After trailing by one at halftime, Wichita State men’s basketball failed to make a shot from the floor for the first four minutes of the second half of its game against the University of Tulsa.
The Shockers ultimately dropped their Sunday matinee on the road, 84-77.
WSU slipped to 11-9 overall this season and 1-6 in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). Tulsa upped its record to 9-11 overall and 3-4 in the AAC.
While Wichita State struggled at the beginning of the second half, the Golden Hurricane turned a 13-2 run into a 12-point advantage. Wichita State spent the rest of the game playing catch-up, eventually cutting the deficit to seven points, 82-75, with a little over a minute left on the game clock.
The late push, however, was too little, too late.
Wichita State ended the game on a 49% (31-63) shooting percentage, but Tulsa was more efficient, shooting 59% with fewer makes and attempts (30-51), including a 62% clip from the 3-point line — the highest percentage of any WSU opponent this year. Five of WSU’s seven conference opponents have shot 40% or better from three.
In his fourth game back after an injury, Tulsa’s senior Jared Garcia torched Wichita State, scoring a game-high 22 points, 15 of which came from deep.
The teams got what they wanted throughout the first half after Tulsa’s graduate student Keaston Willis drained a 3-pointer 30 seconds into the game.
At the end of the period, Wichita State shot 16-29 from the floor, knocking down 5-8 shots from deep and 4-6 free throws. Tulsa kept pace, shooting 17-28 for the first 20 minutes, including a 7-11 mark from 3-point range.
Whenever it looked like WSU or Tulsa would pull away with the lead, the opposing team would sink a triple on the next possession to halt any momentum.
The Shockers used an early 8-0 run to go up by four points, 12-8, but a shot from deep from Tulsa on the next possession cut the lead to one. The Golden Hurricane used a 6-0 run late in the half to retake the lead, but senior guard Xavier Bell drained a trey to tie the game at 39.
Tulsa later went into halftime leading, 42-41, after a period that featured five ties and four lead changes.
The Golden Hurricanes started the second half characteristically like the first — with a shot beyond the arc by Willis. After Tulsa’s 13-2 run to start the period, the Shockers tried etching into the deficit, but a 6-0 Tulsa run ballooned its cushion up to 17 points, 71-54, essentially putting the nail in the coffin.
Bell led the team with 19 points while shooting 57% (8-14) from the floor — rebounding from his previous outing against Memphis University where he didn’t score any points. Four other Shockers eclipsed the double-digit scoring mark, including fifth-year guard Justin Hill, who put in 18.
Next up, Wichita State will return to the confines of Charles Koch Arena for a matchup against the University of North Texas on Wednesday, Jan. 29. Tipoff against the Mean Green is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
