TULSA, Okla. — Wichita State basketball traveled to the Reynolds Center with a chance to not only match up with one of the American Conference’s top teams but make a statement in front of the rest of the league with a win.

What started as a competitive first half quickly spiraled into a Tulsa onslaught in the second, as the Golden Hurricane scored 12 points early on in the final 20 minutes. They never looked back after that and handed the Shockers their third-straight loss to an old Missouri Valley Conference rival, 93-83.

WSU couldn’t stop Tulsa in the second-half, allowing the home team to connect on 72% of their shots. The Shockers were repeatedly stopped on the offensive end, going 2-of-9 from the floor during a six-minute stretch at one time. The Golden Hurricane ended the game shooting 60% from the floor and was led by a 30-point performance from guard Tylen Riley.

Five players ended the game in double digits for the Shockers, led by a 17-point performance from senior guard Kenyon Giles — all in the first half — on 6-of-18 shooting. Junior center Will Berg scored a career-high 16 of his own. 

Senior forward Karon Boyd (10), junior guard Dre Kindell (11) and freshman forward TJ Williams (11) also finished in double figures.

The Shockers are now 13-9 and 5-4 in the American entering a crucial stretch of the regular season with just nine games to play. They can get back on track Wednesday when Charlotte, which is tied at the top of the standings with Tulsa, visits Koch Arena for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff.

For now, here are three takeaways from WSU’s rough road loss:

Both teams played tight first half

The biggest advantage either team created during the first half was just five points, when Tulsa opened the game on a 5-0 burst.

But from then on, the opening 20 minutes was back-and-forth with Wichita State taking its biggest lead of the half at four-points with 5:10 remaining, 34-30.

The Shockers crashed the glass and kept possessions alive with eight offensive boards for nine second-chance points, but eventually trailed by four at the break, 43-39.

The offenses began to heat up after the under-16 media timeout, as WSU shot 41% from the field during the first 20 minutes, good for an estimated 1.219 points per possession. The Golden Hurricane, who came into the game as one of the American’s (and America’s) most efficient offenses, shot at a 50% rate for 1.303 PPP.

Even with a few defensive breakdowns here and a few Tulsa scoring bursts there, the Shockers never wavered. They relied on spacing as senior guard Kenyon Giles ripped off 17 first-half points, and their ability to keep possessions alive on the offensive glass to remain close despite the Golden Hurricane retaking the lead with two minutes left in the half.

The teams combined for seven turnovers and committed eight fouls apiece in the first half.

Second-half surge buried Wichita State

It’s no question that Tulsa is a strong second-half team. 

The Golden Hurricane sealed their game against North Texas late with a 20-3 run. Two weeks before then, another late-game surge helped them beat a Memphis team that’s been hiccuping all season.

On Sunday, Tulsa poured in 12 points within four minutes of the second half to open up the biggest advantage by either team at that point, 55-46. WSU coach Paul Mills was forced to burn a timeout after Riley scored four unanswered by himself over a 30-second span.

Senior guard Mike Gray Jr. cashed a trio of free throws after he was fouled from beyond the arc, senior forward Karon Boyd converted a tough look around the rim, and so did senior center Emmanuel Okorafor to keep WSU afloat, but it wasn’t enough. 

Tulsa ripped off a 15-3 run right after and caught the Shockers making silly mistakes. Freshman forward TJ Williams was called for an offensive foul, then Boyd stepped out of bounds after corralling a defensive rebound to keep the ball in the home team’s hands.

WSU repeatedly allowed the Golden Hurricane to find space down low for easy shots to open up a 19-point lead, 75-56.

The Shockers briefly cut their deficit to 13 points a couple times down the stretch — 82-69, 84-71 — and later trailed by 10 with 1 minute, 18 seconds to go after junior guard Dre Kindell scored seven-straight points for WSU. But they couldn’t string enough stops together to halt Tulsa’s high-powered offense.

Finishing around the rim still an area of concern

Even though WSU trailed by just four points at halftime, its year-long struggles around the rim showed throughout the first half. That left meat on the bone after the Shockers finished the half just 6-of-16 around the rim.

The second half wasn’t much better, as WSU converted just 7-of-13 layups in the final 20 minutes to finish 16 for 32 around the rim.

The Shockers did score 20 second-chance points, however, but for a team that gets as many looks around the rim as they do, seeing that many misses has to be frustrating. Especially since Tulsa muscled its way to 48 points in the paint on 17-of-22 shots around the rim.

And with Giles bottled up the entire second half, the misses weighed heavier on WSU.