No. 22 Wichita State rolls over Evansville (+videos)

Wichita State’s Fred VanVleet gave it his best effort, reluctantly handing out the expected cliches and deflecting talk of the future.

The 22nd-ranked Shockers are going to win their third consecutive Missouri Valley Conference basketball title, barring a November-like run of injuries or something equally unforeseen.

Can they go 18-0? That now becomes the source of suspense for the regular-season’s remaining eight MVC games. The Shockers did it two seasons ago and rarely hesitate to set standards other programs might shy away from.

“Slow down a little,” VanVleet said, before giving in to the pursuit of history. “Obviously, that’s what we’re aiming for. We wanted to go 40-0 this year. That didn’t happen. We’ll just take it one day at a time. Just try to get better.”

The prospects of WSU improving seems like overkill after a day in which it rolled over Evansville 78-65 in front of a record crowd at Ford Center.

There is no more reason for caution, or manners, before officially calling the MVC race for Wichita State (16-5, 10-0 MVC). It now enjoys a three-game lead over Evansville and Southern Illinois, with a sweep of the Aces (18-5, 7-3) in hand and a chance to do the same to the Salukis on Wednesday at Koch Arena.

“We got exposed a little bit,” Evansville coach Marty Simmons said. “We talk about it, we show it. We do our best to try to prepare for it. But you really don’t get it until you play against them.”

WSU dialed up a clinic on defense and rebounding to set several landmarks.

Coach Gregg Marshall won game No. 220 at WSU, tying Ralph Miller (1951-64) atop the school’s career win list. VanVleet scored a career-high 32 points and made all 15 of his foul shots to tie Dave Stallworth’s mark from 1963. The Shockers won their 11th straight game, tied for the fifth-longest streak in program history and the second-longest of the Marshall era.

“Our guys were just relentless,” Marshall said. “I knew we were ready in that first four-minute segment, the way we were defending. We were active, getting deflections and getting steals. We were really, really disruptive.”

The Aces, playing in front of a sell-out crowd of 10,034, led for 46 seconds early in the game. They trailed by double-digits for the final 20:48 and finished with16 baskets and 18 turnovers. WSU blocked a season-high nine shots and held the Aces to a season-low 34.8-percent shooting.

Egidijus Mockevicius led Evansville with 16 points and 12 rebounds. D.J. Balentine — harassed all game by WSU’s Zach Brown, Markis McDuffie and Ron Baker — led the Aces with 18 points on 5-of-19 shooting.

“The only good thing about getting beat and getting beat like that… you gotta learn from it,” Simmons said. “Hopefully, we’ll get another opportunity to play these guys. They’re the best.”

Sunday’s tightly called contest — with MVC coordinator of officials Eddie Jackson in attendance — gave WSU a chance to show off its depth. It ignored foul problems that would debilitate most teams.with nine Shockers playing 13 or more minutes and three reserves playing 21 or more. Anton Grady grabbed eight rebounds and blocked a season-high four shots. Conner Frankamp scored 10 points. Rashard Kelly grabbed five rebounds and McDuffie added five points and seven rebounds to his defensive effort.

“When people get in foul trouble, other people come in and do what they have to do,” McDuffie said. “All of us can have a chance to play and do what we’ve got to do.”

VanVleet, who played 38 minutes, did not flirt with foul trouble and his presence tied together the ever-changing lineups. He scored eight points in the first half and made two free throws. In the second half, he dribbled through the Aces for layups and drew whistles with his ability to draw contact near the basket.

“He plays with unbelievable savvy, basketball I.Q.,” Simmons said. “We certainly fouled him too much.”

WSU led 32-21 at halftime and started the second half with an 8-2 run capped by Baker’s three-pointer. The Aces made a mild push when they cut the lead to 48-36. Evan Wessel cut that off with a three-pointer to start a 7-0 run. The crowd got excited again when Balentine’s three cut WSU’s lead to 60-47. Frankamp responded with a three to push the lead back to 16 points.

In keeping with that theme, VanVleet’s three made it 68-52 and stopped another mildly threatening run.

In the first half, the Shockers missed 21 shots, eight of its nine three-pointers and got outscored by four at the foul line. The half ended with four players — three starters — on the bench with two or more fouls.

In many ways, it couldn’t have gone worse.

And WSU led 32-21.

Great defense and spectacular offensive rebounding carried the Shockers, who took 13 more shots than the Aces in the first half.

WSU grabbed nine offensive rebounds, blocked eight shots (one more than its season high) and scored 11 points off 12 Aces turnovers. With WSU’s hands in every passing lane and shooting alley, the Aces rushed and missed easy ones, or allowed defenders to block and alter shots. Brown blocked a dunk attempt by Mockevicius at the rim to protect a 4-3 lead. He later blocked a driving shot by Balentine. Baker swatted away a shot by Mockevicius from behind.

Balentine scored three points, all at the line, and missed all six of his shots.

“It’s just defensive principles,” Brown said. “When he comes off screens, chase screens. Contest all his jumpers. Just try to do what I need to do to contain him.”

WSU led 23-17 when it shook loose of the fouls and finished strong. Grady scored on a pick-and-pop jumper for a 25-17 lead. Zach Brown blocked a shot by Balentine and Rashard Kelly scored to make it 28-19. After Evansville’s Jaylon Brown scored over VanVleet, Frankamp made two foul shots. A flurry of offensive rebounds gave VanVleet two free throws for a 32-21 lead.

This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 5:32 PM with the headline "No. 22 Wichita State rolls over Evansville (+videos)."