WICHITA, Kan. – It wasn’t pretty, but No. 3 seed Wichita State marches on to the NIT second round following a first round win over Wyoming, 74-70, Tuesday night in Charles Koch Arena.
Wichita State (23-11) recorded its first postseason win since 2019 when the Shockers advanced all the way to the NIT semifinals. The Shockers will face the winner of No. 2 Oklahoma State and Davidson either Saturday or Sunday.
With the win, Wichita State improved to 15-3 at home this season, tying for the seventh most home wins in a single season.
TJ Williams powered the Shockers behind a 17-point, 14-rebound double-double. His 14 rebounds set a new career high and marked his second double-double of the season.
Kenyon Giles added 15 points, but was just 5-of-17 from the floor. Emmanuel Okorafor set a new career high with 12 rebounds. As a team, Wichita State grabbed 55 rebounds, including 17 on the offensive end. They have now grabbed 10 or more offensive rebounds in 28 straight games – the longest in the nation. The Shockers were plus-19 on the glass.
Wichita State set the tone early with physical play in the paint and on the glass. After trading early baskets, the Shockers used a 9-0 run midway through the half to stretch the lead to eight.
A pair of threes from Giles helped extend the margin to 24-16 with just over three minutes remaining, and Wichita State carried a 28-24 advantage into halftime.
Despite shooting just 30.6 percent in the opening 20 minutes, the Shockers held Wyoming to 27.6 percent and limited the Cowboys’ offensive rhythm.
Wichita State quickly built its largest lead of the night early in the second half. A three-pointer from Karon Boyd capped a surge that pushed the margin to 38-28 with 16:57 remaining.
Wyoming answered behind Nasir Meyer and Damarion Dennis, who combined for 33 points and helped the Cowboys erase the deficit.
A Meyer three-pointer tied the game at 47-47 with 8:08 to play, and another triple moments later gave Wyoming its first lead of the second half at 50-49.
From there, Wichita State leaned on Williams and its rebounding edge to regain control.
Williams scored multiple second-chance baskets during a key stretch, including a putback and and-one sequence that gave the Shockers a 54-52 lead with 5:45 remaining. He followed with a dunk and another layup to help extend the margin.
A three-pointer from Giles pushed the lead to 59-54 with just over four minutes to go.
Wyoming refused to go away, trimming the deficit to 68-65 after a late three from Meyer with three seconds left. However, Wichita State sealed the game at the free-throw line, with Dre Kindell knocking down four clutch free throws in the final seconds.
