Super Bowl Sunday offered Wichita State basketball the opportunity to move up in the American Conference Standings and keep its momentum rolling with a road matchup in New Orleans against Tulane.

It was no easy task for the Shockers, as the Green Wave played a five-out offense they’ve yet to see in conference play and they faced the Preseason Player of the Year, Rowan Brumbaugh. And with Mardi Gras going on in the Big Easy, as well as the biggest sporting event in the country just hours away, limiting distractions was a must. 

WSU stole any Mardi Gras magic from Tulane and left Fogelman Arena with a decisive 75-61 win.

Sophomore Dillon Battie led the way for the Shockers, finishing with a career- and game-high 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Senior Karon Boyd also finished in double figures, scoring 18 points that led any individual on Tulane’s roster and pulled down 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double this year.

Brumbaugh scored a team-high 17 points and shot a measly 4-of-13 from the field for the Green Wave. Tyler Ringgold added 13 of his own and shot a perfect 6-for-6 at the foul line despite making just three shots.

The Shockers improved to 15-9 on the season and 7-4 in the American Conference, moving into a tie for the third best league record and a game back from a share of the lead. Tulane dropped to 14-9 overall and 4-6 in league play, an unfavorable loss should the Green Wave and WSU finish the season with the same record.

For now, here are three takeaways from Wichita State’s win in the bayou:

Wichita State dominated down low during the first half

While the Shockers shot just 2-of-11 from 3-point range throughout the first half, they still went into the break with a 31-26 lead. The advantage they created was by crashing the glass and finding space to work the paint.

Of WSU’s first 18 points, 16 were scored down low, and it muscled the glass for a plus-6 rebounding advantage during that time. Boyd and the defense shone, holding Tulane to a 6-of-18 start from the field and turning seven turnovers into eight points.

The Green Wave ended the half shooting just 39% from the floor and threw up multiple circus shots that had little chance to fall because of the in-your-face defense WSU played with.

The Shockers opened up a six-point lead, 21-15, on the back of 6-0 and 7-0 scoring runs that were all manufactured within the 3-point arc. 

Senior Kenyon Giles jumpstarted a 6-0 run by working his way into the paint for a pullup jumper. Senior Mike Gray Jr. coaxed a steal 30 seconds later and fed redshirt freshman TJ Williams on the fast break for an easy layup. Gray found his own space to operate on WSU’s next possession and drilled a shot to go up 10-8.

Battie weaved through Tulane’s defense on a backdoor cut and converted an old-fashioned three-point play after senior Emmanuel Okoafor attracted three Green Wave players in the high post, 21-15, to cap the 7-0 run.

WSU grabbed seven more rebounds than Tulane throughout the first half and converted five on the offensive end into just two points. The Shockers scored 22 points in the paint to Tulane’s 14.

And for a rather topsy-turvy opening stanza that featured three ties and four lead changes, the defensive and offensive effort down low from the Shockers helped steady them at the break despite the Green Wave taking advantage of backdoor cuts of their own.

Karon Boyd and Dillon Battie set career-highs in second half

When Boyd committed to WSU over the offseason, there was no question that he would form a brick wall on defense. He was coming off a season at East Tennessee State in which he won the Southern Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award.

But little was known about his offensive production. In two seasons for the Buccaneers, he averaged just 7.7 points and made just 21 of 110 3-point attempts.

Through 24 games as a Shocker, he’s proving every doubter wrong. His 18 points against Tulane came on a career-high four triples.

Three of them came in the second half on four attempts, and his fourth of the game opened up a 43-32 advantage for WSU. The Green Wave never recovered after that, only trimming their deficit to seven points the rest of the way.

Williams eventually opened up a 16-point advantage for WSU, and a pair of Boyd free throws right after ballooned the score to 60-42.

Boyd increased his season total to 31 makes from beyond the arc on a 46% clip after Sunday’s contest. And while teams key in on scoring dynamo Giles, his added production on offense has helped WSU find multiple outlets for scoring.

Battie also etched a career-high against the Green Wave. His 19 points led all scorers, and a dunk late in the second half served as an early dagger as Tulane trailed by 13 with a little over two minutes remaining.

A quiet Kenyon Giles? No problem.

Giles, who entered Sunday’s contest averaging a team-high 18.3 points per game, finished with just seven points and scored his second bucket with 3:28 left in the second half to put the Shockers up 66-53. He drilled a 3-pointer in the closing moments to go up 16.

But with him essentially taken out of the game, the rest of WSU’s roster needed to step up. 

And step up they did, as every player who checked into the game for the Shockers scored at least once. Two players finished with 10 or more points with Boyd’s 18 points and Battie’s career-high 19.

Battie even clambered for an offensive rebound and second-chance putback with 11:43 left in the second half and waved his hand at the court to signal that Tulane is “too small” for him. Later in the half, his two-handed slam jumped WSU’s cushion to 13 points with a little over two minutes to play and capped off a career day for the sophomore from Dallas.

The Shockers’ recent balanced efforts when Giles is taken out of the game have become a midseason revelation for them. And when Giles can get going, it adds even more pressure on the defense.