Game Notes: Wichita State (PDF) |  Vanderbilt (PDF)  |  WSU Tournament Central

---

[#11] WICHITA STATE (24-8, 16-2 MVC) vs. 
[#11] VANDERBILT (19-13, 11-7 SEC)

NCAA Tournament | South Regional | First Four
Tuesday, March 15, 2016  |  8:10 p.m. CT (9:10 p.m. ET)
Dayton, Ohio / UD Arena

Telecast --
On Air: tru-TV
Online: March Madness Live
Announcers: Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas, Jamie Erdahl

Radio --
Wichita: KEYN 103.7 FM
Announcers: Mike Kennedy & Dave Dahl
National: WestwoodOne
Announcers: Craig Way & Kevin Grevey

Social Media ---
Twitter: @GoShockers, @GoShockersLive
Facebook: facebook.com/WichitaStateUniversityAthletics
Instagram: instagram.com/goshockers
Exposure: goshockers.exposure.co
 

---

OPENING TIPS

Scene Setter // 11-seeds Wichita State (24-8, 16-2 Missouri Valley Conference) and Vanderbilt (19-13, 11-7 SEC) slug it out Tuesday night in Dayton for the right to join the field of 64 in the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Championships. Tip is set for 9:10 p.m. ET on TruTV.
 
The winner of Tuesday night's game travels to Providence, R.I. for a Thursday matchup with No. 6 Arizona at approximately 9:20 p.m. ET. on TNT.
 
Back for More // Wichita State is making its fifth-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and its 13th overall. Head coach Gregg Marshall is dancing for the 12th time (5 at WSU, 7 at Winthrop) and is one of just 11 coaches in history to lead two different schools to 5+ NCAA bids. The Shockers have won at least one game in three-consecutive trips and are 7-3 over that span.
 
Rest vs. Rust // The Shockers ended the regular season with a grind of six games in 15 days, then played back-to-back in the MVC Tournament. When the ball is tipped Tuesday, it will have been 10 days since WSU last saw game action.
 
Tripling Up on Trophies // WSU won its third-consecutive Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship and fourth in the last five years, finishing 4.0 games ahead of second-place Illinois State and Evansville.
 
About the Shockers // Led by All-American guards Ron Baker (14.2 points) and Fred VanVleet (12.0 points, 5.7 assists), the Shockers returned three starters and nine lettermen from last year's 30-5 team that earned a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament and defeated Indiana and Kansas to reach the Sweet 16. Helped by three-straight 30-win seasons, WSU earned its first preseason top-10 ranking since the 1981-82 season and was an overwhelming favorite in the MVC preseason poll... A rash of November injuries slowed their momentum, with four of the top six players missing a combined 24 games in the first two months, including VanVleet, who battled a hamstring strain through much of the non-conference.... After starting 5-5, the Shockers reeled off 12-straight wins on their way to the Valley title.
 
Drive for 25 // A Shocker win would boost them to 25 victories for the seventh-consecutive year, breaking Cincinnati's half-century record of six-straight 25-win seasons from 1957-63.
 
vs. Vanderbilt // This is just the second meeting between the two programs. In 2005, WSU lost an NIT heartbreaker in Nashville on a buzzer beater shot.
 
Crunching Numbers // Tuesday's game features two top defenses. WSU and Vandy rank 6th and 7th nationally in field goal percentage defense. The Commodores rely on a pair of seven-footers to deny the basket. WSU - by contrast - relies on its veteran guards  do much of the heavy lifting.
 
 
WSU TOURNEY TIDBITS
 
WSU makes its school-record fifth-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. Prior to 2012, the Shockers had managed back-to-back appearances on just two other occasions (1964 & 65, 1987 & 88).
 
This is the 13th overall NCAA Tournament trip for the Shockers, who are 15-13 all-time with six Regional Semifinal appearances (1964, 1965, 1981, 2006, 2013, 2015), four Regional Finals (1964, 1965, 1981, 2013) and two Final Fours (1965, 2013).
 
Prior to its current run, the Shockers had only even appeared in back-to-back NCAA tourneys on two other occasions (1964/65 and 1987/88).
 
This is the 26th overall postseason bid for WSU (13 NCAAs, 12 NITs, 1 CBI) , which won the 2011 NIT to kick off its current run of postseason success.
 
WSU is prepping for its 29th NCAA Tournament contest, with 12 of those having come in the past five years.
 
WSU is one of just nine teams to win a game in each of the last three NCAA Tournaments and ranks 6th in wins over that span, joining Louisville (11-2), Duke (9-2), Michigan State (9-3), Wisconsin (9-3) and Arizona (8-3).
 
11 SEEDS
 
WSU is a No. 11 seed for the third time in its history. The previous two go-arounds didn't go so well. Despite boasting the NCAA's leading scorer and rebounder in Xavier McDaniel, the 1985 Shockers lost to No. 6 Georgia in Atlanta, 67-59. Two years later they fell to No. 6 St. John's in Chicago.
 
WSU is a double-digit seed for the first time under Gregg Marshall after previously being a 1, 5, 7 and 9 seed.  Being an 11-seed was cause for celebration in 2007 when Marshall led Winthrop to that line. It remains the highest-ever seed for a Big South school, and Winthrop took full advantage with a Round of 64 win over 6th-seeded Notre Dame.
 
ALL THE COOL KIDS ARE DOING IT
 
Being sent to the First Four is hardly a death sentence. In fact, a handful of teams have used the momentum from the extra game as a springboard into deep tournament runs. Since the First Four reformatted in 2011, at-large teams that advance from Dayton are 5-5 against their Round of 64 opponents.
 
2011 – VCU – Final Four
2012 – South Florida – Round of 32
2013 – LaSalle – Sweet 16
2014 – Tennessee – Sweet 16
2015 – Dayton – Round of 32
 
WSU-OHIO CONNECTIONS:
 
WSU has never gone through a play-in game in the NCAA's, but its head coach has. Gregg Marshall led Winthrop against fellow No. 16-seed Northwestern State in the very first NCAA Tournament play-in game. Winthrop fell 71-67.
 
WSU's last journey to Dayton came long before UD Arena was constructed. On Dec. 17, 1941, the Shockers absorbed a 42-19 loss to the host Flyers during a December tour through Kentucky and Ohio.
 
The Shockers will see NCAA Tournament action in Ohio for the second-straight year. Last March, they advanced to the Midwest Regional semifinals in Cleveland.
 
Senior forward Anton Grady is a native of Cleveland and played four seasons at Cleveland State before transferring to WSU for his senior year.
 
WSU Manager of Player Development, Devon Smith was a walk-on at Ohio State.
 
SERIES WITH VANDERBILT:
 
WSU and Vanderbilt have only met once, but the result was epic. In a Round of 16 clash in the 2005 NIT, WSU scored on a putback with 0.7 seconds to play to tie and - seemingly - send the game to overtime. Instead, the host Commodores caught the Shocker defense napping. Corey Smith slipped behind the defense, caught an 80-foot pass mid-lane and scored ahead ahead of the buzzer.
 
Vandy coach Kevin Stallings is a familar WSU foil from the 1990s when he coached Missouri Valley Conference rival Illinois State. Under Stallings, the Redbirds made back-to-back NCAA Tournament trips in 1997 and '98 and won a pair of Valley titles... WSU won its very first meeting with Stallings in double overtime in 1993 and won the final encounter in 1999. In between, Stallings won 11-straight. Including his NIT win at Vandy, he is 12-2 all-time against the Shockers.
 
WSU assistant Isaac Brown and Vanderbilt assistant Derrick Jones worked for three seasons at Louisiana Tech.
 
Longtime Stallings disciple Tom Richardson took over at Illinois State in 1999 when Stallings moved on to Vanderbilt. In Richardson's four seasons as head coach, he was 4-4 against WSU. He reunited with Stallings at Vanderbilt in 2003-04.
 
Current Illinois State head coach Dan Muller spent 12 seasons as an assistant at Vanderbilt before taking the ISU job.
 
Eddie Fogler led WSU to a pair of NCAA Tournaments in 1987 and 88 and an NIT appearance 1989 before leaving to become head coach at Vanderbilt from 1989-93. WSU would go another 14 years without a postseason bid and didn't resurfance in the NCAA's until 2006. Fogler took Vandy to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and also won the 1990 NIT.
 
GRIZZLED TOURNEY VETERANS
 
Wichita State seniors Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet have each appeared in 10 NCAA Tournament games over the past three years, and Baker is in line for his 11th start, which would be a WSU record.
 
Baker (118 points) and VanVleet (113) rank first and second among ALL active players in career NCAA Tournament scoring.
 
VanVleet (38 assists) and Baker (22) are no. 2 and 3 in assists, trailing only Michigan State's Denzel Valentine (38).
 
VanVleet is second among actives with 15 steals in NCAA Tournament play (behind Marcus Paige's 18).
 
Baker's 52 rebounds rank third behind Valentine (74) and Kaleb Tarczewski of Arizona (58).
 
Baker, Tarczewski and Valentine were three of the seven collegians on the United States' bronze medal-winning Pan American Games team in Toronto last summer.
 
A DOUBLE HIGH-FIVE:
 
Gregg Marshall becomes just the 11th Division I head coach in history to take two-different schools to five-or-more NCAA Tournaments (seven at Winthrop and now five at Wichita State)... Seven of the 11 coaches on that list are active and six will be dancing in 2016... In addition to Marshall, John Calipari, Fran Dunphy, Bob Huggins and Roy Williams are in the tournament field. Rick Pitino and Steve Fisher are also on the list but will not compete in NCAA Tournament play this year.
 
MARSHALL IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT:
 
Gregg Marshall's five-straight trips are a personal best. He guided Winthrop to four-in-a-row to kick off his head coaching career (1998-02) and finished out his time there with another run of three (2005-07).
 
This is Marshall's 12th NCAA bid overall. He's 8-11 with one Final Four in 2013 and two Sweet 16s (2013, 15).
 
Marshall has now appeared in postseason play in 15 of his 18 seasons as a head coach (14-13 record), with a pair of NIT bids (2010, 11) and one CBI invite (2009) early in his WSU tenure. Over that three-year stretch, the Shockers went 6-2 and won the 2011 NIT Championship.
 
MARSHALL GAME-BY-GAME IN NCAA'S
 
 (As an Assistant) Marshall reached the NCAA Tournament once in 1994 as an assistant at College of Charleston under John Kresse. That Cougar team became the first-ever NAIA-to-NCAA Division I transitional to earn an NCAA Tournament at-large bid in its first year of postseason eligibility.
 
1994 -- #12
R-64 -- #5 Wake Forest – L, 58-68
 
 (At Winthrop, 1998-2007) Marshall guided Winthrop to its first-ever NCAA appearance in 1999 and its first-ever win in 2007. The latter team earned the highest seed in Big South Conference history (11). In seven trips, Marshall's teams went 1-7.
 
1999 -- #16
R-64 -- #1 Auburn – L, 41-80
 
2000 -- #14
R-64 -- #3 Oklahoma – L, 50-74
 
2001 -- #16
Play-In -- #16 Northwestern State – L, 67-71
 
2002 -- #16
R-64 -- #1 Duke – L, 37-84
 
2005 -- #14
R-64 -- #3 Gonzaga – L, 64-74
 
2006 -- #15
R-64 -- #2 Tennessee – L, 61-63
 
2007 -- #11
R-64 -- #6 Notre Dame – W, 76-64
R-32 -- #4 Oregon – L, 61-75
 
(At Wichita State, 2007-Pr.) Marshall is 7-4 in four previous tournaments, with four of those wins coming during the Shockers' 2013 run to the Final Four. Marshall is one of only two coaches in school history with multiple NCAA trips, joining Gene Smithson (1981, 85)... The Shockers' first three NCAA losses under Marshall came by a combined nine points. In two of them, WSU had a chance at the buzzer to either win or force overtime.
 
2012 -- #5
R-64 -- #12 VCU – L, 59-62
 
2013 -- #9
R-64 -- #8 Pittsburgh – W, 73-55
R-32 -- #1 Gonzaga – W, 76-70
S-16 -- #13 LaSalle – W, 72-58
E-8 -- #2 Ohio State – W, 70-66
F-4 -- #1 Louisville – L, 68-72
 
2014 -- #1
R-64 – #16 Cal Poly – W, 64-37
R-32 -- #8 Kentucky – L, 76-78
 
2015 -- #7
R-64 -- #10 Indiana – W, 81-76
R-32 -- #2 Kansas – W, 78-65
S-16 -- #3 Notre Dame – L, 70-81