WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita State men's basketball team improved to 15-0 on the season with a 67-43 victory over Northern Iowa Sunday afternoon in Charles Koch Arena. The 15-0 start marks the best in school history and the Shockers are now just one of seven undefeated schools. 

Fred VanVleet led the Shockers with 22 points and also had six rebounds and three assists. Cleanthony Early added 18 points and seven rebounds for the Shockers.

Deon Mitchell led the Panthers with 16 points, while Seth Tuttle had 11 rebounds.

Northern Iowa came out on fire from three-point range, shooting 3-for-4 in the opening minutes to take an early 14-6 lead over the Shockers. A three from VanVleet cut the Panther lead, 14-11, but Northern Iowa would use a 5-0 run to extend the lead back to 19-14 with 6:44 left in the first half.

Baker hit a three at the 6:15 mark, which killed a four-minute scoring drought for Wichita State. VanVleet hit a three shortly after to put the Shockers ahead for the first time in the game, 20-19. Chadrack Lufile would cap a 10-0 run for Wichita State and extend the lead, 24-19 with 3:52 to play.

VanVleet kept the offense flowing for the Shockers at the end of the half, making a layup at the 1:27 mark and a jumper with five seconds left to take Wichita State into the locker room with a 30-22 lead.

The Shockers shot 33 percent (10-for-30) from the field and 27 percent (3-for-11) from three-point range, while the Panthers shot 31 percent (8-for-26) from the field and 23 percent (3-for-13) from behind the arc.

VanVleet led all Shockers with 12 points in the first 20 minutes on 4-of-5 shooting, including 2-for-2 from three-point range.

Early hit two-straight three pointers to start the second half but Northern Iowa responded with a three at the 17:30 mark to cut the lead, 36-31.

The Panthers got within four, 43-39, on a pair of free throws but Cotton hit two straight jumpers to give the Shockers a 49-39 advantage with 10:29 left in the game, forcing Northern Iowa to call a timeout.

VanVleet made a layup at the 6:28 mark to extend the Shocker lead, 57-44, forcing yet another Panther timeout. Northern Iowa would make a layup with 4:57 left on the clock to make the score, 59-47 but Wichita State would hold the Panthers without a field goal until the 10 second mark and the Shockers would go on to win, 67-53.

The Shockers host Illinois State Wednesday, Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. inside Charles Koch Arena.

-WICHITA STATE-