Shockers drop home game to North Texas, 62-52
by: Daniel Fair
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A slow start offensively kept the Shockers out of the win column on Saturday, losing to the North Texas Mean Green at Koch Arena, 62-52.
The loss moves the Shockers to 8-3 on the early season, 5-2 at home in Wichita.
"There's going to be injuries, so other players have to step up," Head Coach Isaac Brown said. "We didn't step up tonight. We didn't make any shots, and we turned it over. You can't turn it over 12 times in college basketball in one half and expect to win. We did it to ourself."
Craig Porter was instrumental to the Shockers offense in the first half, but after a nasty fall early in the second half, he was taken to the locker room.
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Morris Udeze led the Shockers in scoring, finishing with 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He also brought in six rebounds, but he knows it will take more than that to find success this season.
"We have to regroup man. We were in the locker room just now thinking about what all of us could've done better. It was a tough one to lose," Udeze said after the game.
The game started with the Mean Green going on a 7-0 run before Craig Porter hit a stepback three to stop the bleeding. Porter would score six of the first eight points of the game.
Midway through the first half, the Shockers actually found a lot of success, taking the lead with 3:44 left in the first half. That lead would swell to seven going into halftime, 34-27.
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The second half saw more offensive struggles for Wichita State, and the Mean Green chipped away at the lead before they overtook the Shockers lead with ten minutes to go in the half.
North Texas would maintain that lead throughout the remainder of the game, surviving a late surge by the Shockers, to win 62-52.
Wichita State will regroup and prepare for their next contest against Prairie View A&M on Wednesday night. That game will tip-off at 6 p.m. and will air on the ESPN family of networks.
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