Seton Hall beats Wichita State 80-76 in overtime

Wichita State is not used to losing this kind of game, even on the road and even to a talented opponent.

The Shockers failed to close out with a lead, fumbled the basketball at crucial times, missed layups and failed to muster defensive stops. The result was an 80-76 overtime loss to Seton Hall on Saturday at Prudential Center.

“We made some bad decisions, missed some layups,” Wichita State guard Fred VanVleet said. “You can’t have 15 turnovers in the second half, and a lot of those were unforced.”

“Uncharacteristic” became the buzzword of post-game interviews.

WSU led 70-67 after VanVleet’s three-pointer opened the overtime scoring. The Pirates responded with a decisive 8-0 run, fueled by turnovers by VanVleet, Ron Baker and Evan Wessel. They scored 11 of their 13 overtime points from the line, putting a painful exclamation point on WSU’s 31 fouls and disqualifications for VanVleet, Anton Grady and Zach Brown.

WSU (5-5), after committing 12 turnovers in its previous two games, committed 21 against the Pirates. VanVleet accounted for six of those and Baker five. The Pirates (9-2) harassed two of college basketball’s most sure-handed ball-handlers into a forgettable afternoon.

“We just weren’t taking care of the ball down the stretch,” Baker said. “It was them amping up their defense and us simply not executing our stuff on offense. We were standing a lot and the ball was sticking and it put a lot of pressure on Fred to make a play at the end of the clock.”

VanVleet led the Shockers with 19 points, making 6 of 18 shots. Baker added 16. Desi Rodriguez scored 18 points and Isaiah Whitehead added 17 for Seton Hall.

The defeat overshadowed the return of Grady from injury, the emergence of guard Conner Frankamp as the expected shooting threat and freshman Markis McDuffie’s New Jersey homecoming.

“It was a good sight, and everybody was pleased to have (Grady) out there,” VanVleet said. “Coming off what he came off of, still diving on the floor and being physical down there, that was a good sign for him and a good confidence boost.”

Grady, who suffered a spinal concussion on Nov. 27, played 16 minutes, scoring two points and grabbing six rebounds. Frankamp, who struggled with his shot since becoming eligible, came up big in the final minutes of regulation and overtime. McDuffie, returning to his home state of New Jersey, scored six points and grabbed five rebounds.

Those feel-good moments went to waste in front of a season-high Seton Hall crowd of 7,596. The Pirates celebrated in their student section after grabbing what they consider a signature victory. WSU wasted a chance to further bury November’s four losses in the minds of NCAA Tournament selection committee members.

Seton Hall outscored WSU 26-10 at the foul line and held the Shockers to 40.6-percent shooting, 32 percent in the second half. WSU led by 13 points in the first half, 40-32 at halftime and 62-55 with 4:57 to play.

The Pirates started the game in zone defenses and the Shockers ripped through them for open shots. WSU made 5 of 9 threes in the first half.

In the second half, coach Kevin Willard stuck to man-to-man and let his team’s height and athletic ability frustrate the Shockers. WSU mustered little post scoring and VanVleet and Baker couldn’t score in the lane over bigger players.

“The first half was all my fault,” Willard said. “I had too much time to watch film and tried to be creative. I tried to confuse (WSU) and I ended up confusing our guys. In the second half, we got back to being real simple, doing the things we’re good at defensively.”

Seton Hall finished with 13 steals and eight blocks.

“When we started pressing them VanVleet got into foul trouble,” Seteon Hall forward Desi Rodriguez said. “In the scouting, we knew if we pressured them, they could turn the ball over. That’s what we did in the second half.”

WSU coach Gregg Marshall saw plays he had no explanation for in the final minutes and wanting to delay judgment on turnovers and fouls until he watched on film.

Shaq Morris missed a layup that could have extended the lead to seven points in the final 10 minutes. VanVleet was called for two charges in the final 12 minutes and stepped out of bounds in overtime with WSU down three. Trailing 76-73, he gambled on a steal and fouled out with 49 seconds to play.

“They out-played us in the second half,” VanVleet said. “I stepped out of bounds and threw two balls away. That’s unacceptable, and that’s not good enough.”

Grady missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:48 to play and the Shockers up 64-63. He missed a shot at the rim with 1:04 to play in regulation and WSU down 65-64. Baker lost the ball to Seton Hall’s Ismael Sanogo in overtime.

“It’s very uncharacteristic for those (Baker and VanVleet) to have 11 turnovers,” Marshall said. “They didn’t have that problem. They were taking care of the ball in the second half, driving and not losing it.”

VanVleet made two free throws with 11 seconds to play in the second half to tie the score 67-67. After his three early in overtime, the Pirates started another parade to the foul line, making 4 of 6 to go up one point. Angel Delgado’s layup made it 73-70. The Pirates finished overtime making 7 of 10 free throws.

This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 1:49 PM with the headline "Seton Hall beats Wichita State 80-76 in overtime."