Wichita State Shockers, tired but determined, continue NCAA trek

Pumped up on adrenaline, Wichita State’s basketball team left Dayton, Ohio, in the wee hours of Wednesday morning on a chartered flight headed east.

By the time the plane landed in Providence, R.I., around 4:30 a.m., the buzz from Tuesday night’s First Four win over Vanderbilt had worn off and the Shockers could think of just one thing – sleep.

“It’s pretty hard to sleep after a game, but especially when you’re on a plane,” WSU senior forward Evan Wessel said. “Guys are restless, but by the time we got to Rhode Island, I think everybody was pretty tired. We got some sleep, now we’re ready to go.”

The trip capped a madcap three days for the Shockers and included a smattering of fans trekking alongside them on 1,576-mile trip across the eastern half of the United States. It started with Sunday’s announcement that the Shockers would be playing on Tuesday against Vanderbilt in Dayton.

The journey continued with a victory over the Commodores that didn’t finish until almost midnight and another jaunt to the edge of the Atlantic Ocean for a game in the NCAA Tournament’s South Regional that will pit No. 11-seed WSU (25-8) against No. 6-seed Arizona (25-8) at about 8:20 Thursday night on TNT.

“I’d probably say we’re more tired, physically, from the game, but then you add in the aspects of travel and coming in late,” WSU sophomore forward Rashard Kelly said. “We just want to get some shots up today, nothing too physical and not beat our bodies up too much. Especially when we got in so late.”

The Shockers landed in Providence and headed straight to the team hotel, where they still managed to get in almost eight hours of sleep, with a 1 p.m. wake-up call to go eat, more rest, a team film session then off to the arena for media interviews and a public workout.

WSU coach Gregg Marshall walked over to the sideline during the practice and joked with the handful of WSU fans in attendance that he “woke up at 12:30 and it was the first time I’ve slept past noon since I was in college.”

And while most of the Shockers seemed visibly tired, the youngest of them all stayed true to form.

“I feel pretty good,” WSU freshman forward Markis McDuffie said, smiling. “Maybe it hasn’t kicked in yet, but I got some good rest, ate breakfast, then went right back to resting.”

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 8:34 PM with the headline "Wichita State Shockers, tired but determined, continue NCAA trek."