Joiner leads Tulsa to 54-51 win over No. 23 Wichita State
Elijah Joiner's cold-blooded, game-winning buzzer-beater put a dagger through No. 23 Wichita State in what was unquestionably one of the greatest shots in Tulsa basketball history.
Joiner, who ran through the gamut of emotions after being mobbed on the court by the TU student section after his game-winner, had a career-high 22 points in what was easily the shining moment of his basketball career in Tulsa's 54-51 victory at the Reynolds Center.
With Joiner's father, Broderick Joiner, watching him play in Tulsa for the first time, Joiner broke down after the game when talking about what it meant for him to have his father present.
"I honestly never pictured this moment with my father being here for the first time," said Joiner, who TU coach Frank Haith recruited out of Chicago. "I'm just so happy that he was here for this moment. It means so much to me to see him in the crowd.
"It just means a lot to me knowing that he was here and I could do this in this special moment. I never pictured this. I never pictured him being in the crowd ... But he's here, and I'm just so happy that he's here."
With Joiner's father hugging his son on the floor after the game, it was clearly one of those moments that will always rank at the top of Elijah Joiner's life.
"He told me he was coming to this game a while back, it just so happened to be a really great game," said Joiner, who has become close to his father recently after being mostly raised by his mother and stepfather. "Earlier, when I was getting recruited, I didn't picture this moment of my dad getting out here and things like that.
"I just thank God that he helped us build the relationship that we have now. That's my right hand man, and I'm just glad to see him out here excited to see his son perform."
The game-winner was set up with Joiner being the deep man closest to Tulsa's basket in TU's formation coming out of a timeout with 3.3 seconds left and the game being tied at 51-51. Joiner set a pick at midcourt for Martins Igbanu, who was breaking deep for TU's basket. Igbanu wasn't open, but the pick freed up Joiner, where he raced to the ball and caught the in-bounds pass from Brandon Rachal at the top of the Shockers' three-point line.
The 6-foot-3 Joiner then took three dribbles going to his right, and released the 25-footer over 6-6 Trey Wade's outstretched hand just before the buzzer. Joiner's off-balance, hanging shot connected.
Falling down while shooting, Joiner was immediately dog-piled on the floor, first by Jeriah Horne, then by the rest of his teammates, as the TU students rushed the floor.
"The play was to try to get Martins open," Joiner said of the play that was set to mirror Igbanu's game-tying, overtime shot under the basket on a length of the court pass earlier this year against Colorado State. "He was the first option, and I was the second option to get open, And coach said, if get it, just make a play, and I made a play.
"It felt good leaving. I didn't know if it was going to go in or not, but it did. It felt good leaving my hands."
The game matched any in this traditional, heated rivalry that dates back to the Missouri Valley Conference days. And the atmosphere was reminiscent of the Nolan Richardson era MVC games in the 1980's where TU went 8-4 against WSU under Nolan. Wichita State fans made up around a third of the 8,089 in attendance Saturday night at the Reynolds Center.
Tulsa (15-6, 7-1 AAC) is now in sole possession of the conference lead. The win was also only the second in the last 13 games for the Golden Hurricane over the Shockers dating back to the fall of 2003. TU had won the previous 13 games before the current streak. Tulsa's last win over Wichita State was at home in its 2016 NCAA season in Haith's second year at TU.
The hard-fought game featured such rugged defense from both teams that Haith likened it to a different sport in the press conference after the game.
"Obviously, it was a hell of football game, that's what it was, right?" Haith quipped with a smile. "It was a heck of a basketball game. Both teams were prepared."
Wichita State (17-4, 5-3) was held to just 34.5 (20-of-58) percent shooting from the floor after coming into the game averaging 45.3 percent. That included just six-of-31 on three's (19.4 percent) while averaging 31.8 percent on the season.
Shockers head coach Greg Marshall was so miffed by his team's shooting that he couldn't compliment his team on holding TU's leading scorer, Brandon Rachal, to one-of-10 shooting and just two points (averaging 14.8 points, 50.2 percent).
"He should have been playing for me. He would have fit right in," Marshall said of Rachal.
Tulsa held the Shockers's leading scorer, Erik Stevenson (12.4 ppg, 35.1 percent on three's) to six points, including 0-for-6 on three's.
The best player on the floor, unquestionably for Wichita State was 6-11 senior Jaime Echenique, who killed TU in the first half with 13 points in leading the Shockers to a 29-23 halftime lead. But just as important for WSU was his defensive presence. He finished with three blocks and altered several more of TU's shots, and had 10 rebounds.
Echenique and company were so effective on inside defense that Tulsa made only 9-of-29 on two-pointers (31 percent), while shooting only 37.2 percent from the field, overall. TU did make 15-of-20 (75 percent) from the free throw line, while Wichita State was five-of-seven from the line.
But TU clamped down on Echenique's offense in the second half, limiting him to two second half points, often playing with a much smaller lineup.
It is amazing Tulsa was only out-rebounded 34-33 by the bigger, athletic Shockers. Rachal led TU with eight rebounds.
Igbanu had tied the game at 51-51 on two free throws with 43.5 seconds remaining. WSU had two chances at taking the lead, as Stevenson's missed three was rebounded by Jamarius Burton. But stifling Golden Hurricane defense led to the Shockers not even getting a shot off, as the shot clock expired with 3.3 seconds remaining.
Outside of Joiner's game-winner, the most spectacular play of the game came on an alley-oop dunk by Darien Jackson with 3:47 left that put Tulsa up 48-47 and nearly brought the house down. Jackson rose high above the rim to catch the pass from Horne.
WSU did such a good job on Horne (12.1 average) that he only took three shots, and finished with five points, all in the first half. Igbanu (11.0 average) was equally clamped down on, going two-of-five from the field, but he made all six of his free throws to finish with 10 points.
But unquestionably, Joiner was the star of the game. Joiner was seven-of-11 from the field, and led Tulsa with five assists with only one turnover. He also had five rebounds. Joiner's five three-pointers were half of the junior point guard's previous season total (10-of-36, 27.8 percent). He was averaging 6.6 points per game.
"Today, Elijah, it was his day," Haith said. "Obviously, he was outstanding, finishing off with the game-winner, he was terrific. And we needed every point he got."
Marshall was impressed with Tulsa, and especially with the play of Joiner.
"Congratulations to Tulsa. Tulsa made the plays you have to make," Marshall said. "They make 50 percent from three (7-of-14). Joiner goes five-of-six and makes a a beautiful shot at the end, a high-hand contest."
Haith talked about the keys to Tulsa's extremely strong play during conference games.
"If I can point to two things, obviously, Martins has emerged as a player that we all think he could have been, should have been, and then Eli's play as a point guard," Haith said. "His play has really not always been scoring, but what he does for the team, in terms of his verbal leadership and his confidence as a point guard has really grown since Christmas.
"He's Chicago tough. He's a tough kid, and he plays with emotions all the time. I just think now we are starting to see Eli playing with the confidence he should be playing with at this time in his career. It is exciting to see him grow."
It was the first time since 1969 that Tulsa had defeated two ranked teams in the same season.
Haith was asked how Joiner's shot ranked among all of the shots he has witnessed as a coach in his long career. After thinking about it, replied:
"Yeah, I'm going to say this is the most dramatic last second shot that I can recall."