Gregg Marshall on WSU’s loss to OU: ‘It was just one of those days’

Coach Gregg Marshall could have picked a number of things to be upset with following Oklahoma’s 91-83 victory over No. 3 Wichita State on Saturday at Intrust Bank Arena.

WSU had given up 90 points for just the fourth time in his 11 years, which led to just the second loss in 89 games when WSU has scored at least 80 points. The Shockers gave up 13 three-pointers, which led to a career-high 21 points for OU freshman Brady Manek. And Trae Young was at the center of it all, scoring 29 points and handing out 10 assists to power the Sooners.

But the play that stuck out in Marshall’s mind didn’t come during the game. It was when there was a timeout and 7-foot freshman Asbjorn Midtgaard barreled into Marshall’s shoulder.

“I’m 16 weeks post-shoulder surgery and I’m walking out, giving some low-fives and high-fives and Asbjorn Midtgaard runs into me and just crushes my shoulder,” Marshall said. “I was mad at a lot of things, but I was really mad at that because he could have hurt my shoulder. He’s so big and so strong. It was just one of those days.”

Marshall said WSU was never able to fully capture the momentum in front of a sellout crowd at Intrust Bank Arena that was ready to energize the Shockers.

Runs would always die out with a sloppy turnover or a missed shot — a missed chance at getting the crowd involved.

“That was probably the biggest crowd I’ve ever played for,” Manek said. “That was a pretty big stage.”

OU tortured WSU’s defense by putting Young in high ball screens and letting the action flow from there.

“When he comes off the ball screen, he can shoot it and he’s really good at hitting the roller,” Marshall said. “His vision is just tremendous. The thing I took away from watching him (on film) was he has such good touch on his passes. And then he’s able to hook pass it to the opposite wing. It seems like for a young player, the game is really slow for him and he sees it better than most at his age.”

Meanwhile, WSU’s offense was good, but never great due to 6-of-24 shooting from beyond the arc. That tied for a season-low in three-pointers made and was the second-worst three-point shooting percentage WSU has had this season.

“Shots just weren’t falling,” Landry Shamet said. “I don’t like to look at it like there’s a lid on the basket. That’s kind of pessimistic. I try to stay as positive as possible, even with other guys. If somebody misses a shot, I’m not getting down or negative. Just keep shooting.”

Willis comes through with third double-double — WSU senior Darral Willis led the team with 20 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench, his third double-double of the season. Willis had 19 and 10 against Missouri-Kansas City and 14-12 against Savannah State.

WSU outscored OU 32-24 in the paint.

“Landry and the guards were finding us and making nice passes,” Willis said.

Willis, a lefty who almost always spins to get to his left hand, had an impressive post move in the second half where he spun to his right, drop stepped and dunked it.

“I was really in the moment,” Willis said. “I don’t even really remember it, to be honest.”

OU also pulls of upset in rebounding battle — Wichita State led the country in rebounding margin, in part because it chased down close to 35 percent of its own misses. Up against an OU team that ranked right in the middle of Division I in tracking its own misses and giving up offensive rebounds, WSU should have had the advantage.

But the Sooners held WSU to nine offensive rebounds (22 percent), as both teams finished with 43 total rebounds. OU had the slightly better percentages, as it grabbed 11 offensive rebounds (24 percent).

“It was a five-man effort,” OU coach Lon Kruger said. “They’re a terrific rebounding club. Our guys knew that all week, we prepared for it. I thought we did a pretty good job of sending five guys to the boards. We gave up a few long rebounds, but Wichita State is great at it. I have a lot of respect for Wichita State.”

WSU senior Shaquille Morris said OU taking 40 three-pointers played a role in the rebounding battle.

“They took a lot of long shots, so there were a lot of long rebounds,” Morris said. “We’ve just got to chase them down. Rebounding is what we do and we usually pull in more possessions for our team to get that win. It just didn’t work out today.”

Statement win for OU — Saturday’s win over No. 3 WSU was the highest-ranked opponent OU has defeated away from home. The Sooners are 2-7 all-time against top-five opponents on the road with their only other win coming in 2003 over No. 5 Michigan State in an 80-77 victory.

“It’s a really big win,” Young said. “It was against a really good team at their place in the beginning of the season. I guess you can say it’s a statement win. I just treat it like it’s another team, like another win. This was a big win and I think it will open up a lot of eyes in the college basketball world.”

This story was originally published December 16, 2017 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Gregg Marshall on WSU’s loss to OU: ‘It was just one of those days’."