Wichita State fans start excited, leave disappointed after season-ending loss (+video)

After waking up with the excitement of knowing a win would grant their team a Sweet Sixteen berth, Wichita State fans ended up disappointed Saturday afternoon.

At various sports bars around Wichita, fans hooted, hollered, pointed out missed foul calls and cheered for the Shockers, although WSU eventually lost 65-57 to the third-seeded Miami Hurricanes in a second-round NCAA Tournament South Region game in Rhode Island.

Even though Las Vegas sports books had the No. 11 seed Shockers favored, Miami jumped to a big advantage early in the first half, leading by 21 points about 12 minutes into the game.

The deficit had fans groaning inside the Blarney Stone Pub near the WSU campus.

“They put up a lot of bricks at the start of the game,” said Mel Werner of Wichita, who was watching the game with his brother and a friend. “I don’t know what it was. There’s a lot of good food in Providence, so maybe they had too much. They really were flat.”

Wichita State finished the first half on a minirun, entering the locker room trailing by a baker’s dozen.

At the Blarney Stone, one fan yelled “What are you doing” when Anton Grady let go a half-court shot with still a few seconds left on the game clock. The rhetorical question seemed to sum up the first half.

Tony Hoss of Wichita – who along with Werner and his brother Ken got the last available table in the establishment when they showed up a few minutes before tip-off – still held out hope as the second half was about to begin.

“If they play like they did the last 10 minutes of the first half, we’ll have a chance,” Hoss said.

Early in the second half at Buffalo Wild Wings on North Rock Road, Wichita State alumnus P.J. Phachantry said he also still held out hope. Phachantry and his two companions got to the bar well before the 11:10 a.m. tip-off time and waited in line with other customers for the establishment to open at 11.

“It seems like (Wichita State) plays better when they think things are working against them,” Phachantry said.

With about four minutes gone in the second half, Wichita State senior Fred VanVleet made a 3-pointer to cut the Miami lead to 11. The shot seemed to get the Shockers on a roll, as illustrated by the loud collective cheer from Shockers fans, which could be heard outside the Wild Wings building.

Although the Shockers did take the lead briefly in the second half, Wichita State wasn’t able to get past the Hurricanes for what would have been the program’s third Sweet Sixteen berth in the past four years.

After the final buzzer, Monty Erbert of Wichita said he will miss watching Wichita State seniors VanVleet, Ron Baker and hometown favorite Evan Wessel.

“It’s been a treat watching them,” said Erbert, who caught the game at Emerson Biggin’s in Old Town with friends. “They’ve given us some great basketball. It was sad watching this game end knowing that this was the last time those guys will play together.

“It’s disappointing, but this whole town owes those players a lot and owes Gregg Marshall a lot,” he said. “They’ve given us incredible entertainment.”

After playing in a First Four NCAA Tournament play-in game Tuesday in Ohio, the Shockers traveled to Providence for Thursday night’s first-round game against Arizona. During the first few minutes of Saturday’s game, many thought the Wichita State players looked tired.

“It sucked that they had to play three games so close together,” said Tim Davidson of Wichita. “It put them at a disadvantage. It looked like they were off. If they would have been just a little bit more sharp, I think they would have won that game.

“I think fatigue got them, but they never quit,” he said. “The thing I love about the Shockers is that they always scrap.”

Jody Barkely and Jeanette Enneking, both decked out in Shockers gear, took a moment to reflect on the season after the game while standing near the intersection of Rock Island and Douglas in Old Town.

“It was nerve-wracking,” Barkley said. “I had to stand up for the final two minutes. They came back so far, but then they just lost it.”

While Enneking was rooting for Wichita State, she also had a back-up plan in the form of her self-described No. 1 team, Kansas. The Jayhawks were set to play Connecticut on Saturday evening in an NCAA Tournament second-round game.

“I have a Kansas shirt on under this,” said Enneking, pointing at her Shockers sweatshirt.

This story was originally published March 19, 2016 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Wichita State fans start excited, leave disappointed after season-ending loss (+video)."