TAMPA – Nine different teams complement the variety of depth in the American Athletic Conference, where Florida Atlantic holds a half-game advantage on Memphis. Wichita State passed the USF Bulls, 86-85 in overtime on Sunday, as the Bulls are one game back and the Shockers settle in at two back of first place.
South Florida (11-7, 3-2) has a vast upgrade in overall talent and structure with new coach Bryan Hodgson, but in any conference, every game is now a challenge. The Shockers (12-7, 3-3) and Bulls are clearly better than their records, and Wichita State used a steal and a layup by guard Kenyon Giles to pass the South Florida Bulls, 86-85, in overtime. Giles deflected a pass from Wes Enis and then scored on the subsequent layup with 20 seconds remaining for the game winner.
The Shockers were rejuvenated after Friday evening’s 85-67 loss at Florida Atlantic.
“I know there’s a lot of people who go through life living under a rain cloud, but we don’t have that with this group,” said Wichita State coach Paul Mills. “We don’t have ‘Negative Nancys.’ We have a group of character.”
An emotional Enis blamed himself for the loss.
“I did, in overtime, throw the ball away, and you can’t have that,” said Enis. “I’m super passionate. I feel like I’m a high-IQ guy, and that play didn’t show that at all.”
A jump ball gave USF possession with 13 seconds remaining. After a missed shot, Bulls forward Izaiyah Nelson was whistled for a foul before Sweden Native Will Berg missed two free throws, and Josh Omajofo threw the desperation shot by the length of the court at the game-ending buzzer.
Giles led all scorers with 22 points, and guard Michael Gray scored 17. Joseph Pinon’s 21 points led four Bulls in double figures as Omojafo scored 17 points, C.J. Brown scored 16, and Wes Enis scored 14 points, his 11th game in double figures.
Omojafo made 9-of-10 free throws from 3:47 in the game as he answered an 8-0 Wichita State run, which gave them a 75-73 lead with 1:25 remaining. Omojafo found driving lanes, which enabled him to get fouled and go to the free-throw line as he was a tough matchup once again. He showed outstanding confidence and his ability to take over in the clutch.
“I think in moments like that, we need a couple of buckets, so I was trying to find something easy, so I was trying to get to the free throw line,” said Omojafo.
Board Play Elevated Wichita State: South Florida currently outrebounds its opponents 42.9-38.0, on average. However, the Bulls were outrebounded 12-4 in overtime after claiming the boards by a tight 38-37 margin in the first 40 minutes. Center Will Berg had 15 rebounds to lead the Shockers, although USF outscored Wichita State, 14-13, on offensive rebounds while Wichita State claimed the offensive glass, 18-16.
“It may have been a problem today, but it hasn’t been a problem throughout the year,” explained Hodgson of the Bulls’ rebounding. “We had a problem in overtime, and I’m not sure why. I think sometimes guys expect to come down with a rebound, so they just stand and watch. There has to be a sense of urgency to have the basketball, and we just didn’t have that.”
Nelson led the Bulls with nine rebounds, and Omojafo tallied eight.
First Half Provides a Turnaround: Wichita State’s guard-play led to a 17-6 lead with 15:37 remaining in the first half as Giles led with six points while Gray nailed his first three-pointer off the right baseline. They extended to 27-12 at 10:07 with Karon Boyd’s 16-footer off the right top of the key before Dillon Battie’s layup provided the 14-point advantage.
“I’m doing these guys a disservice,” noted Hodgson. “I have got to put them in better situations. I have to do a better job preparing us to come out and not put ourselves down by 15 points. Lacksadaisiclal. I don’t know why that happened, but it is my job to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
After trailing 30-15 with 9:13 left in the first half, C.J. Brown scored six points as Pinion nailed a triple before Omojafo found him in transition, and the former Arkansas State Red Wolf garnered a slam dunk to cut the deficit to 30-23. Nelson continued with a three-point field goal from the left baseline and an alley-oop slam on a C.J. Brown assist. Brown finished the 20-6 run with a layup and a 36-35 Bulls’ lead with 41 seconds remaining.
“We didn’t make any defensive adjustments,” said Hodgson. “We just started making layups, which we did not do in the first half of the first half. I talk to these guys a lot about taking it to the rim, and a couple of guys, until they miss a couple (of threes), they don’t start doing it.”
Bull Run Until Late: As a team, the Bulls started the second half with immediacy when Enis made a three-pointer in transition off a Shockers’ turnover before Pinion made his third triple of the evening to give USF a 51-38 lead just two and a half minutes into the second half.
Wichita State’s speed and quickness in the backcourt with Gray and Boyd as their two leading scorers on the season, and then depth from Brian Amuneke and Dre Kindell.
“Down the stretch, we started getting defensive stops, which is important,” Hodgson said. “That leads to offense a lot of times. We are not taking the ball out of the net, which is a help offensively. We just started playing better help defense down the stretch.”
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