Shocker report: Iowa 84, Wichita State 61

Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall sent sophomore forward Rauno Nurger into the game with 9:48 to play in the first half, ending plans to redshirt.

“It wasn’t very hard,” he said. “You’ve only got X amount of guys that can play (center).”

WSU is without Anton Grady for an unknown amount of time. Bush Wamukota picked up two quick fouls Sunday. Shaq Morris played three minutes in the first two games in Florida. That made Nurger an attractive option.

“He’s been practicing well,” Marshall said. “He’ll help us win a game somewhere down the line. We’ll try to put him in positions where he can be successful going forward.”

Morris played his best game of the season, scoring 11 points and grabbing three rebounds in 24 minutes.

“He got off the bench; he showed enough in practice (Saturday) that he cared enough to play,” Marshall said. “He posted up a couple times strong. He played some good defense. He rebounded a few times.”

Wichita State guard Fred VanVleet continued to practice in Florida, mostly doing light jogging, shooting and lots of stretching. Last week, Marshall targeted Saturday’s game at Saint Louis for his return.

On Sunday, Marshall talked cautiously about pushing his guard’s strained left hamstring. He recently read a story about hamstring problems that plagued Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig all last season. He doesn’t want VanVleet in a similar mess.

“Going forward, I can’t predict,” Marshall said. “I want to make sure it’s the right time. I don’t want it to be nagging with this thing all year long.”

Wichita State played its best stretch of the tournament in the second half after falling behind 64-33.

While that isn’t cause for celebration, it could matter. If nothing else, it’s positive reinforcement for the freshmen and sophomores who played well during that stretch.

“We had some guys flying around, looking more athletic, more passionate,” Marshall said. “We changed defenses, which we needed to do, and they got a little passive and missed some shots, finally.”

WSU cut Iowa’s lead to 66-51 with 7:50 to play, an 18-2 run that featured an aggressive press and zone defense, rebounding and outside shooting.

“We threw a zone at them and were able to rebound out of the zone,” WSU guard Ron Baker said. “Then we got those transition attacks and it helped out our offense.”

Shaq Morris started the run with a layup and a three-point play. Freshman Eric Hamilton, on his way to 14 points, scored on a layup and a three-pointer. Zach Brown’s steal and three-pointer cut the lead to 66-51. John Robert Simon ran the offense during the burst and found Morris with a pretty pass for a basket.

“We were getting stops and moving the ball,” Hamilton said. “We didn’t care who got the shot.”

WSU trailed by 15 again when Ty Taylor missed a three-pointer to end the momentum. Iowa pushed the lead to 80-55 with a 12-2 run.

The tournament attendance of 24,842 set a record. WSU also took part in the previous record, 24,267 in 2008 … The series is tied 5-all after Iowa snapped a three-game losing streak the Shockers. Iowa defeated WSU for the first time since 1979 … Sunday’s 23-point margin of defeat is WSU’s worst since a 78-54 loss at Northern Iowa on Jan. 3, 2009. The Shockers lost 72-52 the next season at Illinois State and hadn’t lost by more than 19 points since … Baker scored seven points, his lowest total since he scored three at Indiana State on February 25.… WSU’s bench outscored Iowa’s 41-16 … The Hawkeyes out-rebounded WSU 38-30. The Shockers did grab 14 offensive rebounds, three more than Iowa, and finished the tournament plus-23 on the offensive backboards.

▪  Monmouth 83, Southern California 73 — The Hawks (4-2) won the third-place game by holding the Trojans to 3-of-21 shooting from three-point range.

Justin Robinson led Monmouth with 27 points, making 5 of 8 threes. Julian Jacobs scored 19 points for USC (5-2).

▪  No. 23 Xavier 90, Dayton 61 — Xavier (7-0) out-rebounded Dayton 40-26 and shot 52.4 percent from the field in the title game.

Edmond Sumner led the Musketeers with 14 points. Myles Davis added 12 points and grabbed six rebounds. Kendall Pollard led Dayton (5-1) with 15 points. The Flyers missed 12 of their 16 three-pointers.

▪  Alabama 74, No. 17 Notre Dame 73 — Alabama’s Retin Obasohan spun in a layup with eight seconds to play. Notre Dame’s Demetrius Jackson missed a contest layup as the clock expired in the fifth-place game.

Obasohan led Alabama (4-2) with 19 points. Steve Vasturia scored 18 for the Irish (4-2).

Paul Suellentrop

This story was originally published November 29, 2015 at 8:26 PM with the headline "Shocker report: Iowa 84, Wichita State 61."