A few days ago, Wichita State’s men’s basketball team thought its season was over after a loss to the University of Memphis in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Championship.
Surprise: the Shockers were selected to the National Invitation Tournament, which allowed one more chance at postseason basketball. After an 89-79 loss to Oklahoma State University in the NIT’s first round, WSU’s season ended on Tuesday night — officially. The Shockers finished at 19-15 on the season.
Through ups and downs of WSU’s season — including a 1-7 record in the month of January to start AAC play, to the 6-1 month of February that saw the program’s longest conference winning streak in four years, to two-a-day practices and “come-to-Jesus” meetings in between — senior guard Xavier Bell said it was a blessing to be able to play 40 more minutes with his team.
“Especially with this group of guys,” Bell said. “Just again, still super grateful for the opportunity. Just wish we could’ve got things done for sure.”
Bell ended his collegiate career scoring a team-high 24 points on 7-17 shooting from the floor, including 4-6, and 6-7 marks from the 3-point and free throw lines. Bell’s efforts amounted to his 1,000th career points in a WSU uniform — 1,023 to be exact.
“I’m happy for Xavier,” head coach Paul Mills said. “He just turned into a 1,000 point scorer here at Wichita State. I’m glad he was able to, you know, drop 24 and be able to assist us.”
While reflecting on how the season has gone, Mills said this year’s group of guys have been remarkable. He said he’s always believed good people make good basketball players — and this team is no exception.
“I’ve said this before that ‘tough’ is the ability to do the right thing when it’s hard to do the right thing,” Mills said. “And we’ve had guys that have done the right thing when it was hard … this group is phenomenal. Just who they are, the character and (I’m) just really proud of the locker room in regards to the people that they are and that they actually became over the course of the year.”
Despite some players already leaving Wichita on Sunday to visit family for spring break thinking their season was over, everyone on WSU’s roster showed up ready to compete for the game. As competitors, there was no question about it.
“Basketball players want to play basketball,” Mills said. “So … it was never a concern. Why would a basketball player not want to play basketball? Why would a team member not want to be a part of the team?”
Bell, a Wichita native, agreed.
“We just love the game of basketball, you know,” Bell said. “I do … personally a lot. Just being able to suit up, especially for my hometown team with this group of guys. I wear it with pride.”
As the end of his collegiate career abruptly restarts, the Andover Central High School and soon-to-be WSU graduate said he’s going to have to take things day by day.
“To be super honest with you,” Bell said. “Those emotions of, you know, not playing anymore will probably relapse after a couple of days.”
