Alabama defeats No. 20 Wichita State 64-60 (+video)

Wichita State will play in the seventh-place game at the AdvoCare Invitational, certainly not what anybody expected two weeks ago.

But the 20th-ranked Shockers aren’t the same team without guard Fred VanVleet and Friday’s 64-60 loss to Alabama at the HP Field House is more painful evidence.

The Shockers (2-3) shot 31.1 percent from the field and couldn’t take a game there for the taking. They missed nine of their final 10 shots, most painfully a long two-pointer by center Bush Wamukota with nine seconds to play and four seconds on the shot clock. WSU couldn’t get the ball to guard Ron Baker and the play dissolved into a disaster.

Last season, WSU coach Gregg Marshall could have called timeout when that possession — WSU down 62-60 — began to go bad. A rule change prohibits coaches from calling timeouts while the ball is in play, leaving Marshall no choice but to watch. Wamukota found himself alone near the top of the key, as the shot clock ticked down, and shot.

“I couldn’t call the timeout, we couldn’t get the ball to (Baker),” Marshall said. “It just wasn’t a good possession. That’s not the shot we wanted.”

WSU played the final three minutes without center Anton Grady, who collapsed on the court after running into an Alabama player. He was taken on a stretcher to a hospital.

WSU will play at 9 a.m. Sunday, against either Iowa or Notre Dame. The Shockers are below .500 for the first time since they stood 13-14 late in the 2008-09 season. Alabama (3-2) will play in Sunday’s fifth-place game. The Tide snapped a 21-game losing streak to ranked opponents.

Baker led WSU with 15 points. Shannon Hale scored 20 for Alabama and Riley Norris scored 12, making two second-half three-pointers.

The Shockers out-rebounded a bigger team 41-30 and grabbed 19 offensive rebounds, 13 more than the Tide. WSU’s 10 turnovers is an acceptable, even admirable, number. Those performances couldn’t prop up 19-of-61 shooting and Alabama’s 13-point edge at the foul line. Without VanVleet, sidelined by a strained left hamstring, WSU’s offense is punchless. The loss of freshman guard Landry Shamet, out with a stress fracture in his left foot, adds to the issues.

Marshall graded the Shockers a D without VanVleet, who organizes, gets easy shots for teammates, scores and infuses every moment with his confidence. Without him, most of that falls on Baker and opposing teams blanket him and put the ball in less-capable hands.

“We did a good job of trying to deny him the basketball and making it hard for him to run some of their offense and score and trying to force some other guys to score,” Alabama coach Avery Johnson said. “Ron Baker is very capable of single-handedly winning games.”

WSU’s starting front court of Rashard Kelly, Zach Brown and Grady combined to scored eight points on 2-of-16 shooting. Freshman guard Ty Taylor. often put in tough spots himself, missed 11 of 15 shots.

“They’re face-guarding me,” Baker said. “I thought we had a couple shots that we took that we could have turned down and made an extra pass and got even a better shot. They just kept denying me and I was trying to get the ball to make a play for myself or make a play for a teammate, and I wasn’t able to come through.”

Freshman Markis McDuffie came off the bench to score 14 points. Senior Evan Wessel made 3 of 4 three-pointer to score nine points, all in the second half.

“Disappointing,” Marshall said. “I thought we had a chance. We had a lead, midway through the second half.”

The Shockers led by six points in the first half. They led 46-41 on Wessel’s three in the second half. They led 48-43. Neither time could they expand that lead, difficulties created by missed shots and defensive breakdowns. In the first half, Alabama rallied by beating the Shockers downcourt for easy baskets or drawing fouls. In the second half, WSU gave up driving lanes and open threes.

“You’ve got to be able to defend and rebound and know your assignments,” Baker said. “That’s where we struggle. We can’t push the lead out anymore because we focus on the offensive and blow assignments on the defensive end and get the other team rolling.”

The Shocker blew a five-point lead in the second, fell behind by three, and rallied to go up 55-52 on a three by Baker. They missed their next three shots, two by Taylor, to start their descent. Alabama’s Shannon Hale and Riley Norris made threes to take a 58-55 lead. McDuffie’s free throw with 4:23 to play ended a scoring drought of 3:48 for the Shockers and cut the lead to 58-56.

With WSU down 61-59, Baker made one of two foul shots with 1:03 to play, missing a chance to tie the game. Hale’s free throw gave Alabama a 62-60 lead. Baker passed to McDuffie early in the possession, guarded at the foul line. Norris prevented Baker from getting the ball back, leaving the game in the hands of Wamukota.

This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 1:24 PM with the headline "Alabama defeats No. 20 Wichita State 64-60 (+video)."