Wichita State easily handles Indiana State 74-57 (VIDEO)

When Darius Carter came off the court Wednesday, he earned a hand slap from coach Gregg Marshall as he passed by on the way to his seat. Marshall followed and gave Carter a pat on the chest before he sat down.

Those small gestures are how Wichita State players know they can relax with a job well done. For Carter, Marshall’s happiness signaled a resurgence after back pain and foul trouble limited his effectiveness for almost three weeks. He looked and played like the healthy, bouncy Carter of early January in No. 15 WSU’s 74-57 rout of Indiana State at Koch Arena.

“Anybody with good eyes can tell a difference when he’s feeling good, when he’s engaged,” WSU guard Fred VanVleet said. “He moves different. He runs different. He demands the ball.”

Carter did a lot of demanding in early January, scoring 19 points against Bradley and 25 against Southern Illinois. He decisively won a matchup of two of the Valley’s top big men with 18 points and 11 rebounds against Evansville’s Egidijus Mockevicius. Soon after, back spasms derailed his roll. He didn’t play in the second half against Drake and played only six minutes in the next game.

Wednesday, he made 7 of 11 shots and scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds, both highs since the Evansville game on Jan. 25.

“This was one of my first times in a little bit that I’m not having any back pain,” he said. “I felt like my normal self. It’s good now.”

Marshall noticed and Carter’s fine play helped make up for a technical foul he earned for yelling after a basket.

“After he got the silly technical foul, which is not something we condone, he was really aggressive,” Marshall said. “He started really being a force down low. He makes some unusual moves, but very effective moves.”

WSU (22-3, 12-1 MVC) won its 30th straight home game and stayed tied with No. 13 Northern Iowa atop the MVC. Wichita State’s final six conference games feature four against three teams in the top four of the standings.

The Shockers look ready. VanVleet followed his triple-double on Saturday against Missouri State with 21 points, six rebounds, four assists and no turnovers. Tekele Cotton added 16 points.

Indiana State (12-13, 8-5) remained in third in the MVC, thanks to Northern Iowa’s win over fourth-place Illinois State. Tre Bennett led the Sycamores with 11 points.

“They’re trying to contend for something and build for something bigger than this and we didn’t give them much of a fight,” Indiana State coach Greg Lansing said.

WSU held the Valley’s most prolific outside shooting team to three three-pointers and disrupted Indiana State’s offense with a series of pressing defenses. WSU forced 14 turnovers and scored 17 points off those turnovers.

The Sycamores average 8.6 made threes in MVC games. The Shockers pressed and hustled back to cover up shooters. Indiana State big men Justin Gant and Jake Kitchell can cause problems with their outsides shooting by pulling big men away from the basket. Neither made a three and the Sycamores went 3 for 13.

“Us, as shooters, we know it’s a little bit harder when you’ve got guys running up on you in your face,” VanVleet said. “That’s what we tried to do.”

In the game’s opening minutes, Indiana State attempted to use its size advantage. Gant, with a three-inch edge over Evan Wessel, scored in the lane. The Sycamores blocked several shots and kept trying to use Gant and Kitchell. Kitchell’s basket in the lane gave Indiana State a 14-10 lead.

From that point on, WSU changed the playing field from the lane to the entire court. It pressed and rushed the Sycamores into mistakes. The Shockers ran their offense from end to end, jetting to an 11-0 run for a 21-14 lead.

WSU won the hustle points, as well. After a miss by VanVleet, Baker dove on the floor to tip the ball back to VanVleet. He drew a foul and made two free throws for a 23-16 lead. Shaq Morris followed in a miss with dunk for a 25-16 lead and the Shockers kept rolling.

“It was 14-14 and they just jumped in us and exposed us,” Lansing said. “We’re usually better against pressure. They’re like sharks out there with blood in the water. We didn’t have enough timeouts to stop it. We didn’t have enough poise to stop it.”

VanVleet, who finished the half with 14 points, made three-pointers on consecutive possessions to build a 35-20 lead, part of an 11-6 run to close the first half. WSU led 38-24 at halftime after forcing nine turnovers and scoring 10 points off those mistakes. Gant and Kitchell, after scoring six point together early in the half, disappeared.

Cotton added eight points in the first half for WSU, which made 15 of 32 shots.

WSU missed four of its first five shots to open the second half and gave away a point after referees whistled Carter for talking after a basket. Indiana State, however, missed 6 of 8 shots and barely moved the scoreboard.

The Sycamores cut the lead to 44-34, but missed their chance to make it more interesting. Cotton’s three-pointer started a 7-1 run for a 52-35 lead. Carter’s dunk forced Indiana State to call timeout with 12:10 to play.

This story was originally published February 11, 2015 at 9:13 PM with the headline "Wichita State easily handles Indiana State 74-57 (VIDEO)."