Shocker-Jayhawk report (March 22)
Sunday’s box score
Wichita St. 78, Kansas 65
WICHITA ST. | Min | FG-A | FT-A | OR-TR | A | PF | PT |
Wessel | 30 | 4-6 | 0-0 | 3-9 | 0 | 1 | 12 |
Carter | 16 | 3-5 | 4-5 | 0-4 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
VanVleet | 37 | 4-12 | 7-9 | 1-6 | 6 | 2 | 17 |
Baker | 37 | 5-10 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
Cotton | 37 | 7-12 | 4-6 | 0-2 | 3 | 0 | 19 |
Kelly | 6 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Brown | 13 | 2-4 | 2-2 | 0-1 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
Wamukota | 14 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-2 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
Morris | 10 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
Totals | 200 | 25-51 | 18-24 | 5-32 | 13 | 20 | 78 |
Percentages: FG .490, FT .750. 3-Point Goals: 10-20, .500 (Wessel 4-6, VanVleet 2-4, Baker 2-5, Brown 1-2, Cotton 1-3). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 3 (Cotton, Brown, VanVleet). Turnovers: 12 (VanVleet 5, Cotton 2, Carter 2, Morris, Kelly, Wamukota). Steals: 10 (VanVleet 4, Cotton 2, Brown, Morris, Kelly, Carter). Technical Fouls: None.
KANSAS | Min | FG-A | FT-A | OR-TR | A | PF | PT |
Mason III | 29 | 5-11 | 3-5 | 0-6 | 1 | 5 | 16 |
Selden Jr | 23 | 0-5 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Oubre Jr | 23 | 3-9 | 3-4 | 4-5 | 1 | 5 | 9 |
Lucas | 22 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 4-10 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Ellis | 34 | 4-9 | 9-10 | 1-8 | 0 | 3 | 17 |
Graham | 29 | 5-13 | 4-4 | 0-1 | 3 | 1 | 17 |
Mykhailiuk | 3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Greene | 20 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
Traylor | 17 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 2-5 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
Totals | 200 | 20-57 | 19-23 | 14-38 | 8 | 23 | 65 |
Percentages: FG .351, FT .826. 3-Point Goals: 6-21, .286 (Mason III 3-5, Graham 3-8, Ellis 0-1, Selden Jr. 0-1, Mykhailiuk 0-1, Greene 0-2, Oubre Jr. 0-3). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 1 (Lucas). Turnovers: 14 (Mason III 5, Ellis 2, Selden Jr. 2, Oubre Jr. 2, Greene, Graham, Traylor). Steals: 8 (Graham 5, Oubre Jr., Ellis, Selden Jr.). Technical Fouls: None.
Wichita St. | 29 | 49 | — | 78 |
Kansas | 26 | 39 | — | 65 |
A—NA. Officials—John Higgins, Kipp Kissinger, Gregory Nixon.
Working the plan
Wichita State locked in on Kansas’ seven games without Cliff Alexander for their scouting and paid particular attention to games against West Virginia.
The Shockers don’t press like West Virginia, but they both play physical defense. West Virginia’s split with Kansas provided WSU a blueprint for taking the Jayhawks out of their flow.
“One thing that we have labored with all year long is when teams really, really, really got after us — i.e. West Virginia or somebody like that — and being able to handle the pressure to the point where we can get in the offense and get the ball in the scoring areas,” KU coach Bill Self said. “They obviously did a good job of not allowing us to do that.”
WSU forward Evan Wessel limited KU’s first option by winning the wrestling match with Perry Ellis in the lane. WSU guards Tekele Cotton, Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet completed the job by ruining KU’s sets and forcing them into a series of difficult shots. KU finished with eight assists and 14 turnovers and point guard Frank Mason had one assist and five turnovers.
“It’s their will — they want to play D and they want to stop people,” WSU forward Darius Carter said. “They just overpower people.”
Keep playing basketball
Kansas made its most dangerous push when Devonte Graham stole a pass and scored to cut WSU’s lead to 63-55 with 5:58 to play.
The Shockers answered quickly, quited the KU crowd and limited the Jayhawk momentum.
Kansas pressed and the Shockers ran through it easily with Baker passing to Carter for a layup. Instead of playing cautiously, the Shockers knocked the Jayhawks back a step.
“I didn’t even know what the score was,” Baker said. “We were just being aggressive and playing within the game. We’re a really aggressive team and we make smart decisions.”
By that time, WSU had forced KU away from its usual plan by making it play zone and making it press.
“That’s not what they do — they’re not a pressing team,” VanVleet said. “Once you get them out of character, doing things theyprobably don’t practice a whole lot, we’ve got good enough guards where we’re probably not going to turn the ball over too much in those situations.”
Happy valley
Missouri Valley Conference commissioner Doug Elgin and associate commissioner Jack Watkins sat in the back of the press conference, quietly, and smiled.
“We’re extremely excited,” Watkins said.
Yep, it was another good day for the MVC, courtesy of Wichita State, with Northern Iowa on deck later Sunday against Louisville. The Valley put at least one team into the Sweet 16 for the sixth time in the past 10 years with WSU doing it a third time.
The Valley also continued its role as KU’s nemesis in March. Bradley (2006) and Northern Iowa (2010) advanced to the Sweet 16 with wins over Kansas. Chalk up another brand-name win by the MVC.
“We are Wichita State and we have our own identity and we are the Missouri Valley Conference,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “We don’t have a football team, so we try to do what we can with the resources and the players and the coaching staff and be the best we can be.”
More Shockers landmarks
The Shockers needed Cotton and Wessel to score and both came through in ways Kansas couldn’t have prepared for during its scouting reports.
Cotton scored a season-high 19 points, making 7 of 12 shots. Wessel made a career-high four three-pointers and matched his career-high with nine rebounds. Cotton played in his 140th game, tying former Shocker Demetric Williams atop the career list.
VanVleet recorded four steals to give him 64 this season and move into fourth on WSU’s single-season list.
Worth noting
Wichita State won 30 games for the third straight season and is the 26th school in NCAA history to win 95 or more games in a three-year span. WSU is 95-14 the past three seasons. It is also 151-28 (84.4 percent) over the past five seasons, the best winning percentage in the nation … WSU is 15-12 in the NCAA Tournament and advances to the Sweet 16 for the sixth time … Kansas leads the series against WSU 12-3 after losing to the Shockers for the first time since 1987. The Jayhawks fell to 97-43 in the NCAA Tournament with their worst loss since a 68-55 loss to UCLA in 2007. Kansas lost an NCAA game by double digits for the first time since a 71-61 loss to VCU in 2011 … WSU made 10 threes to match its NCAA Tournament high.
Paul Suellenttrop
This story was originally published March 22, 2015 at 10:07 PM with the headline "Shocker-Jayhawk report (March 22)."