WICHITA, Kan.- Tekele Cotton scored 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting and Fred VanVleet tied a school record with seven steals to lead the Wichita State men's basketball team past New Mexico State 71-54 on Friday night inside Charles Koch Arena.

Ron Baker added 17 points and five rebounds. VanVleet scored six points, pulled down five rebounds and had seven steals, matching the record set by Cotton and three others.

Cotton began the scoring for Wichita State with a steal and dunk to give the Shockers their first points of the season. A dunk by Baker and a VanVleet steal and layup in transition stretched the Wichita State lead to 10-4 at the 15:34 mark.

The Wichita State defense hounded the Aggies, as the Shockers forced a New Mexico State shot clock violation with 14:55 remaining in the half. Later, Holland continued to force the issue, connecting on a layup in transition off an assist from VanVleet to put the Shocker lead at 12-7 with just more than 12 minutes remaining.

Cotton then went on a 6-0 run to fuel Wichita State, hitting three-straight buckets, capped by a two-point jumper at the left-elbow to give the Shockers a 20-9 advantage with 9:43 remaining in the half.

Six minutes later, Baker carried the ball the length of the floor and hit a runner in the lane to put his team up 34-17. Then, Baker's pull-up two-point jumper gave Wichita State a 38-21 lead going into the locker room.

The Shockers shot 17-for-30 (.567) in the first 20 minutes and forced 12 Aggie turnovers. Cotton and Baker scored 10 points each to lead the scoring. Cotton was 5-of-9 from the floor, while Baker was 4-for-8.

Baker hit a fade-away two-point jumper to begin the second half for Wichita State and Darius Carter's tip-in put the Shockers up 44-23 with 16:41 remaining in the game.

Shaquille Morris drove into the lane and put in a reverse layup that gave Wichita State a 24-point advantage, 53-29, at the 13:17 mark. Four minutes later, Rashard Kelly followed a missed transition layup with a dunk to keep the Shockers ahead, 61-38.

The teams traded basket for the rest of the half, as Wichita State went on to win, 71-54.

Wichita State shot 31-for-63 (.492) for the game and held New Mexico State to 16-of-40 (.400) shooting. The Shocker out rebounded the Aggies 37-32, out-scored them 50-12 in the paint and forced 20 turnovers.

The Shockers will now hit the road and head to Sioux Falls, S.D. for a game against Memphis on Tue., Nov. 18. Tip is set for 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN.

Notes:

*WSU saw a streak of 267 consecutive games with at least one three-pointer come to an end with an 0-for-11 performance. The last time the Shockers went an entire game without connecting was Dec. 19, 2006 (the season prior to Gregg Marshall's arrival) in a 74-65 win over Kennesaw State.

*The Shockers took a 15-14 lead in the all-time series with New Mexico State (although this was the first meeting between the two schools since 1983).

*VanVleet became the fifth player in WSU history to record seven steals in a game, joining his teammate Cotton, who did it last February against Drake. Ernie Moore (1963), Cheese Johnson (1978) and Robert George (1992) round out the group.

*WSU improved the nation's longest regular season winning streak to 32 games and has now won 18 in a row at home. The Shockers have also won 17 straight November games.

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-WICHITA STATE-