Shocker report: WSU 67, Drake 47
Thursday’s box score
WICHITA ST. 67, DRAKE 47
DRAKE | Min | FG-A | FT-A | Reb | A | PF | PT |
Woodward | 28 | 5-12 | 2-3 | 0-1 | 1 | 2 | 12 |
Enevold | 19 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Timmer | 24 | 1-5 | 5-6 | 0-2 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
Arogundade | 25 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 0-5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Abrahamson | 33 | 4-10 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
Rivers | 10 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Madison | 19 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Wampler | 14 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-5 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
Schlatter | 7 | 0-1 | 2-2 | 1-3 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
McGlynn | 18 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
Olejniczak | 3 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Totals | 200 | 16-43 | 9-13 | 4-28 | 10 | 18 | 47 |
Percentages: FG .372, FT .692. 3-Point Goals: 6-16, .375 (Abrahamson 4-7, Arogundade 1-2, Wampler 1-3, Madison 0-1, Woodward 0-1, Timmer 0-2). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots: 2 (McGlynn, Arogundade). Turnovers: 18 (Woodward 6, Abrahamson 5, Rivers, Schlatter, McGlynn, Wampler, Madison, Arogundade). Steals: 4 (Abrahamson, Timmer, Rivers, Arogundade). Technical Fouls: None.
WSU | Min | FG-A | FT-A | Reb | A | PF | PT |
Brown | 24 | 4-7 | 1-2 | 1-4 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
Wessel | 28 | 0-4 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
VanVleet | 28 | 5-11 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 6 | 2 | 13 |
Morris | 16 | 3-6 | 1-2 | 0-6 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
Baker | 31 | 5-7 | 1-3 | 0-5 | 0 | 2 | 14 |
Kelly | 13 | 1-4 | 3-4 | 2-5 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
Taylor | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Simon | 2 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Grady | 15 | 2-5 | 2-2 | 1-5 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
Nurger | 6 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Wamukota | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
McDuffie | 13 | 0-2 | 4-4 | 2-3 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
Frankamp | 20 | 3-7 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
Totals | 200 | 23-54 | 13-19 | 12-38 | 12 | 17 | 67 |
Percentages: FG .426, FT .684. 3-Point Goals: 8-24, .333 (Baker 3-4, VanVleet 2-5, Frankamp 2-5, Brown 1-3, Simon 0-1, Grady 0-1, McDuffie 0-2, Wessel 0-3). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots: 1 (Morris). Turnovers: 12 (Morris 2, McDuffie 2, VanVleet 2, Frankamp, Taylor II, Brown, Wamukota, Grady, Wessel). Steals: 5 (VanVleet 3, Kelly, Baker). Technical Fouls: None.
Drake | 25 | 22 | — | 47 |
Wichita St. | 33 | 34 | — | 67 |
A—10,506. Officials—Gerry Pollard, Kipp Kissinger, Terry Oglesby.
Make up for misses
Wichita State made 23 of 54 shots (42.6 percent) and a series of missed shots in the lane and in-and-out jumpers in the first half kept Drake close.
The Shockers aren’t where they want to be on offense. Against Drake, their hustle on the offensive backboards made up for a lack of accuracy. WSU grabbed eight offensive rebounds in the first half, 12 for the game, and outscored Drake 11-1 on second-chance points over 40 minutes.
“As well-schooled as Drake is, we’re better athletically,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “They box out and whatnot, but you’ve got to still try to get a hand on it, keep the ball free.”
Zach Brown, Rashard Kelly and Evan Wessel all produced bonus possessions with hustle or clever hands. That mattered in the first half, when the Shockers shot poorly and needed the extra possessions.
“They’re relentless,” Drake coach Ray Giacoletti said. “I wish we could get our guys to go as hard as they go.”
Postponed game carries plus, minus
Players always want to play instead of practice. Those hopes took a hit this week when New Mexico State didn’t heed the coming winter storm and couldn’t fly out, postponing that game indefinitely.
Perhaps, WSU guard Fred VanVleet admitted, the situation did help his left hamstring. The injury cost VanVleet four games earlier this season and he continues to work his way back to full strength.
“Christmas break helped, giving me time off,” he said. “I stopped trying to do percentage a long time ago, because I was way off.”
WSU planned to play New Mexico State on Monday. For a few hours, the teams tried to reschedule for Tuesday. That turnaround concerned VanVleet.
“I was kind of worried about going Tuesday-Thursday, with that one day in between,” he said.
Return to Koch Arena
Most members of Wichita State’s 2005-06 team reunited for Thursday’s game and were introduced at halftime.
That team won the Missouri Valley Conference title — WSU’s first since 1983 — and played in the NCAA Tournament — WSU’s first since 1988. The Shockers defeated Seton Hall and second-seeded Tennessee before losing to George Mason.
P. J. Couisnard, Paul Miller, Kyle Wilson, Karon Bradley, Ryan Martin, Wendell Preadom, Phil Thomasson and Cameron Ledford attended.
Worth noting
The Shockers won their MVC opener for a fifth straight season and defeated Drake on New Year’s Eve for a second straight season.… Wessel played in his 100th game.… Baker made 3 of 4 three-pointers to improve to 12 of 28 in his career against Drake. He is second on WSU’s career list with 205 threes and trails Randy Burns (2001-05) with 248. Baker’s 14 points give him 1,334 for his career, No. 15 on WSU’s list. He passed Ron Harris (1969-72) and J.T. Durley (2007-11) and trails Jamie Thompson (1964-67), who has 1,359.… VanVleet handed out six assists to move into 15th place in MVC history with 501 career assists. His 13 points give him 1,154, pushing him to No. 29 at WSU, one point ahead of John Cooper (1987-91).
Paul Suellentrop
This story was originally published December 31, 2015 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Shocker report: WSU 67, Drake 47."