For the first time in seven years, Wichita State men’s basketball lost its senior day game. The Shockers were defeated by the University of Tulsa, 73-63, on Sunday afternoon.
Teary eyed and full of emotion after the loss, senior guard Harlond Beverly said everyone on this year’s team — from the players, to the coaching staff and managers, and even to the people many fans won’t see helping the team out — is family to him.
“It actually is really special to have that connection with everybody and, kind of, honor it today,” Beverly said while choking up.
With the loss, the Shockers ended their season at 8-10 in the American Athletic Conference. Still, they sealed the eight-seed heading into the AAC Tournament next week in Fort Worth, Texas. Tulsa finished its regular season at 6-12 in the conference.
Wichita State will likely need to win four straight games at the conference tournament to extend its season to a postseason tournament berth.
After the game, senior guard Xavier Bell took one last look around Charles Koch Arena, a place the Wichita native jokingly said he knew he’d end up at as an ambitious teenager coming out of Andover Central High School.
“It’s just a surreal feeling,” Bell said. “And they (the emotions) hit me a little bit, but they’ll probably hit me a little more as the night kind of creeps in … I’m just super grateful for everything right now.”
Bell said even though the team didn’t win in the seniors’ final game of their last regular season, he feels gratitude.
“This feeling is not fun, especially it being my last home game here (at WSU),” Bell said. “But I mean, with the group of guys I got to share the court with over these last two years, I’m super grateful.”
The Shockers honored eight seniors in Sunday’s contest: center Quincy Ballard, forwards Zane Meeks and Ronnie DeGray III and guards Bijan Cortes, AJ McGinnis, Justin Hill, Beverly and Bell. While five of the seniors were also on last season’s roster, none started their careers in Wichita.
It was announced after the game that Ballard would receive an extra year of eligibility, allowing him to return to WSU next year if he chooses.
Wichita State head coach Paul Mills said he felt awful for the seniors because of how their final home game ended.
“I’ve not been on the wrong end of senior day very often,” Mills said. “And so this is a really tough one. I thought we were battling uphill the entire night. Started … both halves (and) just didn’t come out and handle things very well.”
Mills credited the Golden Hurricane’s win to them leading for 31 minutes of game time and converting 62% of their shots around the rim.
“And you combine that with our 42% around the rim, we knew the 3-point line wasn’t where we were going to win it,” Mills said. “I thought we did a good job of defending the arc. But when you lose the turnover battle and you allow those guys to make 62% around the rim, it’s usually going to be a long night.
“Unfortunately, it was for us.”
Tulsa’s graduate student guard Keaston Willis started the first half like he did in both halves against the Shockers in January, with a contested 3-point make. Wichita State trailed, 10-6, within the first five minutes of game time, which later became an 11-point deficit following a 9-2 Golden Hurricane scoring run.
McGinnis ended a three-minute Shocker scoring drought with a shot from the left elbow that sparked a 16-3 run as Wichita State took its first lead of the game, 24-22. During the run, McGinnis and Beverly each hit shots from deep that sent the Shocker Faithful into waves of cheering.
Mills said it took a while for his team to feel out Tulsa and loosen up on offense.
“AJ and Harland were able to make a couple of threes,” Mills said. “ … I thought that helped. But we can’t let our shots just dictate where we are defensively. It’s just not who we’ve been.”
The teams remained neck-and-neck for the final six minutes of the first half, and they went into the break tied at 27.
Out of halftime, Tulsa ran out to a 35-29 lead after scoring eight unanswered points. The Golden Hurricane maintained their six-point advantage until Beverly threw home a reverse putback slam dunk to cut Wichita State’s deficit to two points, 48-46.
Tulsa kept finding answers and didn’t allow the Shockers to tie the game or retake the lead, later extending its lead to 12 points, 64-52, silencing the home crowd.
With a minute left in the game, Wichita State got within seven points, but the Golden Hurricane sank late-game free throws to walk away with the win.
Tulsa ended the second half putting up 46 points on a smoking-hot 61% clip from the floor, whereas the Shockers managed to make just 39% of their shots during the final 20 minutes.
Beverly said he would have to rewatch the film to see where things went wrong for the team defensively in the half but argued the Shockers didn’t have the right mentality on that side of the court.
“I feel like we just … need to have more pride standing in front of the ball,” Beverly said.
Junior forward Corey Washington ended the game with a team-high 14 points on 4-10 shooting from the floor and 6-8 shooting from the free-throw line. Beverly and Bell were the only Wichita State players who eclipsed double-digit scoring in the game with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
After the senior day loss, Wichita State will look toward the AAC Championship at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Shockers will play their first game of the tournament against the ninth-seed, the University of South Florida. Tipoff is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 13. The Shockers split their two matchups against the Bulls this year.
“The slate is 0-0,” Bell said. “It’s a whole new season, but at this time, we understand that it is win or go home.”
