The RoundHouse | 1/30/2019 11:41:00 PM

A difficult shot went in the basket for Wichita State and restored some good feelings around Koch Arena. Shooting – even what appear to be easy shots – is a problem for the Shockers. On Wednesday, they defeated SMU 85-83 with a strong offensive showing capped by Samajae Haynes-Jones wiggling by three defenders to spin a left-handed shot off the backboard and into the hoop.
 
"I knew it was money," teammate Markis McDuffie said. "That's what he does."
 
Certainly, Haynes-Jones plays fearlessly, never loses confidence even during cold spells and is always a threat to use his quickness and ball-handling to create something exciting. His basket with one second to play ended a three-game losing streak for WSU (9-11, 2-6).
 
"It always feels good to get a win," he said. "It's amazing."
 
Haynes-Jones, who scored 17 points, is credited with Wichita State's first buzzer-beater (a game decided in the final six seconds) since Rashard Kelly's putback gave the Shockers an 80-79 win over Hawaii in 2014 in Honolulu.
 
This stretch of the season quickly became important because of the way the schedule fell. The Shockers faced the American Athletic Conference's top teams early. The schedule eases up – depending on how well they play – over the next two weeks. Wichita State showed improvement in fits and starts against Houston, Temple, UCF and Cincinnati.
 
Now is the time to turn that progress into victories, especially with home games against Tulsa (Saturday) and Tulane (Feb. 9) coming up.
 
"That would have been a crazy tough one to absorb as a loss with what we've been going through," Shocker coach Gregg Marshall said. "We did a lot of good things. Just like Central Florida. Part of the game against Cincinnati. If we can claw back to a little over .500 over the next week or two, that would be great."
 
The American schedules its games, in part, to create the best matchups for TV in February and March after football is finished. Last season, Wichita State and Cincinnati met twice as nationally ranked teams in February. This season, the Shockers have a chance to move up the standings while the top teams battle amongst themselves. 
 
Not surprisingly, the Shockers are a deeper team in Koch Arena. Young teams play better at home and that trend continued. 
 
The starters all contributed in significant ways. Center Asbjorn Midtgaard scored a career-high 10 points off the bench. Guard Ricky Torres handed out four assists and didn't commit a turnover in his 11 minutes, 41 seconds of play.
 
"You have to have a lot of good performances to win in this league," Marshall said.
 
That's seven solid contributions and that is the kind of depth of production a team needs. The Shockers, as the win over UCF and narrow losses to Temple and Cincinnati showed, are capable of that in Koch Arena.
 
McDuffie considered the contributions up and down the roster and smiled. Freshman guard Erik Stevenson made 3 of 6 three-pointers and scored 17 points. Marshall made a point to praise his defense and rebounding. Freshman guard Jamarius Burton handed out a career-high seven assists and committed one turnover.
 
"It's all about these guys being confident," McDuffie said. "Erik, Jamarius, all the guys who contributed, they were waiting for this moment. That definitely takes pressure off me."
 
The Shockers had to make do without McDuffie for long stretches. He played 24:53, often switching out when the Shockers played defense due to fouls. Wichita State made an 8-2 run to tie the game 49-all early in the second half with McDuffie on the bench.
 
Because of SMU's small roster, avoiding fouls is upper-most on the minds of the Mustangs when they play defense. They're not going to pressure the ball and force turnovers because the risk is too great.
 
Even with that, Wichita State's season-low five turnovers is another indication of a solid offensive performance. The Shockers passed the ball crisply most times and made SMU pay for its lack of size by getting the ball to the big men. Burton and Torres hurt the Mustangs by finding big men rolling to the basket.
 
"The game was lost for us on the defensive end," SMU coach Tim Jankovich said. "Those percentages were way too high. That forces you to play great offense."
 
The Shockers shot 47.7 percent from the field, their best in the past four games. Their 10-of-21 shooting (47.6 percent) from three-point range is their best since making 12 of 22 (54.5) against Providence in the second game of the season.
 
"We didn't panic and we kept moving the ball," Marshall said. "We were pretty calm, as opposed to what we sometimes see this year, especially on the road, where we get frazzled."
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.