There is much more at stake in the NIT semifinal than just moving on in the tournament.
The Tulsa men’s basketball team won in thrilling fashion against rivals Wichita State on Tuesday, March 24 in the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament. Having already lost twice, once in the regular season in Kansas and then again in the semifinals of the American Conference Championship, Tulsa was determined to not lose once again.
As such, they came out guns blazing, quickly jumping to a 15-2 lead in the first 5 minutes. Wichita State seemed to have no answers, unable to stop the Golden Hurricane’s shooters and, likewise, unable to penetrate a Tulsa defense that seemed to be completely transformed under the energetic influence of the large home crowd. Tulsa ended up shooting almost 50% in every area, including a stunning 58.8% from three as a team. In contrast, Wichita State could barely get up any threes, relying on almost a third of their points from the free-throw line.
Perhaps the most impressive part of the first half was the containment of Kenyon Giles. The star of the Wichita State squad, he had been one of the deciding factors when last these two teams met in the American Conference Championship. Yet in the first half, he only had 5 points and only made one shot from the field.
But their 52-36 lead at the half would not stay. Wichita State came back, knowing that it would be near impossible and still managed to fight. Most of the second half was characterized by a steady Wichita State defense that denied Tulsa either the free-throw line or easy shots, and a Shockers offense that consistently made their free-throw shots. With seven minutes left in the game, Wichita State tied it up with the Tulsa crowd dejected and the Shockers fans, who made up about a fourth of the crowd, constantly chanting.
However, late in the half, the depth of Tulsa shined. Although all of the starting five would end up in the negative for +/- in the second half, guys like Myles Rigsby, Ian Smikle and Jaylen Lawal contributed in total +18 for Tulsa, and even Romad Dean, although ultimately coming out in the negative, had many excellent rebounds and steals which helped to stop Wichita State’s momentum.
Especially key was Rigsby’s steal with 1:25 left in the game, setting up Miles Barnstable for the layup that would put Tulsa up by 5 points and put the pressure on Wichita State to intentionally foul and try to win back the game. Luckily, Tulsa would be able to make all of their free throws, ultimately denying Wichita State, which once again shot horribly from the three-point range, to be able to mount a comeback.
As a result of this victory, our men’s Golden Hurricane team is headed to the semifinals of the NIT. They will travel up to Indianapolis in order to face New Mexico, a particularly strong team that hasn’t played Tulsa since 1997. Although the Golden Hurricane ultimately had a better record, and excelled against shared opponents, the Lobos consistently faced what many top analysts would describe as tougher competition.
Furthermore, the Lobos’ split record to New Mexico State this season could just be a case of rivals in the same conference being particularly difficult opponents no matter how good their team is that year. All in all, it should be a particularly good game, with major implications for both teams based on the outcome. Of course, the winner goes to the NIT final, but both coaches are currently being looked at for jobs at other schools across the nation. Failure here could mean an exit for either coach and, because of the nature of the transfer portal, a loss of talent that would flock to wherever the coach goes next. Therefore, we can only hope that Eric Konkol wins now and decides to stay as a result of it, encouraging freshman Jaylen Lawal and even star Tylen Riley to stay as well.
