SHORT-CIRCUITED: Shockers deal 91-84 loss to Hilltoppers in season opener

Published 10:30 pm Monday, November 4, 2024

by Jeff Nations

By JEFF NATIONS / jeff.nations@bgdailynews.com

Wichita State played spoiler again Monday night at E.A. Diddle Arena.

Last season, the Shockers ended the Hilltoppers’ streak of 1,135 games with a made 3-pointer that spanned 36 seasons and dealt WKU its first loss of the season in the process.

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In Monday’s rematch, Wichita State (1-0) was just a bit sharper shooting the ball and a little tougher down the stretch to deal the Tops a 91-84 season-opening loss and deny WKU first-year head coach Hank Plona his first win as a Division I head coach. The defeat was the first non-conference home loss for the Hilltoppers since a 77-67 setback against Buffalo on Dec. 8, 2021.

“Obviously a very tough challenge here, first night of the basketball season and a great crowd, awesome fan base – disappointed that the bottom line we couldn’t get a win for having such great support and the celebration of last year before the game,” Plona said. “Trust me, I know as a staff and our players, we all wanted to do everything we could to come up with a win tonight, so disappointed that the final result didn’t show that.

” … I think there’s positives to take from tonight, but certainly we’re planning at the end of this year to be a championship team and we continue to have some work to do to get there.”

Despite a frigid first-half shooting performance from 3-point range (3 for 14), the Tops swapped the lead with the Shockers for much of the first 20 minutes. An 8-2 burst capped by Babacar Faye’s layup put WKU up 25-17 with 8:59 left in the first half.

A 3-pointer by Wichita’s Xavier Bell knotted the score at 38-all and sparked an 8-0 run finished by an AJ McGinnis 3 to close out the first half and give the Shockers a 43-38 lead.

Despite a career-high 28-point, eight-rebound outing by the 6-foot-8 forward Faye and a typically productive scoring night by star guard Don McHenry (21 points), the Tops struggled to stop the Shockers in the lane and beyond the 3-point arc. Wichita State hit 11 3-pointers – WKU was 6 of 25 – and went 26 of 36 from the free-throw line.

“You really don’t want to let guys make 3s and get to the free-throw line,” Plona said. “As a team, that’s certainly what they did. They shot 36 free throws and went 11 for 27 from 3, so they were getting to the rim and having too much space to shoot 3s.”

The Tops wiped out that six-point halftime deficit in just more than three minutes, with McHenry’s and-1 jumper giving WKU a 50-48 lead. That was the first of four quick lead swaps, with Wichita forging back ahead 55-54 on another Bell trey.

The scoring started to dry up some for the Tops as the Shockers by 10 at 70-60 on a pair of free throws by Quincy Ballard.

“I don’t want to say they really figured out our press, I think instead of us continuing to wear them down I think it kind of started wearing on us a little bit and we started pressing a little softer than when we can out and so it kind of opened up for sure,” McHenry said.

WKU finally got some scoring help for Faye and McHenry when true freshman guard Julius Thedford started to heat up. Thedford scored all 11 of his points over the last 10-plus minutes before fouling out late, with his 3-pointer shaving a double-digit deficit to 84-76 with 1:27 to go.

WKU kept whittling on that lead, with Faye’s two made free throws making it a one-possession game at 85-82 with 30 seconds left. Wichita’s Justin Hill (game-high 31 points) hit two free throws on the other end, but Braxton Bayless answered for the Tops with a drive to the basket to again make it a three-point game. Hill went to the free-throw line again and once more hit both, the Tops couldn’t connect on a 3-pointer on the other end and had to foul again – Hill iced the win with two more free throws with 10 seconds to go.

“I thought were probably more aggressive team I don’t know, the first 10 or 15 minutes of the game, I thought the last 25 minutes or so on both ends they had the physicality and aggressiveness that certainly usually leads to winning,” Plona said.

The Tops were thin in the front court, with power forward Blaise Keita sidelined by an injury. Plona said Keita, who has a bruised knee, may also miss Saturday’s road game at Grand Canyon but expects the 6-11 Nebraska transfer back “sooner rather than later” this season. In his absence, Faye logged nearly 32 minutes and 6-11 Leeroy Odiahi spelled him in the paint.

“It’s never easy when you have to be down one guy,” said Faye, who bettered his previous career high by 13 points. “You have to play a little extra, but he’s definitely going to be back soon. He’s important (to our team) and like I said, next man got to step up. Leeroy came in and gave us some great minutes and I was there giving us some great minutes.”

Faye’s stellar play inside helped the Tops dominate points in the paint (40-24) and his eight rebounds allowed WKU to hold a 43-42 rebounding edge. But the Tops hit five fewer 3s and two fewer free throws – that’s seven points, the final margin Monday.

“When we weren’t getting stops and forcing turnovers at every single time, we were playing against a half-court defense and they had a lot of juice and a lot of energy,” Plona said. “Their general vibe and energy was very positive at that time and I think when we felt it slipping a little bit we didn’t have patience and discipline to make multiple passes and move the ball a little bit and try to get a good shot.

“There were certainly some quick shots, almost trying to swing and hit a home run to make up for what maybe was a negative run for a little bit and we need to learn to be together and solid for 40 minutes.”

Enoch Kalambay added nine points and Khristian Lander had eight points for WKU, which is on the road Saturday to play Grand Canyon in a battle of NCAA Tournament qualifiers from last season. Game time is 7 p.m. CT with the broadcast on ESPN+.

About Jeff Nations

Sports Editor, Bowling Green Daily News

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