WICHITA, Kan. _ Groans filled Koch Arena when Erik Stevenson crashed into the scorer's table chasing a loose ball and was left crumpled with a deep cut on his right forearm, forcing him to leave the first half of Saturday's game against Mississippi.
But he returned just minutes later, with a black bandage over the cut, and swished a step-back jumper the first time he touched the ball. Nothing was stopping Stevenson on Saturday.
Stevenson poured in a career-high 29 points, 19 of them coming in the first half, to lead No. 24 Wichita State to a 74-54 victory over Mississippi in the inaugural AAC-SEC Challenge series. The Shockers (13-1) won their seventh straight game, while ending a four-game winning streak by Mississippi (9-4).
"Erik had one of those special days," said WSU coach Gregg Marshall, who labeled Stevenson's performance as nearly flawless.
"The better the team, the more heated the game is, the more intense the game is, the better he plays. He loves playing against good teams and good players."
The 29 points by Stevenson on 9-of-15 shooting, including a career-high five 3s, was the most scored by a Shocker this season and the most since Markis McDuffie scored 34 to lead WSU to a win in the quarterfinals of the AAC Tournament on March 15, 2019.
"It felt really good," Stevenson said, smiling. "Felt like high school again.
"When we play these bigger, more athletic, better teams, you've got to bring your top game or you're not going to have a good game. So when we play these teams, that adrenaline gets flowing."
It was also a dominant defense-and-rebounding display by the Shockers, who outrebounded Mississippi by eight and forced the Rebels into 30.8% shooting from the field with 15 turnovers. The Shockers outscored Ole Miss 20-1 in points off turnovers. WSU also had double-digit scorers in Jamarius Burton, who scored 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting with five rebounds and four assists, and Grant Sherfield who had 10 points.
The win over Mississippi (No. 55) was the fourth win of the season for WSU over a team ranked in the top 60 of the NET, joining wins over VCU (41), Oklahoma (46) and Oklahoma State (34). The Shockers concluded their nonconference slate with four Quadrant 1 or 2 victories, as it currently stands.
"It's very fun," Sherfield said. "We're putting together something special this year. If we keep coming in every day and working hard and keep trusting the coaching and trusting each other, we can have a special year."
The hot shooting began early for Stevenson, who drilled a pair of 3-pointers in the opening minutes to open up a 9-4 lead over the Rebels. Mississippi was able to draw to within one, 14-13, but never took the lead in the first half.
WSU gave itself some breathing room with a 5-0 spurt capped by a two straight offensive rebounds that led to a Stevenson kick-out 3-pointer for a 19-13 lead.
"When you see the first one or two go in, you're going to feel pretty good about it," Stevenson said. "You can ask any shooter or any basketball player about that. Getting into a rhythm early in the game and getting open looks and knocking them down, you know it's going to be a good night when that happens."
But perhaps his most impressive shot of the game came in the minutes after it looked like Stevenson might be out for the game when he crashed into the scorer's table chasing a loose ball. Television replays showed Stevenson violently smash his right wrist against the video board and then emerge with a deep cut on his forearm.
After going back to the training room, Stevenson returned to the floor with a black bandage on his forearm. The first time he touched the ball, Stevenson took a jab step and then faded away for a long two-point jump shot that swished.
"It feels pretty numb right now," said Stevenson, who said he received five stitches to patch up the cut. "When I looked down at it, I said, 'OK, that's going to be some stitches.' I moved my hand a couple of times and that was it."
Shortly after, a Trey Wade dunk gave WSU its largest lead of the first half, 36-19, and forced Mississippi to call its third timeout of the first half.
WSU took a 39-24 lead into halftime, but the break didn't cool off Stevenson. He swished another pull-up jumper, drew a foul on a 3-pointer (and made all three free throws), then connected on a deep 3 well beyond the perimeter. Stevenson held up three fingers for 15 seconds following the shot that gave WSU a 54-33 lead and brought the Koch Arena crowd to its feet.
Not only did Mississippi never threaten in the second half, but the Shockers enjoyed a nearly 20-point lead for the final 20 minutes of the game against a team that has NCAA Tournament expectations.
WSU was able to bury the Rebels early not only because of Stevenson's scoring explosion, but also because of the team's defense. Marshall gave credit to assistant coach Isaac Brown's game plan afterward.
"We were helping off the right guys and they weren't hurting us with their offense," Marshall said. "They run their offense with such great pace if you allow them to do that. It's very hard to guard, but our guys did a wonderful job of listening and understanding our strategy to take some of their things away. We were able to pick the right guys to come off of."
Mississippi entered ranked 14th in the country on assists at 16.8 per game, but WSU's defense in the first half prevented the Rebels from running their sets and using ball screens like they wanted. WSU center Jaime Echenique was crucial in that regard, as it was usually his man setting the ball screens that Mississippi loves to use to open up its primary scorers.
Echenique was pivotal in sliding his feet and staving off the dribble penetration by Mississippi, then being able to recover back to his man in the post. Echenique smothering everything Mississippi wanted to do was a big reason why the Rebels went more than eight minutes in between field goals in the first half.
Burton also played stellar defense on Ole Miss leading scorer Breein Tyree, who is the active career leading scorer in the SEC. Burton limited Tyree to just nine points on 2-of-9 shooting.
"He played some pretty outstanding defense," Stevenson said of his teammate. "Obviously (Tyree) is a really good player, so hats off to JB for pretty much handling that."
It was also the return of WSU sophomore Dexter Dennis, who missed the last three games and almost three weeks after taking a leave of absence. Dennis played 10 minutes, missed both of his shots and recorded one rebound and four fouls.
"When he gets going, and that's going to happen because I'm going to give him his opportunities as long as he keeps battling and defending," Marshall said. "He didn't get much traction today. It was hard for him to get going, but boy, you add a guy with his ability ... It's not like (Space Jam) where they take your talent. That doesn't happen. That's fantasy. He still has the talent and it's going to blossom here real soon as he continues to get healthy."
It was the third game in the AAC-SEC Challenge, as the Shockers' win swung the series in a 2-1 favor of the AAC. Houston defeated South Carolina 76-56, while Georgia knocked off No. 9 Memphis 65-62. The series concluded Saturday night with SMU playing Vanderbilt.
