FORT WORTH (GoShockers.com) – Wichita State gave the No. 1 seed and regular season champions, Memphis, everything and then some, but came up just short, 83-80, in AAC Championship quarterfinals Friday afternoon.
Wichita State (19-14) saw its season come to an end with the heartbreaking loss. In Year 2 of the Paul Mills era, the Shockers improved their win total by four from last season. Mills’ 34 wins through his first two seasons are third most in program history.
Memphis advances to Saturday’s semifinals where they will face the winner of No. 5 Florida Atlantic and No. 4 Tulane.
One day after dropping a career-high 20 points on South Florida, Bijan Cortes came back with 19 in the quarterfinals on a career-best 5-of-9 shooting from three-point range. Xavier Bell was a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line, finishing with 18 points in his collegiate finale.
Ronnie DeGray III came up one point shy of his career high with 14 points and one rebound shy of a double-double. His four steals tied a career high.
Quincy Ballard finished with seven points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots. In two games in Fort Worth, he totaled nine blocks, running his career total to 150 at Wichita State. His 150 blocks rank second in program history.
The 2025 American Athletic Conference Player of the Year, PJ Haggerty, gave the Shockers fits all day. He dropped a career-high 42 points. The 42 points tied an AAC Championship game record.
For the second straight day Wichita State’s outside shooting came up clutch. After knocking down nine vs. South Florida, the Shockers came back today and upped their total to 10. They finished 10-for-24, one shy of a season high.
Despite outscoring the Tigers by 21 from beyond the arc, Wichita State was outscored by 10 in points off turnovers and 11 in second chance points. Wichita State had 17 turnovers and was outrebounded by 13, both areas proved to be crucial in a one-possession game.
Wichita State blitzed the Tigers out of the gate, hitting six of its first seven shots, including a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc. After Cortes’ second triple in the first 5:00 minutes, Memphis had to burn its first timeout, trailing 20-10.
Out of the timeout, Memphis ramped up its pressure and responded with nine unanswered to make it a one-point game, 20-19. An AJ McGinnis NBA-range three-pointer and a Washington layup silenced the Memphis run to make it 25-19.
Three straight free throws from Memphis’ Moussa Cisse tied the game at 28 with 8:30 left in the half. It marked the first time the game was tied since it was 2-2.
Cortes’ third triple of the half pushed the Shockers back in front and then an Xavier Bell layup and an insane sequence from Ballard had Wichita State back in front, 35-30 with 4:32 until half. Ballard had one of the more impressive 15-second sequences you’ll ever see. On the defensive end he wrecked a Memphis alley-oop attempt by blocking Cisse’s dunk attempt and then cleaned up on the other end with a massive putback dunk of his own.
A pair of Cortes free throws gave the Shockers a seven-point lead, but the Tigers closed the half with a 9-2 run to tie the game at 39 after 20 minutes.
Cortes led the way with 11 first half points, but the Shockers had no answer for Haggerty. Haggerty scored 21 of Memphis’ 39 points in the half. Take away his 8-for-13 shooting and the rest of the Tigers combined to shoot just 5-for-21 from the floor.
The Tigers were also able to capitalize on nine first half Wichita State turnovers, resulting in 12 points.
It wasn’t until the 19:17 mark of the second half that Memphis took its first lead of the game. The Tigers upped the lead to 44-40 but the Shockers answered with five in a row to retake the lead with 15:53 left.
Over the next 2:31 Memphis grabbed all the momentum behind a 12-0 run to take its largest lead, 56-45. But, the Shockers would have a counterpunch. In the blink of an eye Wichita State was right back within four, behind three-pointers from McGinnis and Ronnie DeGray III and a Cortes baseline jumper.
After Memphis stretched it back to nine with 4:23 remaining, the Shockers scored five straight on a Cortes three and Ballard dunk to make it a four-point game, 74-70. The Shockers got a defensive stop and then appeared to pull within two after a Ballard putback, but the officials waved it off on account of offensive interference. The call proved to be a crucial one, as it turned into a five-point swing. Memphis splashed in a three-pointer to go up 77-70 with 2:09 on the clock.
The final minute came down to the free throw line with Wichita State trying to extend the game. Four straight free throws from Bell had the Shockers down just three with 54 seconds left. Not in foul immediately mode just yet, the Shockers needed one stop to get the ball back, but Haggerty dropped in a floater to give the Tigers a 79-74 lead and just 32 seconds on the clock.
Both teams traded free throws the next four possessions until a DeGray offensive rebound putback made it 83-80. Memphis just needed to inbound the ball, as there were only 2 seconds remaining but the Shockers forced a turnover on a loose ball foul, sending Harlond Beverly to the line with 1.2 ticks. He would come up short on both attempts and Memphis would clinch the win by grabbing the rebound as time expired.
