Late into the second half of its Wednesday night matchup against the University of North Texas (UNT), Wichita State men’s basketball saw a four-point lead turn into a four-point deficit.
The Shockers couldn’t come back, shooting 1-10 in the final nine minutes and eventually losing at home, 58-54.
Wichita State fell to 1-7 in the American Athletic Conference, while North Texas maintained its share of the conference lead at 7-1.
Despite the loss, senior guard Xavier Bell said that taking a conference leader to the wire says a lot about the team.
“It shows us we’re able to compete with the best teams in this league,” Bell said. “It shows we’re a really good team as well, but it also shows us what it takes to compete in this league — night in and night out.”
After a run of Shocker opponents went ballistic from deep, the Mean Green broke the trend by shooting just 3-12. They recovered more offensive rebounds than the Shockers, 13-8, but scored just six second-chance points.
“We cannot give up 13 (offensive) boards and give ourselves a chance (to win),” WSU head coach Paul Mills said.
Wichita State played mostly clean on the offensive end, turning the ball over eight times, two off from a season-low, but shot just 36% from the field, the team’s second-worst mark this year and worst since November.
UNT rhythmically rode out to a seven-point, 11-4 lead early in the first half, finding its sets on offense while playing suffocating defense that showed why it is the fourth-best in the nation.
Bell said the team spent the first few minutes of the game feeling UNT out while attacking on offense.
“We knew they were going to be a pretty physical team,” he said. “They were going to be heavy in gaps.”
Wichita State was held to a 2-12 start from the field and missed its first three shots from beyond the arc, including a scoring drought of nearly five minutes. During that time, UNT went on a 7-0 run to up its cushion to 12 points, 18-6.
The Shockers ended the period shooting 9-25 (36%) from the floor and missed all four shots from beyond the arc.
The Shockers found life on offense late in the half, cutting the lead to six points, 28-22, after riding a 10-4 run. Fifth-year guards Justin Hill and AJ McGinnis combined for all of Wichita State’s points. The defense supplemented the offense and in the final five minutes of the half, senior center Quincy Ballard reached for two of three of his first-half blocks, electrifying the home crowd.
Even though the Shockers trailed 30-24 going into the break, they held UNT scoreless for the final three minutes of the opening period.
Wichita State raced to a 38-35 lead following a 9-0 run in the first minutes of the second period, their first advantage of the night.
Mills said the team has looked “lethargic” at times coming out of the break, like against ECU and at Tulsa. On Wednesday, he tried to keep the players more aggressive.
“Really (I) just tried to emphasize we need to play a little bit faster and get downhill way more in transition,” Mills said. “And we were able to do it.”
The game became a back-and-forth between the teams as UNT later retook the lead, 47-45, piggybacking off a 6-0 run. Bell ended the Mean Green’s run with a 3-pointer, giving the Shockers a one-point advantage.
After a pair of junior forward Corey Washington free throws, Wichita State fell flat for 4:34 of game time, not scoring a point while the Mean Green opened up a four-point lead with under five to play. With 1:47 left in the game, UNT went to the free-throw line on a call that sent the Shocker faithful into a yelling match with the referees.
The Mean Green knocked down both untimed shots, 56-52. On the next possession, Ballard threw down a slam that nearly snapped the rim, 56-54. Those were the last points the Shockers scored, as the Mean Green made a layup and recovered a Bell 3-point miss to win.
McGinnis said down the stretch, the team needs to pay better attention to the smaller, finer details.
“When it comes down to the small details and the things at the end of the game,” McGinnis said. “We just (have) to find a way to, you know, get the win.”
Mills said the team needs to find a way to make plays late in the game.
“We can simplify some stuff a little bit easier,” Mills said. “But, there are some plays we need to be able to make.”
Wichita State will get nearly a week of rest before its next game on Tuesday, Feb. 4, when it travels to play the University of North Carolina at Charlotte — the lone team the Shockers have defeated in conference play. Tipoff against the 49ers is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Halton Arena and can be streamed on ESPNU.
