Zach Brown has best game at right time for Wichita State
.JPG "Zach Brown celebrates as Wichita State builds a lead against Indiana during the second half of their game in Omaha on Friday.")
OMAHA – Zach Brown was on the court for the end of an NCAA Tournament win for Wichita State on Friday. Eight times this season, Brown wasn’t on the court at all.
Brown earned his minutes – a season-high 23 – by scoring 11 points with a team-high eight rebounds and two blocks in WSU’s 81-76 win over Indiana in the second round at the CenturyLink Center.
Brown, a 6-foot-6 freshman forward, even had the ball when the buzzer sounded, grabbing the rebound on Indiana’s final miss.
“I just went out there and did what I was supposed to do,” Brown said. “Play defense, rebound, play within myself and also be aggressive. We came out with the win and I was able to contribute and help my team.”
Brown didn’t play in eight WSU games. He played single-digit minutes 10 times and is less than a month removed from playing two minutes in a win over Indiana State on Feb. 25.
Even with inconsistent playing time, Brown has shown the possibility of a breakthrough. He scored 19 combined points in consecutive games in WSU’s winter tournament in Hawaii and scored eight points on 4-of-4 shooting two weeks ago in the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
But Brown never had a game like Friday’s. In one second-half stretch, Brown had three rebounds, a block and two points in 83 seconds. Later in the half, he had six points in two and a half minutes, with two rebounds and a block in that stretch.
Brown’s breakaway dunk with 8:23 to go put the Shockers ahead 63-57, their biggest lead to that point. He had a tip-in 30 seconds later to stretch the lead to eight points.
“(WSU coach Gregg Marshall) said I grew up, basically,” Brown said. “But I’m still not done. We’ve still got a long way to go, and I’m just excited for the run.”
Paint it yellow and black – It’s rare for a coach opposing Wichita State to decry the Shockers’ advantage in the paint. The Shockers have won 29 games primarily on the strength of their perimeter game.
Indiana, though, is equally undersized, and Tom Crean’s Hoosiers found the post difficult to navigate against WSU.
The Shockers outscored Indiana 44-24 in the lane and had a 39-37 rebounding edge. WSU guard Fred VanVleet frequently got to the basket, Ron Baker drove against Yogi Ferrell – four inches shorter than Baker – for a second-half layup and forward Darius Carter found late offense to finish with nine points.
“Unfortunately for us the biggest difference was the points they were able to score inside the paint,” Crean said. “When we have been able to keep that under control this year, we have been better, and when we haven’t, that’s when we have struggled.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2015 at 8:46 PM with the headline "Zach Brown has best game at right time for Wichita State."