Shocker report (Jan. 20)
Wednesday’s box score
WICHITA ST. 74, N. IOWA 55
WICHITA ST. | Min | FG-A | FT-A | Reb | A | PF | PT |
Baker | 36 | 5-9 | 8-8 | 0-7 | 3 | 0 | 21 |
VanVleet | 32 | 5-8 | 0-0 | 0-6 | 6 | 2 | 12 |
Morris | 20 | 4-5 | 2-2 | 1-4 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
Brown | 15 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 0-3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Wessel | 18 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
McDuffie | 26 | 5-9 | 2-2 | 0-3 | 1 | 2 | 15 |
Frankamp | 17 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
Kelly | 16 | 2-4 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
Nurger | 8 | 1-1 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Grady | 11 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-4 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
Wamukota | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Totals | 200 | 26-46 | 14-17 | 3-33 | 15 | 17 | 74 |
Percentages: FG .565, FT .824. 3-Point Goals: 8-15, .533 (McDuffie 3-5, Baker 3-5, VanVleet 2-2, Frankamp 0-1, Brown 0-1, Wessel 0-1). Team Rebounds: 0. Blocked Shots: 4 (Morris 2, Grady, VanVleet). Turnovers: 9 (Baker 2, McDuffie 2, Brown 2, VanVleet). Steals: 4 (McDuffie 2, Grady, Kelly). Technical Fouls: None.
N. IOWA | Min | FG-A | FT-A | Reb | A | PF | PT |
Bohannon | 39 | 4-7 | 3-3 | 0-3 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
Washpun | 38 | 4-13 | 4-4 | 1-7 | 7 | 1 | 14 |
Koch | 22 | 3-9 | 8-9 | 0-3 | 0 | 5 | 14 |
Jesperson | 31 | 3-8 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
Morgan | 37 | 1-6 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
Friedman | 13 | 1-1 | 0-1 | 2-3 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Lohaus | 11 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Carlson | 9 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Totals | 200 | 16-49 | 15-17 | 5-23 | 12 | 17 | 55 |
Percentages: FG .327, FT .882. 3-Point Goals: 8-24, .333 (Bohannon 3-6, Washpun 2-5, Jesperson 2-6, Morgan 1-4, Carlson 0-1, Lohaus 0-2). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 0. Turnovers: 8 (Washpun 4, Lohaus, Morgan, Friedman, Koch). Steals: 5 (Bohannon 2, Carlson, Morgan, Washpun). Technical Fouls: None.
Wichita St. | 34 | 40 | — | 74 |
N. Iowa | 22 | 33 | — | 55 |
A—5,425. Officials—Don Daily, Paul Janssen, Hal Lusk.
Marshall’s countdown
Wichita State’s Ron Baker listened to his coach to set up his buzzer-beating three-pointer, from around half-court, to end the first half.
“(Gregg) Marshall is always big on ‘There’s always more time than you think,’ ” Baker said. “The rebound landed right in my hands and I heard Marshall from the sideline: ‘Three seconds, three dribbles,’ so I knew I had three dribbles. I made a heave at the basket and it dropped in.”
Baker’s basket gave WSU a 34-22 halftime lead and capped a 7-0 run that UNI coach Ben Jacobson found significant. The Panthers cut the lead to 27-22 on Matt Bohannon’s three-pointer. WSU’s Fred VanVleet found cutting Rauno Nurger for a dunk and, after a UNI turnover, Markis McDuffie made two free throws for a 31-22 lead.
Baker’s three added an exclamation point to the meltdown.
“We made two defensive mistakes late in the half on the ball-screen with VanVleet,” Jacobson said. “Against Wichita State, the way we’ve played in our last couple, those seven points are pretty key points.”
Cold and getting colder
Northern Iowa made 6 of 22 shots in the first half to continue a stretch of miserable shooting that started at halftime of its game against Indiana State.
Its 80-minute total (spread over games against Indiana State, Loyola and WSU) is 26 of 96 shots and scored 86 points.
In the second half, UNI made 10 of 27 shots (37 percent).
“We played better tonight than what we did in the last couple,” Jacobson said. “Any time you’re struggling, at this level, with the teams we’re playing … and you’re not clicking on all cylinders, everything gets magnified.”
The Shockers started their defensive effort by working to keep UNI guard Wes Washpun from driving full-speed to the basket. Last season, Washpun sliced up WSU’s defense coming off ball-screens and working with center Seth Tuttle in a 16-point win over the Shockers. WSU changed its defense for last season’s rematch in Koch Arena and that approach is working.
“I really had a bad game-plan and put us behind the 8-ball (last season),” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “We didn’t do a good job of making him go wide around the ball-screens, pick the dribble up. We adjusted that. Tonight, he had as many turnovers (four) as baskets, and he’s a dynamic performer, so we’ll take that.”
That 70-54 defeat at McLeod Center last season was WSU’s lone MVC regular-season defeat.
Worth noting
The Shockers, who have won eight of the past 10 meetings, evened the series against the Panthers at 26-all and 5-5 in McLeod Center.… WSU is 7-0 in the Valley for the third straight season. It has started 6-0 or better five times since the 1963-64 season.… VanVleet played in his 107th game, matching Demetric Williams (2010-13) for second on WSU’s list. Tekele Cotton ranks first with 120. Baker’s three assists give him 293 for his career to rank No. 17 at WSU and pass Craig Steven (1998-03) with 290.
Paul Suellentrop
This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 10:41 PM with the headline "Shocker report (Jan. 20)."