WSU forward Shaq Morris delivers a pair of monster dunks, momentum

A quick lesson in determination, if you will, brought to you by Wichita State sophomore forward Shaq Morris.

With just under 14 minutes left in Thursday’s NCAA Tournament game against Arizona at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, with the Shockers up 43-27, WSU coach Gregg Marshall called Morris’ number. The play call left little to the imagination.

“I knew the play was to get me the ball and dunk it,” said Morris, a 6-foot-8 Edmond, Okla., native. “Didn’t matter who was coming at me or who was under the rim. I was ready for it all.”

Who was coming at Morris was 7-foot center Dusan Ristic, a Sunrise Christian Academy product. Morris caught the ball with only air and opportunity in front of him and delivered a powerful, left-handed slam after he went up with two hands and Ristic tried to body him.

It was the second of two highlight-reel dunks in the second half for Morris, who finished with seven points, seven rebounds and two blocks. The other dunk came on — what else — an alley-oop from Fred VanVleet. Morris converted the free throw after the Ristic foul to put WSU up 46-27 and the Shockers cruised to a 65-55 win and advanced to play Saturday against Miami with a bid to the Sweet 16 on the line.

“This is nothing new, we’ve been here before and we’ve been in big games,” Morris said. “I’ve got teammates that trust me to make the right play.”

The key for Morris on Thursday, as it seems to be every game, was staying out of foul trouble. He didn’t pick up his second foul until the 7:24 mark of the first half, which was a far cry from Tuesday’s First Four win over Vanderblit, when he picked up two fouls in less than one minute of play in the first half.

“It allows me to be more effective, of course, because the last game it was real quick, right off the bat I got two,” Morris said. “And when you get two for Coach Marshall, you don’t play. I feel like I didn’t get my foul until really late and that helped the team out.”

He was also effective on defense, matching up with All-Pac 12 forward Ryan Anderson, who finished with eight points — seven below his average —and registering both of his blocks in the final 1:03 as Arizona desperately tried to get back in the game.

“Shaq played huge tonight, and I had a feeling he was going to have a big game just by how he was in shootaround,” WSU forward Anton Grady said. “I knew he was going to have one of those monster games, I knew he was going to get a big-time dunk. What he did tonight was awesome … awesome, awesome, awesome.”

And a surreal moment at the end, to finish things off. As Morris walked toward press row, he made eye contact with TNT analyst and former NBA star Chris Webber. Morris smiled and gave him a wink.

“He was with us the last time we were in the NCAA Tournament, in the first round games against Indiana and Kansas,” Morris said. “We kind of waved at each other last year. So tonight I just kind of gave him a.…”

Morris laughed, and winked into a video camera. It was one of those nights.

This story was originally published March 17, 2016 at 11:53 PM with the headline "WSU forward Shaq Morris delivers a pair of monster dunks, momentum."