Reaves Shoots Shockers Past Tulsa

WICHITA, Kan. – A career shooting night from Austin Reaves lifted No 17/16 Wichita State over Tulsa, 90-71, Sunday evening at Charles Koch Arena.

The sophomore hit a school record seven first-half threes en route to a career-high 23 points.

Reaves (7-of-11 for the game from three) finished two shy of Jason Perez single-game three-point mark, set in 2000. He becomes just the fifth Shocker to hit seven in a game.

WSU (17-4, 7-2 American) has won back-to-back after suffering consecutive losses last week.

Shaquille Morris added 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting and blocked two shots to take over second-place on WSU’s all-time blocks chart. Morris (133 career blocks) passed up Robert Elmore (132 from 1973-77) but would another 77 to catch all-time leader Antoine Carr (209 from 1979-83).

Darral Willis Jr. (15 points) and Zach Brown (10 points, five assists).

Rashard Kelly didn’t score much (four points) but did just about everything else, ending with 11 rebounds, eight assists, two blocks and two steals. It was Kelly’s 127th game as a Shocker, moving him into 10th on the school’s all-time list.

Aside from Reaves’ 7-of-11 effort, WSU’s three-point shooters struggled, hitting just 3-of-18 looks. Frankamp (0-for-5) saw his school record 40-game three-point streak come to an end. It was the first time since Dec. 28, 2016 at Indiana State that the sharpshooter has failed to hit at least one triple.

The win was WSU’s 700th men’s basketball victory at the Roundhouse (excluding exhibitions) since its 1955 debut. The Shockers are 700-217 all-time in the building, with a 69-2 mark over the last five seasons.

Helped by Reaves, WSU scored 51 bench points. It’s the second-consecutive 50-point game from the reserves and the fourth time they’ve done it this year.

For Tulsa (11-10, 4-5 American) former Shocker Corey Henderson Jr. scored 28 points on 5-of-11 three-point shooting. Junior Etou (18 points, nine rebounds) and Sterling Taplin (12 points, five assists) also scored in double-figures.

The win gives the Shockers their first sweep of an American Athletic Conference opponent. They’ve won three-straight meetings with Tulsa and 10 of the past 11.

WSU won the battle of the boards, 43-34, and finished with just nine turnovers to Tulsa’s 15.

The Shockers tallied 27 assists on 33 baskets. It’s the fifth time this season they’ve finished with 25-or-more assists in a game. Their 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio was a season-best, edging out a 32:11 effort at ECU earlier this month.

Just four other Shockers have hit seven-or-more threes in a game. Reaves did it within the first 16 minutes.

WSU trailed 27-25 at the 7:37-mark before a 16-2 run. Reaves nailed back-to-back threes to get it started and finished it with a layup. The Shockers took a 45-35 lead into halftime.

Reaves scored just three points on two shots in the previous meeting at Tulsa but factored heavily in the rematch. By the 4:35-mark of the first half he was 7-of-7 from three. His lone miss of the half – on attempt No. 8 – still turned into points when Morris slammed home a putback.

Reaves’ (23 points) finished one shy of Fred VanVleet’s Marshall Era record for points in a half. VanVleet had 24 of his career-high 32 points in the second half of a 2016 win at Evansville.

WSU scored the first nine points of the second half to extend the margin to 54-35 with 18:06 to play.

Tulsa used a 17-3 push to whittle the lead to 57-52. A pair of Igbanu free throws closed the gap to 66-62 with 7:48 to go.

Morris answered with a dunk and two free throws to key a 17-2 Shocker run to put the game away.

Brown turned a Morris feed into a corner three, then scored in transition to make it 77-62 with 5:09 showing.

Willis’ jumper upped the lead to 85-66 near the 2:00-mark.