Box Score |
Box Score (PDF)LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Despite 25 points from
Ron Baker –- one shy of his career high -- and a breakout performance by freshman forward
Markis McDuffie, No. 20 Wichita State fell 72-69 to Southern California, Thursday afternoon at HP Field House in quarterfinal action of the AdvoCare Invitational.
Baker matched his career-high with six three-pointers on 10 attempts and added five assists, four rebounds and a pair of steals. He also set a new personal-mark for field goal attempts, finishing 8-for-20 overall.
McDuffie -- who had scored a combined five points in the Shockers' three previous games – played a season-high 22 minutes and ended with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting (2-of-3 from beyond the arc). He also provided energy on the defensive end with four steals.
Bennie Boatwright went 5-for-9 from three-point range for a team-high 22 points to lead USC (5-0), and Nikola Jovanovic finished with a double-double at 14 points and 11 rebounds. Julian Jacobs dished out nine assists.
WSU (2-2) meets Alabama (2-2) in a Noon ET (11:00 a.m. CT) consolation semifinal on ESPN3.
WSU nearly pulled off a stunning comeback in the closing seconds, hacking a seven-point USC lead to two in a span of just seven ticks of the clock.
Anton Grady scored on a layup with 10 seconds to play in the game, the Shocker press forced a steal, and Baker connected on a three-pointer with just under 0:03 showing to make it a 71-69 game.
WSU fouled, and Julian Jacobs split a pair of free throws to make it a 72-69 USC lead with 2.1 seconds left.
Zach Brown got a long but makeable look from three that would have sent the game to overtime, but it glanced off the front iron, preserving the win for the Trojans.
The Shockers were outshot 45.5 percent to 35.1 percent from the field. They held USC to just 18 points in the paint but had difficulty containing the athletic Trojans on the perimeter.
USC connected on 12-of-23 three-point attempts (.522). WSU countered with nine treys but needed 29 attempts (.310).
WSU survived some of the shooting imbalance by collecting 19 offensive rebounds and forcing 23 Trojan turnovers. As a result, they tallied 74 field goal attempts to just 55 for USC.
Grady and
Rashard Kelly shared the team lead with seven rebounds each, and the teams finished even on the boards at 42-42.
WSU fell into an early 12-5 hole some six-minutes in and spent the majority of the first half trying to dig itself out. Malik Martin's three-pointer made it a 25-17 USC lead with 7:48 to play in the half.
The Shockers followed with their first big run, helped by a USC field goal drought that stretched for nearly six minutes.
Evan Wessel drove baseline and scored on a floater. Baker followed with a steal and fed McDuffie for a transition layup. McDuffie forced another that turned into points via a Baker free throw.
Ty Taylor II's drive tied the game at 26 with 3:06 to play in the half and capped a 9-1 Shocker run.
McDuffie drilled a triple with 1:32 to go, giving the Shockers their first lead of the day at 29-28, though USC would eventually regain the lead (30-29) heading into halftime.
WSU and USC traded bellows in the opening possessions of the second half with four lead changes in less than three minutes. Baker connected on a couple of threes, but USC built the margin back up to half a dozen with 14:55 remaining in the game.
The Shockers countered with a 12-0 run over the next two-and-a-half minutes to build a six-point lead of their own. Baker and McDuffie teamed up for all 12 points.
McDuffie's corner trey made it a 46-43 Shocker lead, and Baker upped it to 49-43 with 12:43 left on a three of his own.
USC, however, chipped away with seven-straight points in what turned into a 12-2 spurt and eventually a 61-54 advantage at the 6:58 mark.
In response, the Shockers pounded the ball inside with Kelly converting two free throws and Grady and Wamukota each scoring in the post to cut it to 61-60 with 4:55 left.
Boatright connected on a consecutive three-pointers, and Kevin Reinhardt added one more for USC to deal a seemingly fatal blow at 70-62 with 1:19 remaining.
WSU made its final push before the buzzer but came up short.
-Wichita State-
POSTGAME QUOTES:USC head coach Andy Enfield"This tournament's outstanding with eight good teams. They have eight really good teams here at this tournament, it's as good as I've seen it. We have tremendous guard play right now, our bigs are running the floor, rebounding. We're playing up-tempo. We were averaging 92 points a game coming in here, we had 72 tonight against Wichita State. That's like 92 against most teams, they're so good defensively and so physical. We're trying to spread the floor, it always helps when you have guys who can shoot the basketball. When you can spread the floor like that and push the tempo – this guy to my right, Jordan McLaughlin, has just been amazing all season after sitting out for eight months. Jordan and Julian Jacobs are catalysts for our transition game because they're just great at finding people. We had great ball movement, especially in the second half, we made those 3's to take the lead, so it's really a credit to our team how they play together within that system."
On having an answer for WSU, even during the 12-0 run"We're maturing as a basketball team. Last year we were the youngest team in the country in the Power 5 conferences, and we played like it. Those runs last year would result in a 10-point loss. This year, we're a better basketball team, we're more experienced and we understand it's a game of runs, and we're figuring out how to win close games. We didn't play great today offensively – we had 23 turnovers – but we competed. We competed on both ends of the floor. Our defense was outstanding … we rebounded when we had to. I was just very, very proud of the competitive spirit. To withstand a run from a top-20 team in the country."
On WSU guard Ron Baker (25 points, 39 minutes)"Baker's an All-American for a reason. He's just such a smart player. Tough. Our goal was to trap him on all ball screens. He shot over us a few times and made some exceptionally tough shots. … I couldn't believe a couple of those that went in, but that's why he's an All-American. … So yeah, our game plan was to get them out of his hands, after scoring 25 points against us I guess we did a great job of it."
F Bennie Boatwright"We are all in as a team. We work on it every day in practice, we go hard. Our intensity is just like that every day in practice, so we were prepared for it."
G Jordan McLaughlin"Last year, it was a steppingstone for us. We lost a lot of those games in the end. Other teams would go on runs and we would get down on ourselves because of the inexperience but the experience from last year helped us a lot for this year."
Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall"Unfortunately, we came up front rim on a shot to tie the game. When you shoot it the way we did, and they shoot the way they did, we're going to need to do the little things better, which we did not do. … I think we knew we were playing a very talented team. And obviously, we're wounded at this point, and we played with a lot of toughness and energy and passion, and the things that we needed to do to be successful, especially now."
"I thought it was a lot of good athletes out there. They just shot it so well – which we knew they would. They've got a lot of weapons. The guys you're putting out there – Tyrone Taylor made a few rushed shots. He should be playing a little bit, he shouldn't be playing 18 minutes. Probably should be playing six to eight minutes. But he's going to play 18 minutes until we figure this thing out and get some reinforcements."
G Ron Baker"I feel like we controlled the game, for the most part. I know that we turned them over close to 20 times. Our defense was great. I think we could've rebounded better on the defensive end and made some shots, and that's the difference in the game right there."
"We've just got to capitalize on our runs. We made some nice runs during the game. We let up defensively. When Coach says 'the little things' he's talking about being in the right position on defense. Getting those defensive rebounds, don't allow the offense to get second-chance points, take care of the ball, just little things that can help you as a player."
On stepping up in Fred VanVleet's absence"The young guys, they're kind of going into a battle without a sword, so I'm trying to encourage them, Coach is challenging them. I'm trying to put good words in their mind to have the confidence to be out there. Tyrone, he didn't shoot it as well as he wanted to tonight, but I thought he did pretty good on the defensive end, and he ran our team fairly well for being a freshman. And that's just growing up."
"I just take it one game at a time. I understand the position I'm in. I just try to be vocal on the court, run the team, make sure everyone's on the same page, just like the point guard for this team usually does. It's hard to be
Fred VanVleet out there. I'm not him. I'm not trying … I'm trying my best to be him, because he's a very good point guard and leader. We've just got to change, change tomorrow. We've got some guys that need to step up still, and some guys like Markis (McDuffie) that can bring the energy and effort tomorrow, and just try and get this win. We just need to get back to what we do, and that's winning."
