Wichita State fans do it again, break TBT attendance record for Tuesday’s AfterShocks game

Wichita State fans once again proved why they are the class of The Basketball Tournament.

The combination of cheap tickets and another high-stakes game for the AfterShocks led to Wichita State breaking its own TBT attendance record with a crowd of 7,202 fans at Koch Arena on Tuesday to watch an eventual 76-53 win for Team Heartfire.

The previous record of 7,184 at Koch Arena was set in the WSU alumni team’s debut game in 2019.

“It says that we have some of the best fans in the country and they have a real connection with the guys who have played here,” said WSU senior associate athletic director Brad Pittman, who oversees all WSU facilities operations. “They’re just rabid basketball fans and it’s a real testament to them and to the guys who have played here because the fans keep coming back wanting to see them win.”

Since shattering the attendance record in the AfterShocks’ first game, Wichita has become a TBT darling.

Wichita is now a pillar of the TBT, as the city has been given more and more hosting power in recent seasons. First, Wichita was the first host site given a quarterfinal game, which helped boost the AfterShocks all the way to the tournament’s semifinals last summer. Then, Wichita was given the first super regional this summer, as two separate regionals were hosted at Koch Arena.

On the same night when Louisville’s debut was expected to challenge Wichita’s attendance record, Wichita showed why it’s still the top draw. While 5,463 Louisville fans packed Freedom Hall to watch their alumni team win on Tuesday, more than 7,200 filled the Roundhouse in the fourth year of the AfterShocks’ existence.

That staying power (Wichita now has six of the seven largest crowds in TBT history) has resonated with TBT organizers.

“The fans here are what takes Wichita to another level,” said Josh Brown, TBT’s director of digital media. “The university has really bought into it and they market it on a level that’s really unheard of. So when you get a university to buy in and then have a rabid fan base, you put those things together and Wichita has become the model for what we want to do everywhere else.”

The boisterous crowds during summer nights in the Roundhouse have helped fuel the AfterShocks to three straight appearances in the TBT quarterfinals.

The players credited the crowd for helping spur a 21-point comeback in the AfterShocks’ second-round victory over Beale Street Boys. An even more electric crowd was on hand for Tuesday’s game but was never given the chance to impact the game with 20 turnovers by the AfterShocks sinking their chances early.

“We never really got to hear it. We got smacked, man,” former Shocker Markis McDuffie said. “I want to apologize to the fans who came out. We didn’t do what I expected us to do, but you guys are amazing. We got you four games, so we didn’t let you down too bad.”

Afterwards, AfterShocks head coach Zach Bush said the WSU fans are a major reason why the team wants to play during the summer in the first place.

“They are unbelievable every year and we can’t express how thankful we are,” Bush said. “This event would not exist without them. The way they show up, even though we didn’t play very well for four games, they showed up more and more and more. It’s a testament to this community and how much they love basketball and just how kind the people are. We see them around town when we’re out and about and people love their Shockers, so just a huge thank you to the fans.”