How Shocker basketball learned from past failures to win when it mattered in March

As it was happening, it was difficult for the players on the Wichita State men’s basketball team to see a potential good in the painful losses.

During an eight-game losing streak, the Shockers went six weeks without a win. And in their bottom-four finish in the American Athletic Conference standings, 10 of their 13 losses were two-possession games in the final five minutes.

Amid the struggle, WSU first-year coach Paul Mills, a devout Christian, couldn’t help but be reminded of a bible verse. “Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance,” James 1:3 reads.

“If you’re not tested,” Mills said, “you’ll never have a testimony.”

By going through adversity and enduring failure, and more importantly being willing to learn from it, WSU’s shell was hardened over the course of the last three months.

However unpleasant they were for fans of the team, the players remained steadfast that growth was occurring.

And after the 12th-seeded Shockers became the lowest seed to win two games in the history of the AAC tournament, stunning NCAA Tournament hopeful Memphis in a 71-65 win on Thursday, the players believed their past struggles prepared them to rise to the occasion when it mattered most.

WSU looks for its third win in three days in Friday’s quarterfinals, where it will play No. 4 seed UAB at approximately 2 p.m. with the game broadcast on ESPN2.

“Ups and downs are inevitable. You can’t avoid them,” WSU leading scorer Colby Rogers said. “Tough times don’t last, tough people do.”

The lows were some of the lowest points the program has seen in quite some time, as WSU (15-18) is likely in the midst of its first losing season in 16 years, but Mills never lost faith in his players.

There’s no better example than Bijan Cortes, the transfer point guard who joined the team midway through the season. Before the postseason, Cortes was shooting 28.4% from the field with nearly as many turnovers (46) as assists (52). Through it all, Cortes always kept his spot in the starting lineup.

That belief has paid off in Fort Worth, where Cortes has combined for 23 points on 60% shooting with 10 assists and two turnovers in WSU’s two postseason wins. And when WSU was reeling late against Memphis, it was Cortes who delivered the alley-oop pass to Quincy Ballard to put the Shockers back in the lead for good.

“When players come in, they have their dreams and then there’s reality,” Mills said. “And the bigger that gap, the higher their frustration. But you have to go through the process.

“Anybody who has ever been married will tell you, and I’ve been married for 26 years, it’s not always great, but you honor a commitment that you made. That’s where I’m proud of B, he has honored a commitment that he’s made.”

Another key to victory on Thursday was the need for someone to take on the challenge of defending Memphis’ All-American candidate, David Jones.

In scoring a game-high 24 points, Jones hit an array of step-back jumpers, floaters in the paint while being fouled and pull-up shots over strong contests.

“You have to understand that players are going to make tough shots,” Mills said. “You try to remind guys all the time that just because they make a shot does not mean you played bad defense.”

On Thursday, it was Harlond Beverly, another player who has endured an up-and-down season, who elevated his play when his team needed him the most.

There were times when Jones got the best of Beverly, and let him know about it, but the matchup brought out the most competitive side in the Miami transfer.

“You just try to make his shots tough,” Beverly said. “I’m confident in my abilities, athletically and competitively. If somebody scores on me, I want to see them try to do it again. I have that mindset of where they’re going to have to keep proving to me that they can make tough shots.”

In what was likely his best defensive performance, Beverly stuffed the stat sheet with a team-high 17 points, six rebounds, three assists, five blocks and five steals. It was just the 23rd time a player has finished with five blocks and five steals in a Division I game since the 2010-11 season, according to Sports Reference.

While Jones got his, Beverly answered back with his own highlight-reel plays, swatting a pair of Jones’ shots and stripping him for a turnover for a crucial WSU basket in the second half.

Mills said at one point the coaching staff asked Beverly if he needed to switch off Jones to preserve energy.

“I can’t use the words he used, just because this is PG,” Mills said. “But he said, ‘No.’”

WSU was surely battling some internal demons during a seven-minute field goal drought late in the second half, as Memphis erased a 14-point deficit with a 17-2 run to take a 58-57 lead with 3:30 remaining.

The Shockers had a buffet of past collapses down the stretch to pick from and it appeared their fatal flaw would ultimately end their season.

With WSU absolutely needing a basket, Mills dialed up the same play call he used to get Rogers an open corner 3 to seal Wednesday’s win over Rice. Except this time, he used Rogers as a decoy to occupy the defense’s attention, which left the lane open for Cortes to find Ballard for an alley-oop jam.

“We knew what they were going to do,” Memphis coach Penny Hardaway said. “We knew they were going to throw the lob and we still had lapses. It’s tough when you know exactly what’s going to happen, when it’s going to happen and you can’t stop it.”

Up until that point, Memphis had pushed, shoved and bumped Rogers in a clear strategy to shake him from his game. And it had worked, as WSU’s leading scorer was 3-for-12 with five turnovers, even momentarily losing his cool following a turnover that led to a double-technical skirmish with Jones.

But with the game — and the season — on the line, Rogers pushed past that mental barrier to deliver a dagger in the form of a 3-pointer, rising above a defender draped all over him, to give WSU a 62-58 lead with 2:26 left. Memphis never came within a single possession of the lead again and WSU snapped its eight-game losing streak in the series.

“I was frustrated. I had five turnovers, but you’ve got to keep playing,” Rogers said. “That one felt extremely good, though. I knew it was going to energize us and hurt them.”

“At the end, you trust your guys,” Mills said. “You trust them to make plays.”

After the upset was secured, there was no dramatic fist pump from Mills to the roaring crowd of Shocker supporters. There were no high fives with his staff to celebrate. In fact. He didn’t even crack a smile when he exited the handshake line.

But in the absence of joy was a deep sense of pride in his team.

“When the challenge is up, whether I succeed at the challenge or not, I’m up for it,” Mills said. “I tell our guys, we don’t expect you to win every fight. But we do expect you to fight every fight. I’m proud because we fought that fight.”