Early in the second half last Sunday, Kenyon Giles kept a loose ball from going out of bounds by firing it off a North Texas player.
Karon Boyd grabbed it two-handed, erasing any second-chance look or reset for the Mean Green. It was a blink-and-you-miss-it sequence, but plays like that helped Wichita State secure a 78-64 win and snap a four-game skid against North Texas dating back to 2021.
For coach Paul Mills, those moments are more than hustle. They’re “takes no talent” plays — TNT plays — an intangible that he believes goes into winning basketball games in the American Conference.
The Shockers (10-7, 2-2 American) can certainly use more than the seven of those plays Mills said he and his staff tracked against North Texas as they head to Florida this week. They’ll face Florida Atlantic (11-6, 3-1) on Thursday at 8 p.m. (ESPN 2), then head to South Florida (10-6, 2-1) on Sunday at 1 p.m. (ESPNU).
“There’s games where we have more of them,” Mills said about TNT plays Tuesday. “Usually if we can be north of 18, we’re probably going to find our way winning that basketball game.”
A TNT play can look like Giles’ save or Boyd securing the ball with two hands. It can be maintaining contact after initiating it, running the floor or playing off two feet instead of one.
But they share one thing: they typically happen when you don’t have the ball. As Mills puts it, 95% of the game is spent without it, making them subtle differences in the outcome that won’t show up in the box score.
“Five percent of the game, the ball is going to be in your hands,” Mills said. “You need to know what your truth is, and who you are as a player. But you need to operate in that 95%. A lot of operating in the 95% is making TNT plays.”
When the staff goes back through the film, Mills said, they acknowledge those plays and reward them on the court. But at the end of the day, everybody needs to make them.
“Everybody’s required to make TNT plays,” Mills said. “Everybody’s required to space. Everybody’s required to defensive rebound, and everybody’s required to take care of the basketball. That’s universal all the way across the board. So, we come in knowing there’s TNT plays in the same way that we would do defensive rebounding, the same way that we would do pick-and-roll coverage — we make sure that they’re acknowledged.”
Even though seven was enough to outlast the Mean Green, 18 might be the magic number in Florida. Both FAU and South Florida have some of the conference’s most high-powered offenses.
At 91.1 points a game, the Bulls top the league by nearly four points. The Owls, who sit in fourth, average 83.5. They’re also both near the top of the conference in rebounding — a stat that matters greatly on the road.
The margins speak for themselves: South Florida outscores opponents by 11.3 on average, FAU by 10.2. At their home venues, the programs have combined for a 13-2 record.
While those stick out — scoring margins, rebound totals, home record — they don’t bog down Mills or the rest of the Shockers.
“It really doesn’t,” Mills said. “I get where Vegas lines (come from) and people think that because so-and-so says you’re supposed to beat them by so-and-so, that you should have beat them by so-and-so.
“I don’t think there’s anybody in our locker room who thinks that way. We understand just how hard it’s going to be,” he added.
The challenge in Florida won’t be about matching firepower, but winning in the margins. And for Wichita State, that starts with the same thing it did against North Texas: stacking TNT plays and living in that 95%.
