Three takeaways from Wichita State basketball’s first home win vs. Montana State

It didn’t take the Wichita State men’s basketball team long to build a double-digit lead against Montana State, a cushion it used to cruise to an 89-69 win at Koch Arena on Saturday evening.

Justin Hill led a balanced scoring effort for WSU (2-0) with 17 points and was joined in double-digits by Corey Washington (14 points), Harlond Beverly (14 points), Quincy Ballard (13 points, six rebounds, four blocks) and Ronnie DeGray III (11 points, six rebounds).

Montana State (0-2) had five double-digit scorers and was led by 13 points by Brandon Walker.

Here are three takeaways from the Shockers’ 100th home-opening victory in program history.

1. Another standout performance from WSU point guard Justin Hill

It’s hard to follow up the best scoring debut in program history, but senior point guard Justin Hill delivered another standout performance to lead the Shockers to victory.

Hill finished with a team-high 17 points, five rebounds, five assists and no turnovers in 28 minutes against Montana State. It won’t top his season debut of 31 points, eight rebounds and six assists from earlier in the week in the road win over Western Kentucky, but it certainly solidifies Hill as an early star for the Shockers.

His best moment came near the end of the first half when Hill used his ankle-breaking crossover skills to leave a defender flat on the ground trying to guard him. He finished off the highlight with a step-back jumper, a sequence that will surely be replayed throughout the season as his star power grows.

But more importantly for WSU, Hill has shown the ability to create offense for himself and others without turning the ball over — something the Shockers struggled with last season. Hill has just two turnovers in 61 minutes played this season.

2. Montana State hangs tough with 3-point barrage

WSU head coach Paul Mills cautioned before the game that the best way for a double-digit underdog to pull off an upset was the 3-point shot.

Montana State was a prolific 3-point shooting team last season, shooting 36.7% as a team for the 32nd-best mark in the country with 42% of the team’s total shots coming from beyond the arc.

The Bobcats leaned even more heavily on their outside shooting to dig out of an 18-point hole in the first half, as they clawed all the way back to within 52-46 on a Max Agbonkpolo triple with more than 16 minutes remaining in the game.

Nearly two-thirds of Montana State’s total shots were attempted beyond the arc, as the Bobcats finished the game 12-for-43 on 3-pointers. The total of 43 attempts was the second-most attempted by a WSU opponent in program history, second only to Savannah State’s 55 shots from deep in 2017. Montana State had five different players hit multiple 3-pointers, but its sub-28% accuracy was far from its usual clip from deep.

3. Dominant start gives Wichita State early cushion

It took a Wisconsin team receiving votes in the top-25 poll nearly 22 minutes to build a double-digit lead against Montana State on Thursday.

Less than 48 hours later, the Shockers needed just three minutes to open up a 15-2 lead on the Bobcats.

It was a layup line early for WSU with Harlond Beverly, Bijan Cortes and Corey Washington forcing their way to the rim with ease against Montana State.

Meanwhile, WSU’s defense forced empty trips on Montana State’s first seven possessions. The Bobcats had to call timeout after Cortes and Washington connected on an alley-oop in transition for a 9-0 lead, while a three-point play by Beverly upped the lead to 12-0 before Montana State scored on a Patrick McMahon jumper nearly four minutes into the game.

The strong start allowed WSU to play in front for the entire half and hold a steady double-digit lead for the final nine minutes. Highlights from the first half included the ankle-breaking crossover by Justin Hill and an alley-oop to Beverly in the closing seconds to give WSU a 46-31 advantage at the break.

Up next: Shockers vs. Northern Iowa, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14

Wichita State renews another former Missouri Valley Conference rival this season, as it will play UNI for the first time since departing for the American Athletic Conference in 2017.

The series between WSU and UNI is tied 28-28 and the Panthers are still coached by Ben Jacobson, who just begun his 19th season on the sidelines.

Other stats from Wichita State-Montana State game

• Saturday marked just the fourth overall meeting between the programs and the first since the Shockers won 67-50 on Nov. 29, 1976, in Wichita. Charlie Brent and Cheese Johnson scored a team-high 12 points, while Robert Elmore grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds.

• WSU improved to 100-18 in home openers, including a 21-1 mark since Koch Arena’s 2003 renovation. The lone loss came in 2018 to Louisiana Tech in a 71-58 defeat.

• Second-year Montana State coach Matt Logie has guided his teams to the NCAA Tournament in 12 of 13 seasons and is believed to be just the second men’s coach in NCAA history to lead teams to the Big Dance at the Division I, Division II and Division III levels. Logie was named a finalist last season for the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year award, which honors the top first-year head coach.

• Montana State is one of the most experienced teams in the country this season, boasting a rotation with nine players who have played at least four years of college basketball. The Bobcats rank 70th nationally in Division I experience.

• According to Stathead.com, Justin Hill is only the fifth player in American Athletic Conference history to finish with at least 30 points, eight rebounds and six assists in a game. That was Hill’s stat line from the season-opening win at Western Kentucky.