Men's Basketball | 1/11/2026 7:25:00 PM

By Paul Suellentrop
 
Cole Franklin defended about as well as anyone not named Tekele Cotton. His reward was to watch the ball go through the hoop, leaving him to express his frustration by tossing his head back.
 
His mistake seems minor, but that is all a great shooter needs. Franklin backed up just enough to give Wichita State's Kenyon Giles an opening to shoot over his outstretched hand, negating Franklin's five-inch height advantage. Giles made one of his four three-pointers as the shot clock hit six to give the Shockers a 10-point lead with 2:38 to play.

Franklin's look of disbelief served as the perfect tribute to Giles' 40-minute masterpiece in Wichita State's 78-67 win over North Texas on Sunday in Koch Arena.
 
Giles, a 5-foot-10 guard, scored a career-high 33 points by making 13 of 17 shots, all four of his three-pointers. Naturally, he credited his defense.
 
"There's going to be games when you don't make (shots)," he said. "I would be doing my team a disservice if I was to let my miss or makes impact your game. I haven't really been focused on offense. I've been trying to get it going on the other end."
 
Giles scoring, the most by a Shocker since Markis McDuffie's 34 vs. Temple in 2019, provided a highlight-reel counterpart to the rest of the game.
 
Most of the other action was defined by physical defense, turnovers and free throws. Most of that went WSU's way, a welcome development after Wednesday's 66-64 loss to Rice in which the Owls bullied the Shockers far too often.
 
"Last game we didn't step up," center Will Berg said. "Today, they tried to punk us, but we punked them back harder."
 
 

CAREER HIGH 30 POINTS FOR KG

Mama, there goes THAT MAN 🔥@Kengocrzzy | ESPNU pic.twitter.com/DCHZo9Dn9n

— Wichita State Men's Basketball (@GoShockersMBB) January 11, 2026

 
 
Wichita State (10-7, 2-2 American) had lost four straight to the Mean Green (10-7, 1-3) and not scored more than 66 points in any. Those Mean Green teams, under former coaches Grant McCasland and Ross Hodge, dictated the game with man-to-man defense and patient offense.
 
North Texas remains a strong defensive team. The Shockers handled their pressure by making 51 percent of their shots and leaning on Giles. Wichita State led for 36 minutes, 20 seconds and controlled the game by holding North Texas to 37.5-percent shooting.
 
While 18 turnovers bothered coach Paul Mills, the Mean Green didn't fluster the Shockers with their physical defense like Rice did four days earlier.
 
"You're not going to win games in conference on skill," Mills said. "You're going to win on intangibles. We had intangibles. I thought we had fight. The guys really, really responded from the last time we played at home."
 
Intangibles don't go the right way without several contributors. Dillon Battie made his first start, with TJ Williams in concussion protocol and Jaret Valencia out for the season and responded with 10 points and nine rebounds. Karon Boyd, who scored nine points, played the main role in holding Je'Shawn Stevenson, North Texas' leading scorer, to 12 points on 4-of-17 shooting. Berg blocked three shots and recorded two assists.
 
That gave Giles the room to hit every big shot. The Mean Green turned a bad pass into a basket to cut WSU's lead to 43-34. Giles responded with a three-point play and then a steal and layup to move the lead to 14. North Texas cut a 13-point lead to eight. Giles drew a foul driving to the basket and made two free throws. His three over Franklin gave WSU a 69-59 lead with 2:42 to play. Another three put the Shockers up 74-62 with 1:07 remaining.
 
Giles set up the attention-grabbing threes with mid-range jumpers and two steals that led to layups.
 
"I understand teams are going to be really aggressive, so I do my job on both ends," he said. "On the defensive end, I got me two easy layups. Stuff like that really helps. I'm trying to pick it up (on defense) and that's what really gets me going."
 
Giles had it all going on Sunday to deliver a much-needed win for the Shockers.
 
 

This dunk is brought to you by the Law Office of Berg & Boyd.@KaronBoydd | ESPNU pic.twitter.com/O344DXodBq

— Wichita State Men's Basketball (@GoShockersMBB) January 11, 2026

 
 
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
 
Season tickets are on sale now, and season ticket renewals are available as well. To purchase, visit GoShockers.com/Tickets, dial 316-978-FANS (3267) or stop by the Shocker Ticket Office, located inside Charles Koch Arena, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.