WICHITA, Kan. -- A 12-minute, 44-second scoring drought doomed Wichita State in a 62-52 loss to North Texas on Saturday afternoon at Charles Koch Arena.
 
Morris Udeze scored a team-high 17 points for the Shockers (8-3), including a basket with 18:09 to play that gave the hosts a comfortable 39-29 lead.
 
North Texas (7-3) scored the next 20 points to flip a 10-point deficit to a 10-point lead.
 
A Mean Green squad that came in ranked sixth nationally in scoring defense (55.4 ppg), hounded the hosts in 12-straight misses and nine turnovers during that stretch, which mercifully ended with Udeze's three-point play at the 5:25-mark.
 
The Shockers pulled back to within six points on three occasions but could get no closer.
 
Tylor Perry scored 23 points off the bench to lead North Texas, which snapped the Shockers' 14-game Roundhouse winning streak.
 
Perry was 5-of-10 from the field, including 3-of-4 from deep, and sank all 10 free throw tries. Eight of those came in the final 1:17 to close out the win.
 
For the Shockers, Craig Porter Jr. scored 10 of his career-high 12 points in the first half to go with three assists and a pair of blocks, and Ricky Council IV pulled a career-best nine rebounds.
 
UNT shot 38 percent from the field but knocked down 8-of-20 threes and 16-of-18 free throws.
 
WSU was 6-of-21 from deep and shot 36.5 percent overall.
 
The Shockers took a 34-27 lead into the locker room after one of their best offensive halves of the year. They averaged 1.26 points-per-possession and committed just three turnovers.
 
By contrast, they averaged 0.51 points and tallied 12 turnovers in 35 second-half possessions.
 
WSU's drought coincided with an ankle injury to Porter near the 15:00-mark. The junior point guard returned eight minutes later with the Shocker portion of the scoreboard still frozen at 39.
 

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ALSO NOTABLE:

• North Texas is just the fourth non-conference opponent in the last 11 seasons to leave Charles Koch Arena with a victory. WSU is 64-4 in that stretch.
• The loss was the Shockers' first at the Roundhouse since falling to Oklahoma State on Dec. 12, 2020.
• This was the first meeting between the schools since 1982, but the Shockers won't have to wait nearly as long for a rematch. Earlier this fall, North Texas accepted an invitation to join the American Athletic Conference (date TBA).
• UNT narrowed WSU's all-time series lead to 26-12. All but two of the 38 games took place between 1957 and 1975 when UNT was a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
• UNT defeated the Shockers in Wichita for just the fourth time in 20 trips and for the first time since 1970, snapping a six-game losing streak.
• WSU lost for the first time under Isaac Brown when out-rebounding its opponent. The Shockers had been 14-0 coming in (6-0 this year).
• Over his last three games, Porter has handed out 16 assists with just one turnover.
• Udeze scored in double-figures for a sixth-straight game. Over that span, his season average has climbed from 7.0 to 11.8 points-per-game.

 

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UP NEXT:
Wichita State closes out the non-conference portion of its schedule on Wednesday evening when it plays host to Prairie View A&M at Charles Koch Arena. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. Reserve your seats at goshockers.com/Tickets or call 316-978-FANS (3267).