Grit not enough for Wichita State basketball to steal road win in AAC opener at UCF

Not much was going right for the Wichita State men’s basketball team in a tough situation without its star player, and yet the Shockers were still in position to steal a road win.

Shots weren’t falling, turnovers were coming in excruciating fashion and rebounds were hard to come by, but the grit that seems to be deeply embedded in the program nearly allowed WSU to overcome all of its flaws in its American Athletic Conference opener against UCF at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday evening.

But nearly doesn’t count in the standings and the Shockers have to swallow yet another bitter pill in the form of a 52-45 loss to UCF.

“You’ve got to grow up quick in this league,” WSU head coach Isaac Brown said. “This isn’t high school. This isn’t junior college. This isn’t lower-level basketball. You’ve got to be able to lock in for 40 minutes. If we can lock in for 40 minutes and start to value the basketball, we can start winning these basketball games.”

The Shockers had three straight possessions in the final five minutes of the game to potentially take the lead, but they committed two turnovers and came up empty on the third chance. WSU also missed two more three-pointers that would have tied the game down the stretch, as the team could muster just a single made field goal in the final eight minutes.

Even with holding UCF without a field goal for the final seven minutes, WSU was doomed by 15 turnovers — a number that might not seem overwhelming until you consider there were only 53 possessions, meaning WSU finished with a season-worst turnover rate of 28.1%. Making matters worse, UCF capitalized for a 17-8 advantage in points off turnovers.

To Brown, it was painfully reminiscent of losses to Missouri and Kansas State. WSU fell to 7-6 on the season, while UCF improved to 10-3.

“It’s very disappointing when you feel like you play a game like you did everything else in your power to win, but we just did not value the basketball,” Brown said. “I felt like we beat ourselves again tonight. I give (UCF) a lot of credit, but some of our turnovers were unforced and when we threw it away, they got layups. It’s hard to win games on the road when you do that. We’ve got to start taking care of the basketball.”

The challenge became even greater for WSU without its starting point guard Craig Porter, who sat out the game due to a left ankle injury. The Shockers were also without backup center Quincy Ballard, a 7-foot sophomore, who is still nursing a lower-back injury.

There was no better sequence that captured WSU’s problematic, lackadaisical nature protecting the ball then in the moments directly following back-to-back three-pointers by Gus Okafor to trim UCF’s lead to 35-34 with 11:02 remaining.

The Knights responded with a basket of their own, then WSU imploded: Xavier Bell and Jaykwon Walton both made lazy swing passes that were picked off by UCF’s Darius Johnson, who raced down the floor for easy lay-ins. In the span of 52 seconds, a one-point deficit grew to a seven-point deficit.

“They took 13 more shots than we did and when another team takes 13 more shots, they usually win the game,” Brown said.

Wichita State still managed to stick around, however, due to a zone defense that mostly kept UCF out of the paint in the half-court setting. The Knights scored just 0.95 points per possession and shot 35.8% from the field and 22.7% beyond the arc, all season-low marks on their home court this season. WSU also held UCF freshmen sensation Taylor Hendricks in check, as he finished with nine points on 4-of-11 shooting and five rebounds in 38 minutes.

“They do a great job mixing their defenses and by doing that, it keeps you off-balance a lot of the time,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “When they’re in that zone, they’re very active. They’re long and they know their rotations well. They’re one of the best defensive teams in the nation and when you defend like they do, you’re always going to have a chance to win.”

With Porter injured and Jaykwon Walton, the team’s next-best player, suffering through a rare off-game with just five points on 1-of-7 shooting and four turnovers, WSU found a spark once again in walk-on Melvion Flanagan, the 5-foot-10 dynamo who was the only WSU player to crack double-digits with 11 points in 21 minutes off the bench.

“That’s just what I’m used to doing. It’s no pressure,” Flanagan said. “It feels like a normal game to me. Coach told us in the locker room to just go out there and play your game, so that’s what I did.”

Flanagan has been a revelation for the Shockers lately. After essentially never playing for the first month of the season, Flanagan has averaged nine points in the last five games since he burst onto the scene in a Dec. 10 game against Longwood.

Flanagan came up clutch at the end of the shot clock twice for WSU in the final 10 minutes, somehow finishing an acrobatic lay-up and then drawing a foul on a three-pointer and swishing all three free throws. He also made the assist on the Jaron Pierre Jr. corner three-pointer that trimmed UCF’s lead to 46-45 with 4:50 remaining.

“He’s a really talented player and he has to be one of the better walk-ons in the country,” Dawkins said. “He’s crafty with the basketball and he can finish around the basket and he’s a really good shooter. That’s a pretty good combination. He’s going to have a good year for them and continue to help as he continues to emerge like he did tonight.”

WSU attempted only 40 shots and finished shooting 35% from the floor, a number that sank when the Shockers missed their final six shots of the game and 10 of their last 11.

WSU’s best chance at the lead came with 2:33 left when Pierre misfired on a three, then a deflection on the rebound nearly saw the ball go in and Okafor’s put-back attempt missed. Okafor also had a wide-open three that would have tied the game with 1:48 remaining that rimmed out.

“I thought we had some pretty good chances down the stretch,” Brown said. “But those turnovers, you just can’t do that. That was the difference.”