Three takeaways from Wichita State basketball’s overtime loss to Florida Atlantic
As the potential game-winning shot for the home team sailed through the air Sunday afternoon, the Koch Arena crowd was prepared to burst into pandemonium for the first buzzer-beating win since 2021.
But Kenny Pohto’s 3-pointer missed, which turned out to be the best chance for the Wichita State men’s basketball team to score its first win over a ranked opponent in three years.
After the Shockers rallied from behind to force overtime, the extra period was dominated by No. 20-ranked Florida Atlantic in a 95-82 win.
The stakes were high for the Owls, which improved to 19-5 this season and avoided a loss that would tarnish their NCAA tournament resume. The win also keeps FAU (9-2 AAC) within one game of South Florida (17-5, 10-1 AAC) for the lead in the American Athletic Conference. Meanwhile, WSU (10-14, 2-9 AAC) lost for the seventh time in conference play where it was within one possession in the final four minutes of regulation.
Here are three takeaways from the WSU-FAU game.
1. Overtime proves to be disaster for Wichita State
After erasing a nine-point deficit in the final six minutes and having the last shot to win in regulation, it was fair to think the Shockers owned the game’s momentum, especially playing in front of a rowdy crowd of 6,513 fans on their home court.
But WSU’s win probability plummeted to 7.7% within the first minute of overtime, according to KenPom.
The disaster began from the opening tip-off, which was won by Quincy Ballard but recovered by FAU when Alijah Martin out-jockeyed WSU’s Colby Rogers for position and converted a layup within the first four seconds.
On WSU’s first offensive possession, a lazy attempt at a screen by Ballard followed by a lazy pass from Xavier Bell ended in a steal and run-out the other way for FAU’s Brandon Weatherspoon (19 points). After 20 seconds, WSU was already down four points.
“You could see a little bit of dejection,” WSU head coach Paul Mills said.
“They had two layups and we didn’t even have a shot attempt,” Rogers said. “That can’t happen, especially in overtime when the possessions matter so much. You got to make every possession count and we didn’t do a good job of that in overtime. Against a good team like that, you can’t beat yourself and expect to win. You’ve got to go beat them. They made plays in overtime and we didn’t and it cost us.”
After a Ballard hook shot swirled out, FAU extended its lead to 80-74 after just 50 seconds on free throws by Vladislav Goldin (20 points, nine rebounds, five assists).
FAU made 7 of 8 field goals and 5 of 6 free throws in overtime, as the Owls out-scored WSU 21-8 and scored 14 of the first 16 points in the extra period. It was the second straight overtime game for FAU, which lost 76-73 to UAB in overtime on Thursday.
“We made two hustle plays to start and I thought that set the tone,” FAU coach Dusty May said.
“There’s a lot of randomness to this, but I think our guys have that belief now. They’re not hoping to win. We’ve been in this situation so many times and we have such a high level of trust in each other. No one feels like they have to be our hero or save us.”
2. Controversy down the stretch of a close game
During WSU’s 15-6 run in the final six minutes of regulation to force overtime, there were a handful of plays WSU will be wondering “What if?” down the stretch.
There was certainly one at the top of the mind for WSU head coach Paul Mills in the aftermath of Sunday’s game, which was a missed shot-clock violation by officials that ended with FAU scoring an uncontested layup to extend its lead to 70-66 with 3:37 remaining in regulation.
“Sometimes it’s things you can’t even control, like a shot-clock violation and officials’ missed calls,” Mills said. “Don’t know how you can miss that one. That one you blow your whistle and you go back and review it.”
The ESPN2 telecast showed the ball was still in the hands of FAU’s Bryan Greenlee when the red light went off to signal a violation. But none of the three officials whistled the play dead, which would have allowed them to review the play.
In the moment, all five WSU players stopped playing because they believed they had forced a turnover. Instead, no whistle ever sounded and FAU’s Jalen Gaffney was left free for a put-back.
“It was a huge swing, especially with the momentum shift,” Bell said. “But at the end of the day, we’ve got to be aware and finish out plays. Stuff doesn’t always go our way. It is what it is, we can’t really control that. But we can control how we react in those situations.”
After Bell briefly staked the Shockers to a 73-72 lead with a go-ahead 3-pointer with 44 seconds left, WSU was also dismayed by a foul call on Quincy Ballard on the ensuing possession where the big man swatted the shot and recovered the rebound.
Greenlee attacked the basket and Ballard timed his jump to cleanly block the shot up top, but officials deemed there was contact with the body. The WSU bench was in an uproar after seeing a replay of the foul call. Greenlee made both free throws to put FAU ahead, 74-73, with 30 seconds left.
“Both of us do a really good job at not fouling,” Mills said. “We’re No. 1 and they’re No. 2 defending without fouling (in the AAC), but I thought free throws at the end of the day is kind of what gave them the advantage.”
Bell drew a similar foul at the other end following a timeout, but he split his pair of free throws with 17.2 seconds remaining to tie the game.
“It was cool (to make the go-ahead 3),” Bell said. “But I do blame myself for those free throw opportunities at the end, not being able to go 2 for 2.”
WSU received another chance at the win when Alijah Martin fumbled an in-bounds pass with 2.1 seconds left to give back possession to the Shockers. Throwing in right in front of the FAU bench on the sideline, Ronnie DeGray III delivered an on-target pass 70 feet away to connect with Kenny Pohto, who was able to turn and launch a relatively-good shot from beyond the arc.
But the potential game-winner hit off the backboard and off the rim to bring overtime.
“At the end of the day, you just want to give your team a chance,” Mills said. “It was a heck of a pass by Ronnie. Kind of how that play happened and we got a quality shot out of it.”
3. Colby Rogers continues torrid pace on 3-pointers
Carrying a large offensive load is nothing new to WSU leading scorer Colby Rogers.
But against a FAU defense that is the sixth-best in the country at limiting assists, Rogers was left creating in isolation more than normal.
The 6-foot-4 sharpshooter was up for the challenge, scoring 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. But the burden of trying to create more showed up in a season-high four turnovers.
Rogers’ shot-making spearheaded another impressive team shooting performance against FAU, as the Shockers finished shooting 50.8% from the field.
On a team with so little outside shooting support, Rogers’ 3-point shooting has been critical this season. He added three more triples on Sunday, his 19th game this season where he has made multiple 3-pointers.
Rogers has also made a 3-pointer in all 24 games this season, a streak that ranks as the sixth-longest in program history. He leads the conference in 3-pointers per game (2.80) and total 3-pointers (66).
Odds and ends for Shocker basketball
Wichita State was undefeated at home on Super Bowl Sunday… before Sunday. In 2002, the Shockers topped Indiana State in overtime before the Patriots beat the Rams on a last-second field goal. Three years ago, WSU held off Temple, 70-67, before the Buccaneers beat the Chiefs. Last season the Shockers needed double overtime to take down SMU, 91-89, before the Chiefs edged the Eagles.
After limiting turnovers to just 35 in the last four games, WSU’s turnover problem reappeared on Sunday with 17 turnovers. FAU finished with a season-high 13 steals and a 16-9 advantage in points off turnovers.
Sunday was the third loss in AAC play where WSU shot better than 50% from the field, coming twice against Florida Atlantic and once against Memphis. In those three games, WSU has allowed an average of 97.7 points and committed 16.3 turnovers per game.
FAU returned 14 of 15 players from last season’s Final Four run, as head coach Dusty May inked a 10-year contract extension last April. The Owls are currently projected safely as an at-large NCAA tournament team.
Sunday was just the third time the two programs have met on the hardwood. Before FAU became a member of the AAC, the Shockers topped the Owls 88-85 behind a pair of 20-point performances from Jason Perez and Maurice Evans at Levitt Arena on Nov. 18, 1998.
It was a black-out at Koch Arena on Sunday, as the Shockers wore their black uniforms to bring awareness to mental health.
