Wichita State routs Southern Illinois 83-58 in front of sellout crowd (+video)

Wichita State looked forward to the challenge, of which so few are presented by the Missouri Valley Conference. Sold-out arena. Opponent on a six-game win streak. High-scoring guard with conference Player of the Year statistics.

Hey, it had the potential to be interesting.

The Shockers, however, treated resurgent Southern Illinois as just another MVC punching bag in Saturday’s 83-58 win at SIU Arena. Big crowds don’t bother the Shockers — they’re used to every opponent dusting off nose-bleed seats. Red-hot opponents don’t bother the Shockers — they’re used to facing teams determined to make history.

“I just know that road games are very tough, and it’s about proving people wrong, showing the crowd that we’re here ready to rock, ready to do business,” WSU forward Markis McDuffie said. “We ain’t staying long. We’re just here to win and leave.”

The Shockers (10-5, 4-0 MVC) are alone atop the standings as the conference’s lone unbeaten. They made 12 of 24 three-pointers, out-rebounded SIU 40-25 and so disrupted the Salukis offense that they finished with two assists on their 17 baskets. SIU guard Anthony Beane scored 15 points, six below his average, on 3-of-14 shooting.

“There was never a question in my mind that they would take us seriously,” SIU coach Barry Hinson said. “Obviously, we’re not quite ready at that level. We were frozen from the very get-go.”

The game attracted a crowd of 8,284, the first SIU sellout since 2014. The curious returned to SIU Arena to see if the Salukis (14-3, 3-1) were more than just a product of a favorable schedule.

Wrong opponent to sell skeptics on the rebirth of Salukis basketball.

Wichita State controlled the game, slicing through an unorganized SIU defense for a multitude of open shots. A strength of schedule ranked No. 292 nationally did not prepare SIU for WSU’s blend of talent, size and skill. WSU, of course, was totally prepared to face a capacity crowd crazy for an upset. It does almost every game.

“I think we needed it,” WSU guard Fred VanVleet said. “It’s good for the Valley. It’s good for us. Crazy crowd. We didn’t really give them much to cheer about.”

With 7:56 to play and SIU down 68-40, fans began to depart SIU Arena. They never enjoyed a chance to influence the game because WSU denied SIU any semblance of hope from the start. Before the National Anthem, Hinson walked to the student section behind the basket and pumped his fists.

That cheer soon faded and never returned.

“I really, really wanted to give your fans more than what we gave them today,” Hinson said.

Ron Baker led WSU (10-5, 4-0 Missouri Valley Conference) with 18 points. Baker had four stitches to close a cut on his head, suffered in the first half, after the game. VanVleet scored six points, grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds and complimented everybody else for boxing out. Those rebounds put him over 500 for his career and made him the second player in MVC history with 1,000 points, 500 assists and 400 rebounds.

Conner Frankamp made 4 of 7 three-pointers to score 14 points and WSU made 12 of 24 three-pointers, many of them surprisingly uncontested.

“Our problem was just communication,” Beane said. “They were getting us with the ball screens and being able to throw it back. Then we were all scrambling and they were able to get wide-open threes.”

Zach Brown added eight points and turned in a superb defensive effort on Beane. Brown forced him into contested, off-balance shots and rarely gave him a clear view of the basket.

“He’s athletic,” Beane said. “It just falls back on us not executing.”

The Shockers led 43-29 at halftime with Baker scoring 16 points. He made 3 of 5 three-pointers, leading WSU’s 7-of-12 accuracy behind the arc. They started the second half with a 15-2 run, started by Shaq Morris’ dunk and ended by Frankamp’s three, to go up 58-31.

“Once we got punched and on the mat, we never just seemed to come back up,” Hinson said. “I thought we would handle this better.”

SIU gave up open threes with its man defense and switched to zone, with no better results. It gave up threes on WSU’s early offense because of a lack of organization or slow change to defense. Brown, Frankamp and McDuffie and Evan Wessel and all made relatively uncontested threes.

“We’re just sprinting and playing,” VanVleet said. “We’re getting the rebound, trying to play, trying to beat guys down the floor.”

WSU led 13-6 when it started a game-changing run with two foul shots by Baker and a three-point play for Shaq Morris, courtesy of a pretty underhanded pass from Baker. Down 18-6, SIU called timeout.

Rashard Kelly’s basket gave WSU a 20-9 lead. After an SIU turnover, Frankamp made a short jumper. His three-pointer made it 25-10 and Brown’s three boosted the lead to 18 points.

SIU cut the lead to 35-24 before Baker’s three, VanVleet’s layup and a three by Wessel pushed it to 43-26.

Challenge denied. Situation normal in the MVC.

This story was originally published January 9, 2016 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Wichita State routs Southern Illinois 83-58 in front of sellout crowd (+video)."