie buried a 3.
The Enchantment, making its fifth TBT appearance as New Mexico’s representative, arrived in Wichita severely depleted. Potential star Donovan Dent was lost shortly before the tournament, and seven players from the original roster did not make the trip.
K.J. Jenkins kept the final score from becoming even more unsightly with 22 points and six 3-pointers. Jemel Jones scored 21 and Vance Jackson added 16.
Even so, the AfterShocks threatened their largest victory in team history — a 31-point demolition of We Are D3 in the 2022 opener — before their concentration slipped with the game long decided.
The Enchantment’s zone defense slowed the offense, the AfterShocks became careless and a potential record margin disappeared. For stretches, they appeared to play with their food instead of finishing it.
That was about all there was to critique.
Marcus Santos-Silva, who arrived on a plane Sunday night, collected 10 rebounds and distributed a team-high five assists off the bench. The AfterShocks repeatedly passed up good shots to create better ones, explaining how they finished with 25 assists and had five players score in double figures.
They eventually ended the prolonged formality when Rashard Kelly strolled into a wide-open 3 and buried the second Elam Ending winner of his career.
The win gives the AfterShocks a 1-0 advantage entering Game 2 on Thursday at Koch Arena. One more victory will advance them out of the opening round against the winner of the Kansas-Kansas State alumni tussle; a loss would force a decisive Game 3 on Friday.
This story was originally published July 20, 2026 at 9:51 PM with the headline "AfterShocks launch TBT title defense with Game 1 rout over Enchantment."
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