The RoundHouse | 3/6/2021 4:39:00 PM
They cut down the net, rolled in the confetti, took videos and posed for pictures.
Up that ladder they went, just like this season, always climbing up. Up toward something special.
Four seniors held their framed jerseys and watched highlight videos on the scoreboard.
Tyson Etienne carried the trophy, net draped over it, to his Zoom interview.
Alterique Gilbert tied his piece of the championship net to his black championship hat. So did
Brycen Bush, who also wore a black championship shirt.
Nobody, it seems, outside of that locker room expected this scene back in November. The Shockers, for a lot of different reasons, disagreed.
"We knew we weren't finishing seventh," senior guard
Brycen Bush said. "Proving everybody wrong is pretty special."
Wichita State defeated USF 80-63 on Saturday at Koch Arena to win the American Athletic Conference title, its first since joining the conference for the 2017-18 season. The Shockers (15-4, 11-2) earned the top seed in the American Athletic Conference Championship and will play at 11 a.m. Friday against either USF or Temple in Fort Worth.
"History has been made," Etienne said. "It's definitely something that's beautiful."
The Shockers started the season with an interim coach, eight newcomers and lots of COVID-19 uncertainty. There was little reason to believe in anything other than hope for the best.
The Shockers believed something different.
"This team, we don't waver," forward
Dexter Dennis said. "I'm here every day with these guys and I see the amount of work we put in. I see how guys respond to certain things."
On Saturday, the Shockers closed out the Bulls (8-12, 4-10) with a 25-7 run late in the first half and early in the second half.
Like in many games, Etienne got things going. He made three of an inbound play for a 31-26 lead. Dennis' three made it 34-28 while the Bulls countered with turnovers. A hustle play saved a possession for the Shockers and Gilbert's three made it 38-28 at half.
The second half played out like a lot of Shocker highlights. Threes by Etienne and Gilbert boosted the lead to 47-31 and forced a USF timeout. The Bulls never got closer than that and the lead grew to 28 as the Shockers made 8 of 18 threes in the second half.
"We wanted to do it together, as a family," coach
Isaac Brown said. "Meaning, share the basketball. Once the threes started to fall, we basically won the basketball game."
The Shockers talked a lot about a chip on the shoulder and proving people wrong for picking them seventh in the preseason coaches poll. That, in reality, only gets a team so far.
Wichita State also found the perfect coach to calm a turbulent situation. The roster possessed talented guards who wanted to wear the Shocker uniform in Etienne and Gilbert, an elite defender in Dennis, a solid, unselfish laborer in
Trey Wade and a big man in
Morris Udeze ready to take on a larger role.
With those five serving as a foundation, Brown found the right uses for
Clarence Jackson's energy,
Ricky Council IV's freshman bounce,
Craig Porter Jr.'s steady play and
Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler's experience as a returner.
"We bonded a little bit faster and closer than normal," Dennis said. "I'll remember the relationships I've made with my teammates. A new group that came together so fast. A lot was riding on this year. IB got the head coaching job. COVID."
Several Shockers pointed to an 83-79 win at Mississippi on Jan. 2 that demonstrated the team's potential. Etienne went with a different game that he said provided evidence of the team's defining characteristic – resilience.
On Dec. 2, the Shockers opened the season against Oral Roberts with eight in uniform and all the uncertainty hanging over Koch Arena and no fans in the seats. The Shockers trailed by as many as nine points in the second half and by six with under 10 minutes to play. They won 85-80, saving the what-ifs.
"Who plays a game with eight people?" he said. "We were down late in that game. That was the real testament of our team, being able to weather that storm."
Down 64-58 with just under 10 minutes remaining against ORU, it took a lot to believe in the Shockers. They believed, and on Saturday they climbed up that ladder to show just how much.
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
