WICHITA, Kan. – All five starters finished in double figures and Wichita State never trailed in an 80-68 win over Richmond Wednesday night on the 20th anniversary of Charles Koch Arena.

Wichita State is 7-1 for the first time since 2019 and 5-0 at home with a big road test on deck at Missouri Sunday afternoon.

Colby Rogers led the scoring barrage with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-19 shooting and three 3-pointers. Rogers grabbed a career-high seven rebounds to go with three assists and three steals on a night when he became a member of the 1,000 career point club.

Xavier Bell was 6-for-9 from the field, finishing with 17 points and five rebounds. Harlond Beverly delivered another all-around performance with 13 points, five rebounds and seven assists. Over his last two games he has 15 assists to just one turnover. Wichita State had just six turnovers as a team, a season low.

Quincy Ballard and Kenny Pohto both chipped in 10 points to go with eight and seven rebounds, respectively.

Wichita State shot a blistering 56.3 percent (18-for-32) from the field in the second half and went 6-for-13 from downtown after missing seven of eight attempts in the first half.

The Shockers controlled the glass, outrebounding the Spiders by 11, limiting Richmond to just six offensive rebounds.

Wichita State came out of the gates blazing to start the game. The Shockers grabbed a 16-3 lead barley 6:00 minutes in behind a 10-0 run. Richmond missed nine of its first 10 field goal attempts while Shockers hit six of their first nine.

With 8:11 left in the first half, Beverly dropped in a floater on the baseline to put the Shockers up 24-12, but that’s when the Spiders started to whittle away at the lead. A 12-4 run cut margin to just four with 3:51 to go and then a minute later it was down to a two-point game.

After a Pohto inside score with 1:39 on the clock, Wichita State would not score again in the half. Jordan King dropped in a pull-up jumper with three seconds left to make it 33-31 at halftime.

Richmond finished the half shooting 40 percent from the field after a miserable start to the game. Wichita State was just 1-for-8 from beyond the arc in the half, but shot 47 percent overall.

The Spiders had a chance to tie the game on the opening possession of the second half, but came up empty at the rim, and that would prove to be as close as Richmond would come the rest of the way. Wichita State scored eight straight, immediately pushing the lead back to nine. Ballard started the run with one of his three dunks and then Bell scored five straight.

A personal 5-0 run from Beverly increased the margin to 13 with 12:15 to go, forcing a Richmond timeout.

Wichita State led by as many as 18 in the second half, cruising to the finish line with a comfortable double-digit win.

Up Next
Wichita State heads to SEC country to take on the Missouri Tigers Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. in front of a nationwide audience on ESPN2.