Wednesday marked the start of a week featuring some of the most important basketball Koch Arena has seen in who knows how long.

South Florida, an American Conference co-leader, made the trip for the first of Wichita State’s matchups against both teams atop the league standings.

They played with vastly different styles: the Bulls entered as the No. 9 scoring offense (90 points per game) in the country, while the Shockers came in as the No. 77 scoring defense and one of the stingiest in the American Conference (69.9 allowed PPG).

What started as a heavyweight battle between two of the conference’s contenders with a month left in the regular season quickly became a lesson of winning the margins for Wichita State as it took a 66-58 loss in front of 6,676 fans.

The Shockers’ record dropped to 15-10 on the season and 7-4 in league play, while South Florida maintained the lead at 17-8 overall and 9-3.

The Bulls took a 54-49 lead with 6:23 left in the second half and never relinquished it. They eventually went up by as many as eight with over a minute-and-a-half left and, despite a late Wichita State push, held on to split the season series with the Shockers.

Senior guard Kenyon Giles ended with a game-high 24 points on 9-for-22 shooting, while Mike Gray Jr. scored 11 on 13 attempts from the floor. Junior center Will Berg finished with his sixth double-double this year with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

South Florida’s Wes Enis scored 16 points and pulled down 11 rebounds and Izaiyah Nelson finished with 15 of his own — 10 of which were scored in the second half.

Wichita State can still salvage a win against another top team in the American as Tulsa visits the Roundhouse Saturday at 6 p.m. for a rematch from earlier this month.

For now, here are three takeaways from the Shockers’ second consecutive home loss to South Florida:

How the game teetered in the margins

For teams that play with almost exact opposite styles — and excel at them — Wednesday was bound to come down to the thinnest of margins.

After grabbing five more rebounds than South Florida in the first half, the Shockers lost the rebounding battle 26-14 in the second. A 1-for-14 stretch over seven minutes and some change allowed the Bulls to open up a slim two-point margin, 54-52, with 5:19 left in the game.

Wichita State scored just six more points the rest of the game. Its second-half shooting percentage dipped drastically to 27% while South Florida connected on 44% of its shots in the final stanza. The Bulls shot just 40% in the first half. 

The Shockers turned the ball over less throughout the game, 18-13. But too many times in the second half did turnovers stall momentum when they needed it most. So did cashing in just two of their last 18 attempts from the floor, as South Florida made seven of its last 18.

The Bulls made more trips to the foul line, shot 10 more attempts than Wichita State and sank five more untimed shots. They bullied down low, outscoring the Shockers 30-20 in the paint.

Cold offense masked other areas in first half for Wichita State

Wichita State came into Wednesday’s game ranked No. 77 in the NCAA in scoring defense and played like it throughout the first half, too.

The Shockers held USF to a 1-for-6 start from the floor. They made the Bulls come up empty on seven-straight trips down the court after Joseph Pinion carved up space for a basket around the rim on the first possession of the game. They forced 12 turnovers and held the No. 9 scoring offense in the country to 26 points, 40% shooting from the floor and .722 points per possession.

But the offense was lackluster.

After controlling the glass for a plus-5 rebounding advantage and holding the Bulls to their second-fewest points in a first half all season, WSU led by just seven at the break with the help of a Giles buzzer beater in the right corner, 33-26.

The Shockers shot just 36%, made 2-of-15 attempts from 3-point range and turned nine offensive rebounds into seven points.

Berg did present a matchup nightmare, however. The 7-foot-2 center used his size to bruise for nine points in the half on 3-for-3 shooting, 3-for-5 attempts at the foul line and pulled down nine rebounds, which included three on the offensive end.

But for how well the defense played, a porous first half of shooting overshadowed the efforts.

Second half was back and forth until it wasn’t

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Koch Arena attracted a similar law during the second half, but for every South Florida action, there was an equal and opposite reaction from Wichita State. And vice versa.

When the Bulls briefly retook the lead at 43-42? Giles splashed back-to-back threes for a 6-0 run by himself that reignited the home crowd, 48-43.

When the Shockers went up by five? South Florida answered with a 6-0 run of its own for a 49-48 lead with 10:21 left in the game.

But when the Bulls created a five-point advantage of their own after that, most everything unraveled for Wichita State.

Offensive possessions became slogs. Shots were heaved late into the shot clock. The Shockers never found their footing again even after Giles drained a three to bring them within a possession with 5:19 to go.

Wichita State made just one shot down the stretch, while all South Florida needed to do was hold on.