The RoundHouse | 2/25/2018 11:48:00 AM

Roundhouse review: No. 13 Wichita State 84, SMU 78
 
By Paul Suellentrop
 
Key stats: Rebounds can sometimes be a misleading stat – miss a lot of shots and a lot of rebounds are available. On Saturday, Wichita State's rebounding edge accurately summed up the Shockers with a numbers and physical edge over SMU.
 
The Shockers grabbed a season-high 53.1 percent, according to kenpom.com, of the available offensive rebounds. Wichita State out-rebounded the Mustangs 41-23 and 17-8 on the offensive boards. That led to 16 second-chance points.
 
Wichita State, bigger and deeper than the short-handed Mustangs, bullied their opponent most of the game. Center Shaq Morris grabbed 10 rebounds, six on offense. Darral Willis Jr. added eight, two on offense. Forward Rashard Kelly grabbed seven rebounds.
 
Morris compared his quest for offensive rebounds to a defensive end chasing a quarterback.
 
"Using my body, using my feet, faking . . . to get around people," he said. "If one us is not on the glass, they're always another one that's crashing. That's how we keep our rebounding numbers up."
 
It is the 16^th time in coach Gregg Marshall's 11 seasons at Wichita State that the Shockers secured 50 percent or more of the offensive rebounds and the highest since they reached 60.7 vs. Loyola Marymount in 2014-15. Twelve of those 16 efforts came on the road or at neutral sites.
 
"We're way smaller than they are and we're way thinner than they are, but still, that one's frustrating," SMU coach Tim Jankovich said. "They're one of the best rebounding teams in America. They're so deep that they're fresh and their guys go to the boards every time. They're huge. We're not."
 
Records: Wichita State 23-5, 13-3 American (No. 17 Pomeroy, No. 17 RPI, No. 11 ESPN BPI); SMU 16-13, 6-10 American (No. 74 Pomeroy, No. 95 RPI, No. 59 ESPN BPI)
 
Topper: The Shockers regard junior Markis McDuffie as baseball team might regard a trade-deadline upgrade for a pennant race.
 
It is almost post-season time and McDuffie, after missing 11 games due to a foot injury, is helping the Shockers in ways he did not a month ago. McDuffie's legs and mind should be fresher than most at the end of this grind and his conditioning should be improving.
 
"Now, as the season is running down and everybody has kind of run out of gas, he can kick it into gear," Kelly said. "Knowing that we got that extra force that Markis McDuffie can put up almost 30 points . . . that's a plus for us."
 
McDuffie looked fresh and ready for big things on Saturday at SMU. He matched his career high with 26 points, made 11 of 14 shots and 3 of 6 three-pointers. He showed the Shockers the way to beat SMU's zone by finding open spots around the lane and his two steals turned into layups. He took his first charge of the season. While he did commit four turnovers, the out-of-control, moving-too-fast mistakes of earlier games weren't as prevalent.
 
McDuffie called his performance a victory for the mental game. When he first returned in late December, he said, he was thinking too much on the court.
 
"I feel like I'm back to myself to now," he said. "I'm just playing the game and being coachable. I want to go out there and be who I am, be coached by Coach Marshall."
 
Kelly warned McDuffie earlier this season he couldn't make up the lost games too fast. He had to let his performances naturally rise, instead of forcing himself into the flow of the team.
 
"Instead of listening to the outside noise, he's just enjoying his basketball games," Kelly said. "He's actually enjoying the game and playing the game, not trying to be Markis McDuffie that everybody wants him to be; just being the Markis McDuffie that he is."
 
Lineup check: With McDuffie on a roll, Wichita State's reserves outscored SMU's 40-13. Conner Frankamp helped with 12 points and three assists. He made 2 of 4 threes and is 8 of 16 in his past five games.
 
That's history: Frankamp made all four of his foul shots to make him 32 for 32 this season. Furman's Terry McGann made all 25 of his attempts in 1995-96, most by a player with 20 or more attempts in the past 25 seasons.
 
Frankamp's streak is 33, dating to last season, which ranks third on Wichita State's career list behind Clevin Hannah (43 straight in 2009-10) and Ron Mendell (36 in 1968-69).
 
Numbers: In conference play, Morris averages 15.4 points to rank fifth, 5.6 rebounds (10^th), 60.8 percent shooting (1^st) and 1.4 blocks (tied for fourth) . . . The Mustangs made 15 of 31 threes to match their season high.
 
Next up: at Central Florida (17-10, 8-7 American), 6 p.m. Thursday (ESPN) – The Knights won three of four games entering Sunday's game at Temple.
 
The Shockers defeated UCF 81-62 on Jan. 25 at Koch Arena with Morris scoring 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Wichita State out-rebounded UCF 48-38 and scored 21 second-chance points.
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.