Gregg Marshall earns Wichita State win No. 221 against Southern Illinois (+video)

The Ralph Miller banner hanging from the rafters at Koch Arena depicts the coach sitting on his trademark footstool. When the Gregg Marshall banner is raised, it will surely depict him in movement, clapping, perhaps wiggling his wrist or raising a fist to call a play.

On Wednesday, he added another landmark moment to his program-defining resume at Wichita State. Nobody else has won as many games for the Shockers and certainly not as convincingly.

No. 21 Wichita State defeated Southern Illinois 76-55 on Wednesday at Koch Arena to elevate Marshall past Miller as the program’s career wins leader. After the game, WSU president John Bardo spoke to the team in the locker room and told them what a special night Marshall’s record created.

The Marshalls planned to celebrate in the Champions Club and a bottle of Futo wine waited for them at home. Wife Lynn waited outside the locker room wearing a Junkyard Dog sweatshirt, one of the Marshall slogans for players who defend and rebound and dive on the floor for loose balls.

“It just means you’ve been coaching a long time and you’ve had a lot of great coaches and a lot of great players,” Gregg Marshall said. “To equal a legend in Coach Miller, a guy that captivated this city and made basketball important. He left it better than he found it. When he left, he left them with a Final Four team.”

Marshall is 221-81 in nine seasons at WSU and is also the career wins leader (194-83) at Winthrop. Miller coached the Shockers from 1951-64 and went 220-133 in his 13 seasons.

“He probably won’t say it or acknowledge it as much, but we all know how much it means,” WSU guard Fred VanVleet said.

WSU (17-5, 11-0 Missouri Valley Conference) also won its 43rd straight home game, the nation’s longest streak. Its 12-game win streak is tied for the program’s fourth-longest streak. SIU (18-6, 7-4) lost its third straight game.

The Shockers, with Evansville losing at Northern Iowa, lead the MVC by four games with seven to play and own tiebreakers over both SIU and Evansville.

Like most of Marshall’s wins, defense ruled. The Shockers held SIU to 30.6-percent shooting and forced 22 turnovers. WSU scored 21 points off those turnovers, which came in waves and allowed the Shockers to pull away late in the first half and early in the second.

“The game was simple, we just turned it over,” SIU coach Barry Hinson said. “You can’t do that and be successful.”

Shaq Morris led WSU with 13 points. VanVleet added 12 points and 11 assists. Anton Grady made 5 of 6 shots and scored 10 points. WSU made 9 of 20 three-pointers, which helped it survive allowing 22 offensive rebounds.

SIU guard Anthony Beane scored 20 points on 6-of-17 shooting and no other Saluki reached double figures. Center Bola Olaniyan grabbed 16 rebounds, nine on the offensive glass.

Up 37-28 at halftime, WSU started the second half with a 10-3 run. SIU committed four turnovers on its first five possessions of the half, forcing Hinson to call an early timeout. It didn’t slow the Shockers.

The Shockers used an 11-2 run in the first half to build a 31-21 lead on their way to a 37-28 halftime edge. SIU trailed 20-19 when it committed four turnovers in its next five possessions.

WSU went up 27-19 on Grady’s basket, after a traveling violation by SIU’s Tyler Smithpeters. VanVleet made two free throws after an SIU miss for a 29-19 lead. He capped the run with a lob to Rashard Kelly for a basket and a 31-21 lead.

The Shockers stretched the lead to 12 points on a basket by haq Morris, who led WSU with nine first-half points.

WSU burst to a 6-0 lead but couldn’t finish off SIU quickly. Beane scored eight points early in the half to rally SIU and finished with 15 on 5-of-10 shooting.

WSU made 14 of 29 shots in the first half and held SIU to 11-of-30 shooting. The Salukis stayed close with seven offensive rebounds, leading to seven second-chance points.

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 10:17 PM with the headline "Gregg Marshall earns Wichita State win No. 221 against Southern Illinois (+video)."