TULSA, Okla. — Wichita State has already faced road reality checks this season with losses at Boise State and an 0-3 showing at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.
But Sunday afternoon presented a new lesson for the Shockers. Tulsa only led by four points going into halftime, and WSU was within striking distance of stealing a win from one of the American Conference’s best teams this season.
Instead, the Shockers gave up 12 points within four minutes of the second half and eventually trailed by as many as 19 points during their 93-83 loss at the Reynolds Center.
“Twenty minutes isn’t going to cut it,” senior guard Kenyon Giles said after the game. “We have to come in and bring that same physicality for the whole 40 minutes, especially playing a good team like Tulsa.”
In the second half alone, the Golden Hurricane connected on 72% of their shots and finished the game shooting 60% overall. Meanwhile, WSU canned 44% of its attempts from the floor and 39% of its threes.
Tulsa repeatedly took advantage of mismatches and backdoor cuts for easy looks inside in the final 20 minutes. WSU was held to 22% from beyond the arc in the second half and came up short on 12 free throws for the game, shooting 20-for-32 from the stripe.
The Shockers — who managed 1.153 points per possession, a good metric by most teams — didn’t have enough to keep up with Tulsa’s output. The Golden Hurricane finished with an eye-popping 1.368 PPP and scored during 63% of their possessions.
“Eighty-three points is enough to win a basketball game,” WSU coach Paul Mills said. “Our inability to defend in the second half. I mean, hats off to them.”
WSU, now in its final stretch of the regular season, has nine games left to play — five at home — before the conference championship in March. And after dropping to 13-9 on the year and to 5-4 in league play, the time to make a push for the top is shrinking.
The Golden Hurricane moved into a tie for first place in the conference standings and separated themselves from the Shockers by two games with their win, improving to 19-3 and 7-2 in the American. They also stretched their win streak to six-consecutive games and snapped WSU’s three-game stint.
“Tulsa put together a full game. We didn’t,” senior guard Mike Gray Jr. told The Sunflower. “We just have to be better, start-to-finish.”
Tulsa came out the way the Shockers had during the two games leading up to Sunday’s — with opening punches.
The Golden Hurricane went on a 5-0 burst out of the gates in the first half, and their onslaught at the beginning of the second set a tone for the final 20 minutes, creating the first real cushion at nine points. As time wore on, their physicality picked up.
Giles, who finished with a team-high 17 points, only produced in the first half by going 6-for-12 from the floor. He was held to zero points on six attempts during the second stanza.
“(Tulsa) picked up the physicality,” Giles said. “Hats off to them for locking in even more. They were on the same page a lot. … They did a good job of picking up on what they were trying to do in the first half, and the shots just weren’t falling like they were (for me).”
“They made more plays than we did. Got to more 50-50 balls than we did,” Gray added about the second half. “But next time we see them, we’ll be ready.”
For Mills, the biggest area where Tulsa showed up was on the glass. WSU had only been out-rebounded twice entering the game, with the largest margin being minus-3.
The Golden Hurricane pulled down nine more rebounds than the Shockers, 38-29. WSU hadn’t lost the battle of the boards by that much since a 58-54 loss to North Texas last season.
“This is only the third time all year that we’ve been outrebounded,” Mills said. “So being minus-9 on the glass is just a really rare thing for us. I knew the battle of the glass was going to be pretty significant. To be minus-9 is pretty disappointing.”
Gray said it’s an opportunity to bounce back when they play Tulsa again, or any team for the second time this season.
The rematch against the Golden Hurricane is scheduled for Feb. 14 at Koch Arena. Before then, the Shockers face Charlotte, which has a share of the conference lead, again Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., also at home.
“They (Tulsa) were just more physical than us,” Gray said. “Next time we see them, we’re going to be more physical.”
WSU’s loss came at the cost of Tulsa shooting lights out and containing the Shockers’ offense for most of the game.
How they respond when Charlotte visits the Roundhouse for a rematch could be an indication of how they’ll handle the final stretch.
