Wichita State was already amid a suffocating run when back-to-back dunks rattled the rafters at Koch Arena. Memphis needed a timeout badly.
Before the teams even huddled, WSU coach Paul Mills waved his arms up and down like he was about to take flight. He punched the air so hard he almost knocked the wind out of it.
The Shockers were well on their way to a 74-59 beatdown that extended their win streak to three games and jumped their record to 13-8 on the season and 5-3 in American Conference play.
Everyone in that moment — players, assistants, trainers, fans on their feet — was roaring. The Roundhouse was turned into the “Loudhouse.” Forward Dillon Battie, who saw Mills’ reaction, said after the game that it fuels everything when a coach gets that fired up.
“I actually didn’t see that,” guard Kenyon Giles said with a laugh. “When Coach Mills gets hyped, that means we’re doing a good job.”
For 40 minutes, the Shockers crashed the glass, dove for loose balls and set damning screens that left Tigers on the floor. They were a team firing on all cylinders, playing an unselfish and physical brand of basketball fans have grown to love over the years.
“The extra effort’s definitely important,” forward Karon Boyd said. “For one, it kills their momentum, and it gets us amped up. Everybody’s willing to do the little things, get gritty and get on the floor. It’s good to see everybody is willing to give it their all and put it out there.”
WSU was led by a balanced attack on offense that saw four players eclipse double-digit scoring and played stifling defense that only allowed 41% of Memphis’ shots to fall.
The Shockers forced 17 turnovers and held the Tigers to under 10 points for 15 minutes of the first half. They went on a 22-4 run during that time to open a 21-point cushion, and never led by less than 11 points from then on. They dished out 17 assists on 30 buckets and picked apart Memphis’ defense with ease.
The 6,226 in attendance, who braved freezing temperatures and snow, were treated to a warming, dominant performance — one that serves as a statement for the rest of the league. If WSU can keep the same form when it travels to Tulsa Sunday, Feb. 1, a new season-high in attendance could be in store for the Shockers when they return home.
“It’s not other people’s job to move us. It’s our job to move them,” Mills said. “The only way that we can move people is you have to play connected. You have to play inspired. You have to play intense.”
When Giles saw the number of people arriving to the game, he knew the Shocker faithful had their backs.
“I was a little nervous about a pretty good team coming in here,” he said. “I would’ve loved to have the crowd, but I saw the snow and I was like, ‘I understand.’ But on the way here, I saw the fans walking in. I was like, ‘We got some real supportive fans.’ It was really exciting.”
And as rewarding as seeing the turnout in the crowd was, WSU seeing its own growth from within felt just as satisfying. The start of the Shockers’ conference schedule had already been up-and-down with an 18-point blown lead to Charlotte and a narrow loss against Rice.
But a grind-it-out win against South Florida and back-to-back gut punches this week are proof that this team is starting to click at the right time. There’s never a moment to get complacent, however.
“We still have a long way to go, a lot of learning,” Giles said. “We’re stacking wins, but at the end of the day, this is a hard conference.”
He added: “Teams started scouting us, and we just have to keep figuring it out … keep getting better in all areas.”
Still, the Shockers’ motivation to do so is unwavering. Saturday was just the latest public display.
“We’re all just dedicated to the game,” Battie said. “People who are dedicated to the game, they come together. That’s what y’all are seeing right now.”
