Tulsa knocks off No. 9 Wichita State 77-67 (+video)

Wichita State center Anton Grady summed up the career of guard Fred VanVleet in one sentence, targeting why the Shockers miss him when he’s not All-American Fred VanVleet.

VanVleet, Grady said, makes the game easy for his teammates.

Little came easy for No. 9 Wichita State in Tuesday’s 77-67 loss to Tulsa at the Reynolds Center, largely because VanVleet’s strained left hamstring kept him from playing at his normal level.

“You look at him and, boom, you know when he says do a set it’s going to work,” Grady said. “You’re missing the best player in the country.”

Tulsa (2-0) presented a hefty challenge — healthy VanVleet or not — because of its athletic ability and nine seniors. The Hurricane knew Tuesday’s game could define their season and they played like it in ending a seven-game losing streak to WSU and claiming their first win over a ranked team since 2003. Tulsa students swarmed on the court at the buzzer, running toward the Hurricane players and celebrating with them with high fives, hugs and screams.

“Great win for us,” Tulsa coach Frank Haith said. “Our guys played with great toughness. We had to win the rebounding war and I thought we did a great job of that.”

The Shockers (1-1) couldn’t match the depth or the experience. WSU’s six bench players scored eight points, making one field goal, and committed five turnovers. Ron Baker led the Shockers with 23 points, making 8 of 18 shots. Anton Grady added 18 points and nine rebounds.

Senior Shaquille Harrison led the Hurricane with 20 points and senior Marquel Curtis came off the bench to score 16. Tulsa shot 46 percent for the game and made 10 of 22 three-pointers.

The Hurricane outrebounded WSU 38-32 and its bench outscored the Shockers 30-8.

WSU needed a third or fourth offensive option and neither starters Evan Wessel (three points) or Rashard Kelly (four) nor the reserves came through.

“We’ve got a lot to learn,” Baker said. “It takes five guys to play each possession. We had a lot of possessions tonight that weren’t fufilled. Lot of mental mistakes, breakdowns.”

Breakdowns like a streak of six straight turnovers — three by sophomore Zach Brown — in the first half. Or when sophomore Shaq Morris let Tulsa’s D’Andre Wright streak behind him for a dunk in the second half. Or when a rebound bounced on the floor near several Shockers, who watched as Pat Birt grabbed it and scored. And when freshman Landry Shamet, over-aggressive challenging a shot, fouled Birt to give up a four-point play.

The first road game of the season wasn’t easy for WSU’s young players. The sophomores moved up a spot or two in the rotation and didn’t look comfortable at many times. The freshmen, other than Shamet, contributed little.

“We have to get more production from them,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “They are better players than they showed tonight.”

VanVleet scored 11 points, all in the first half with nine in the final 1:17 on three three-pointers. He had three assists and no turnovers in 30 minutes. With his hamstring bothering him, he lacked his usual burst of speed and mobility, rarely running the pick and roll or driving into the lane. He wasn’t his customary defensive force, either.

“He’s not 100 percent,” Baker said. “I thought he managed the game pretty well. He did what he could.”

The strained left hamstring sidelined VanVleet for WSU’s exhibition game. He played three minutes in Friday’s opener before spraining his right ankle. While the ankle healed, the hamstring remains a pesky opponent. VanVleet said he felt good to start the game, then tweaked it early.

“From that point … I could jog and that’s about it,” he said. “It’s one game. We lost. We got out-played. We can’t let this affect the future.”

With VanVleet hobbled, Baker and Grady supplied most of the offense. VanVleet provided WSU’s best burst when he made a three to beat the shot-clock buzzer, then another, then a third at the end of the half. The 9-0 run put WSU up 31-30 and the Shockers extended that lead to 35-30 early in the second half.

Most of the rest of the game belonged to Tulsa, which ran and dunked and shut down the Shockers with a zone defense.

“It’s frustrating, but that’s when adversity hit us and that’s when you have got to bring out your character,” Harrison said.

WSU surrendered a 7-0 run that expanded to a 15-5 run when Harrison scored to give Tulsa 45-40 lead. The Hurricane made three of their first five threes to rally before Grady’s three ended the run.

Birt’s four-point play put Tulsa up 57-51 with 9:18 to play. Baker’s jumper cut the lead to 57-53. Two foul shots by Shaq Morris got WSU within 58-55 before Tulsa scored six straight points to build a 64-55 lead.

Tulsa coach Frank Haith bent his knees, spread his arms and yelled for his team to play defense. His players responded. Down 62-55, all WSU could come up with was two guarded threes by VanVleet. At 66-57, Rashad Smith blocked a jumper by Baker and Baker fouled Harrison chasing the reboound.

Harrison’s foul shot gave Tulsa 67-57 lead with 4:47 to play. Two more by Harrison made it 69-57.

Soon after, Marshall pulled VanVleet, who was useless in a pressing situation. Tuesday’s loss stings. The bigger issue is getting VanVleet healthy for WSU’s trip to Florida for the Advocare Invitational, starting with a game against Southern Cal on Nov. 26.

This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 9:18 PM with the headline "Tulsa knocks off No. 9 Wichita State 77-67 (+video)."