New conference, no problem: North Texas wins AAC basketball opener at Wichita State
It wasn’t that long ago when Wichita State had its own dazzling start in its first American Athletic Conference game.
Six years later to the exact day, Koch Arena was once again the host for a celebration of a new era, except this time the Shockers were on the wrong end of a 74-62 win by North Texas in both team’s opening conference game on Thursday.
For the second time in the last three seasons, the Mean Green, one of six new AAC members this year, came into the Roundhouse and won by being the more physical and aggressive team. North Texas, which also won 62-52 at Koch Arena on Dec. 18, 2021, improved to 8-5 overall and 1-0 in AAC play.
“We have to embrace our identity about who we are and we need to do a better job of that,” WSU head coach Paul Mills said after his first loss at Koch Arena. “This is a game that honors toughness and they were tougher.”
For a team hoping to wipe the slate clean following a disappointing December, the same troubles that haunted the Shockers last month continued on Thursday. WSU (8-6) lost for the fifth time in the last six games, as the defensive lapses mounted and the offense stalled out with 12 missed free throws, 14 turnovers and sub-40% shooting.
By the second media timeout in the game, WSU trailed 26-11.
“After that, it felt like we were running uphill the rest of the way,” Mills said.
“We’re not going to all of a sudden become a good shooting team overnight, so we have to embrace our identity on the defensive end and rebounding.”
When WSU was detailed and disciplined on the defensive end, the Shockers stonewalled North Texas and forced bad possessions. The problem for WSU is that those locked-in possessions happen far too often and many times when the team’s back is against the wall playing from behind.
WSU leading scorer Colby Rogers said the intensity must improve from the tip.
“It’s conference play, so nothing is going to be given to us,” said Rogers, who scored a game-high 18 points on 5-of-14 shooting. “We need to be a gritty team, play with more intensity, play tougher. You can’t spot teams 10, 15 points and then try to come back. Not in this league. We’ve got to up our intensity and just play harder from the start. Don’t concede anything easy. We’ve got to make everyone earn it, the same way they do to us.”
After making six of its first eight 3-pointers, North Texas cooled off (just 2-of-13 beyond the arc the rest of the game) but still finished with a tidy 1.12 points per possession. The 15-point cushion established early in the game afforded the Mean Green that luxury and still win.
Down a starter in John Buggs (shoulder) and another in Rubin Jones (knee) for the entire second half, North Texas still managed to play with a double-digit lead for nearly 29 minutes.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Wichita State basketball and for coach Mills,” North Texas head coach Ross Hodge said. “We knew we were going ot have to play really well and really detailed in what we were trying to do. We got off to a good start and made just enough plays down the stretch.”
UNT stretch forward Aaron Scott (18 points) was a mismatch nightmare for WSU’s two-center lineup, as he drilled three 3-pointers popping on the perimeter by the first media timeout. Scott was a career 40% 3-point shooter, but was 2-for-11 on 3-pointers in six December games.
Behind 11 straight points from Rogers, WSU nearly punched its way back in the game, as a Rogers’ triple trimmed the deficit to 37-30 with 3 minutes, 32 seconds remaining in the first half.
WSU even had more opportunities to cut into the lead, but 55.6% shooting (15 of 27) from the foul line plagued the team’s comeback chances.
“Free throws are shots you expect everybody to make, at least one out of two,” Rogers said. “Going 15 for 27, that’s not going to cut it. Those are points we could have got that would have changed the game. We’ve got to convert on those opportunities.”
Outside of the free-throw woes, a disastrous four-minute stretch sank any chances of a Shocker comeback.
North Texas ended the first half on a 5-0 run in the final minute, then opened the second half by scoring the first eight points to open up a 20-point lead — much like the KU game five days ago.
Mills used a baseball analogy to describe the changes WSU needs to make in its mentality: instead of chasing home runs, look for singles.
“There’s a lot of people who play basketball, but there’s very few people who play winning basketball,” Mills said. “Sometimes players are out there and they think this is open gym or this is fun at the rec. It isn’t that. There’s value in every possession and you have to play winning basketball.”
The closest WSU came in the second half was nine points when a three-point play from Quincy Ballard (11 points, seven rebounds, two blocks) cut the deficit to 69-60 with 1:46 remaining. UNT’s Jason Edwards (17 points) answered with a jumper, then WSU’s Dalen Ridgnal (nine points, 11 rebounds, three steals) scored again to trim it to 71-62 with 1:01 remaining but that would be WSU’s last bucket.
North Texas’ no-middle defense worked particularly effectively against WSU’s second- and third-leading scorers, Xavier Bell and Kenny Pohto, who entered averaging a combined 26.1 points and finished with a combined four points on 2-of-7 shooting.
After a brief two-day break, the Shockers will be back in action in search of their first conference win in a Sunday afternoon road game at Temple.
