Shocker report: No. 25 WSU 86, Missouri State 67
Saturday’s box
NO. 25 WICHITA ST. 86, MISSOURI ST. 67
Wichita St. | Min | FG-A | FT-A | R | A | F | Pt |
Brown | 30 | 1-6 | 0-0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
McDuffie | 19 | 2-7 | 2-2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
Morris | 25 | 8-11 | 4-4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 20 |
Frankamp | 27 | 6-10 | 0-0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 14 |
Shamet | 32 | 9-13 | 0-1 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 23 |
Kelly | 23 | 2-4 | 1-2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
Smith | 14 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
Willis | 12 | 2-3 | 2-2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
Reaves | 7 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Nurger | 6 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Barney | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Simon | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Hamilton | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Keyser | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Bush | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 200 | 33-61 | 9-11 | 27 | 19 | 14 | 86 |
Percentages: FG .541, FT .818. 3-Point Goals: 11-26, .423 (Shamet 5-8, Smith 3-4, Frankamp 2-6, Brown 1-5, Reaves 0-1, McDuffie 0-2). Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 5 (0 PTS). Blocked Shots: 4 (Willis 2, Morris, Reaves). Turnovers: 5 (Kelly 3, Brown, McDuffie). Steals: 7 (Brown 3, McDuffie 2, Morris, Shamet). Technical Fouls: None.
Missouri St. | Min | FG-A | FT-A | R | A | F | Pt |
Church | 24 | 2-4 | 1-6 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
Johnson | 36 | 6-14 | 6-6 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
Rhodes | 27 | 2-4 | 1-2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
Dixon | 35 | 5-13 | 0-0 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 10 |
Miller | 35 | 7-13 | 2-2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 19 |
Kreklow | 21 | 2-6 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
Martin | 16 | 2-4 | 1-1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
Ruder | 4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Owens | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Hill-Thomas | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
McCullough | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Totals | 200 | 26-58 | 11-17 | 30 | 8 | 12 | 67 |
Percentages: FG .448, FT .647. 3-Point Goals: 4-16, .250 (Miller 3-7, Kreklow 1-3, Rhodes 0-1, Johnson 0-2, Dixon 0-3). Team Rebounds: 3. Team Turnovers: 9 (0 PTS). Blocked Shots: 2 (Church, Kreklow). Turnovers: 9 (Johnson 5, Dixon 2, Miller, Rhodes). Steals: 2 (Martin, Rhodes). Technical Fouls: None.
Wichita St. | 39 | 47 | — | 86 |
Missouri St. | 32 | 35 | — | 67 |
A—6,823 (11,000).
No-go zone
Missouri State played zone for 40 minutes and there are times when that might have signaled trouble for Wichita State.
On Saturday, the Shockers went right to attacking the zone and rarely stopped. They got the ball to Shaq Morris, who made his first four shots.
“We just have so many options,” guard Landry Shamet said. “It really helps when Shaq is as aggressive as he was early. All the attention goes to him. Then we’ve got all these guys that can knock down an open three.”
Morris finished with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting, his most since he scored 24 on Jan. 21 agasnst Indiana State. When he sees single coverage, he knows the ball is coming his way.
“Shaq’s a big boy and he’s hard to stop,” forward Rashard Kelly said. “When teams do that, you want to feed him, feed the monster.”
Missouri State coach Paul Lusk got much of he wanted from the zone. Three Bears played 35 or more minutes, so he planned to save them wear and tear.
“They exposed us, but yet they had some problems with it for a while, too,” Lusk said. “We did some good things. They’re going to find a way. If we could have kept making a couple of baskets, I think we could have hung in there. But they answered too many times.”
That reminds me
Wichita State guard Conner Frankamp is making a habit of second-half outbursts.
He scored eight of his 14 points in the second half, highlighted by two three-pointers in 33 seconds in the final three minutes.
Missouri State cut the lead to 76-63 with 2:34 to play, enough time to make coach Gregg Marshall a bit nervous. Frankamp eased his mind with two shots from the wing. Marshall even invoked the name of Northern Iowa’s Ali Farokhmanesh and his famous three-pointer late in a 2010 NCAA Tournament game against Kansas as a comparison of style, not circumstance.
“Just to make sure we don’t forget about him, Conner Frankamp comes in and throws a couple daggers and game’s over,” Marshall said. “There was still some doubt there.”
Frankamp scored all 16 of his points in the second half at Loyola on Feb. 12. Three days later, he scored all 14 in the second half at Southern Illinois, including nine in a 62-second span.
More for Marshall
Marshall won his fifth MVC title, most of any Valley coach since Eddie Hickey won seven at Creighton and Saint Louis between 1935 and 1958.
Marshall, who coached from 1998-2007 at Winthrop, won his 11th regular-season conference title in 19 seasons at two schools. His Winthrop teams won six Big South titles.
Worth noting
Wichita State defeated the Bears for the 14th straight time, its longest streak in the series. The Shockers won their sixth straight at JQH Arena and lead the series 41-30. They clinched their share of the MVC title in the arena where a loss to Missouri State denied them a share of the 2011 title. ... Shamet’s career-high 23 points topped his previous mark of 21 against South Dakota State. He also matched his career high with eight rebounds … Morris made all four of his foul shots and is 46 of 54 in 18 MVC games. … . ... Missouri State finished the regular season with a winning record for the second time in coach Paul Lusk's six seasons. He has yet to record an MVC record better than 9-9. … Saturday's game drew a season-high crowd of 6,823 (tickets sold) to JQH Arena, fortified by perhaps around 1,000 Shocker fans.
Paul Suellentrop
This story was originally published February 25, 2017 at 3:50 PM with the headline "Shocker report: No. 25 WSU 86, Missouri State 67."