Wichita State basketball falls to Murray State in charity scrimmage after offensive shootout

Wichita State basketball falls to Murray State in charity scrimmage after offensive shootout Wichita State basketball falls to Murray State in charity scrimmage after offensive shootout Zachary Ruth Junior forward Dillon Battie leaps above the defense for a dunk in the first half of Wichita State’s charity scrimmage against Murray State. Battie scored 19 points for the Shockers. Evan Long, Sports Editor • October 8, 2026 Following the Shockers’ loss on Wednesday night, head basketball coach Paul Mills stressed that his team greatly benefited from competing against a talented Murray State squad. The main area that Wichita State will look to improve going forward is its play on defense. The Shockers allowed the Racers to put up 57 second-half points and shoot 42.3% from behind the arc in the 93-87 loss in a charity scrimmage at Charles Koch Arena. “As I told our players, 93 points, you’re not gonna win a basketball game, and they all know that,” Mills said. “And you know, to give up 52% (from the field) there in the second half. Didn’t handle the heat very well.” The Shockers allowed such a high point total in regulation only once all of last season, falling to Tulsa 93-83.  Despite the setback, Mills said the chance to play Murray State, expected to be a top mid-major, was “terrific.” “Just a wonderful opportunity for us, and we’ll get a ton out of this film and be able to regroup,” Mills said. Wichita State outshot the Racers 46.6% to 43.1% from the field, but WSU committed 15 turnovers and registered 15 assists. The Shockers, who were fourth in the country last year in offensive rebounding, pulled down 11 offensive boards compared to Murray State’s 12. “It’s been a minute since somebody’s beat us on the offensive glass,” Mills said. “What we’re gonna do here is we are going to rebound the ball. So for us to be a minus one (in offensive rebounding differential), that’s disappointing. The other thing we’re gonna do is we’re gonna take care of the ball. So to be one to one (in assist-to-turnover ratio), that’s not OK.” Senior Guard Jordan Frison reaches for a layup past a Murray State defender on Oct. 7. Frison brought in nine points and two rebounds in his Shocker debut. (Zachary Ruth) Murray State sophomore Roman Domon, last season’s Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year, finished the scrimmage with team-highs in points (17) and assists (six). Brayden Shorter, a senior guard, recorded 16 points and four rebounds in 16 minutes of action. Guard Christian Jones notched 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals, while Talis Soulhac, a freshman guard, had 12 points and six rebounds. For the Shockers, Dillon Battie, a junior forward, posted game-highs in points (19) and rebounds (10) en route to earning a double-double in just 22 minutes. “(I) just do what they ask me to do,” Battie said. “Score when I need to. I trust my teammates, they make the right reads. Jordan (Frison) and Jahari (Long) both hit me in transition. Just take advantage of the opportunities.” A guard who’s entering his seventh season of college basketball, Long put up 17 points, five assists, two rebounds and a block. Joy Ighovodja went three of five from three-point range and grabbed five rebounds in 12 minutes of play. Wichita State was without star guard Kenyon Giles, who is recovering from an injured ankle.  7-foot-2 center William Berg won the opening tip for the Shockers and made a nice hook shot to open up the scoring 2-0. Murray State answered by going four of five from behind the arc and taking a 12-4 lead three minutes into the game. Later in the half, Frison lobbed an alley-oop to Battie that cut the Racers’ lead to 37-33 and capped an 8-0 WSU run. Wichita State shot 50% from the field in the first half and outrebounded Murray State 23 to 15. However, the Shockers committed nine turnovers compared to their opponent’s two. Ighovodja hit back-to-back threes early in the second half to make the score 45-40 in Wichita State’s favor. The Shockers went 4:20 without scoring from the floor, which resulted in Murray State holding an 80-70 lead with under five minutes to go. Wichita State’s last gasp came when it was down 86-79 with less than two minutes to play. The Racers managed to pull down three consecutive offensive rebounds, including a put-back on the last board, to take an 88-79 lead with 1:45 left on the clock. Murray State, expected to be one of the top teams in the MVC, likely benefited from the experience of a four-game European trip in August. The Racers went 4-0, scoring over 100 points on two occasions. Like Mills, Long believes the loss to Murray State will help the Shockers improve.  “I think we got a lot out of it,” Long said. “It’s the first time we got to compete against somebody else. I feel like that first game playing, like actual game-time minutes, you get a little fatigued. I think once we get in game shape, we’ll be all right. We’ll definitely learn from this.” Gallery • 5 Photos Zachary Ruth Redshirt Senior Center William Berg reaches for the ball on tip-off against Murray State on Oct. 7. Berg is in his second season in Wichita after tranfering from Purdue. 1 Like This Story Share on Facebook Share on X Share on Reddit Print this Story Leave a Comment About the Contributors Evan Long, Sports Editor Evan Long is the sports editor for The Sunflower. He is a sophomore studying journalism and media production. After graduation, he plans to pursue a career in sports media. Long uses he/him pronouns. Zachary Ruth, Multimedia Director Zachary Ruth is the multimedia director for The Sunflower. Previously, Ruth was the photo editor during the 2025-’26 school year and a photographer in 2024-’25. Ruth is studying journalism and media production with a minor in political science, and hopes to pursue a career in photojournalism after graduation.