Dug McDaniel hit the deck hard.
Emmanuel Okorafor set a screen on him less than four minutes into the second half Saturday that made the ex-Kansas State point guard walk in a daze to the announcers’ table after picking himself up off the hardwood. Memphis coach Penny Hardaway took a timeout, and Wichita State led by 24.
Winning feels sweet. But winning against a team fans hate the most feels even sweeter.
It may not have been last year’s top 25 upset, but Wichita State dominated Memphis to the delight of 6,226 Shocker faithful inside Koch Arena for a satisfying 74-59 victory.
The Shockers are now 1.5 games back from first place in the American Conference standings and on a three-game win streak, improving to 13-8 overall and 5-3 against league opponents. It’s also the first time in the Paul Mills era that they’re two games above .500 in the conference.
And for the second-consecutive game, WSU threw the first punch and didn’t look back.
“You’re not going to win the game in the first five minutes,” Mills said. “But the tone is going to set in the first five minutes. You go back to that East Carolina game; I think we had five offensive rebounds at the first media (timeout).”
The blow against the Tigers (9-10, 4-3 American) looked like a 12-0 run that became a 21-point advantage with five minutes left in the half. During that time, it looked like the Shockers gassed Memphis.
It showed. McDaniel and Quante Berry flung hands high and tilted their heads back after an unforced turnover with 7:33 to go. Junior center Will Berg even forced some Tigers players to the floor with physical play and hard screens.
Sophomore Dillon Battie soared high for a one-handed dunk to ignite the crowd and force a Memphis timeout. By the end of the half, the Shockers took a 40-22 lead.
“Every time we come out, if we’re the most physical team, we’re going to come out with the dub,” said senior guard Kenyon Giles, who finished with a game-high 14 points and was one of four Shockers to eclipse double-digits. “Every time we’re going to have a good chance at it.”
The other WSU players who joined Giles with 10 or more points were senior Karon Boyd (14), sophomore Dillon Battie (13, season-high), and Berg (10). Sophomore Brian Amuneke scored nine off the bench on three 3-pointers, whose play didn’t go unnoticed by Mills.
“I appreciate the fact that he was not gun-shy,” Mills said. “I thought those three threes in the first half kind of gave us a leg up.”
The Shockers went up by as many as 24 in the second half and continued to keep the foot on the gas. Memphis turned up its intensity, too, eventually clawing back to 11 points with five-and-a-half minutes left in the game.
But every time it looked like the Tigers would force their way back into it, WSU responded with timely shots and trips to the foul line to keep them at bay — including three 3-pointers from Boyd and Giles.
When asked about the rivalry, players echoed that it doesn’t matter who you put in front of the Shockers. They’re not going to treat any team differently than the next.
“We don’t really hang our heads or get amped up over one team,” Boyd said. “We try to treat everybody the same. At the end of the day, we want to get a win. It doesn’t matter who is in front of us. We’re going to treat them like they’re the opposition.
“But we were excited to play together, getting the chance to go out here and show our talents and play as a team.”
Playing as a team, that’s what the Shockers are doing now. Out-muscling opponents, too.
For now, however, they’ll get a week off before heading to Tulsa to play the Golden Hurricane in the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Sunday, Feb. 1 at 1 p.m.
Box score breakdown
WSU — 40; 34 — 74
Memphis — 22; 37 — 59
Shooting totals (fg-3pt-ft)
WSU (45% — 35% — 63%)
Memphis (41% — 16% — 73%)
Leaders
Points — WSU: Kenyon Giles (14), Karon Boyd (14), Dillon Battie (13), Will Berg (10). Memphis: Curtis Givens III (11), Aaron Bradshaw (10), Simon Majok (10).
Rebounds — WSU: Will Berg (10), Dillon Battie (8), Mike Gray Jr. (5). Memphis: Aaron Bradshaw (9), Julius Thedford (6), Zach Davis (4), Hasan Abdul Hakim (4).
Assists — WSU: Will Berg (4), Dillon Battie (3), Mike Gray Jr. (3), Kenyon Giles (3), TJ Williams (3). Memphis: Dug McDaniel (3), Curtis Givens III (2).
