Postgame Interviews:
Marshall |
Nurger
WICHITA, Kan. – The stars are gone, but the new-look Shockers can still play a little defense. Wichita State held South Carolina State to 27 percent from the field and rolled to an 85-39 victory in Friday's season opener at Charles Koch Arena.
The Shockers (1-0) held an opponent under the 40-point mark only the ninth time in the shot clock era (1985-86 to present). Five of the nine have come under
Gregg Marshall.
WSU allowed just four first-half field goals in building a comfy 41-15 lead at the break. The final 46-point margin ranks as the 12th-most lopsided victory in school history and sixth-largest against an NCAA Division I opponent.
Rauno Nurger led the way with 14 points – one off of his career-high.
Rashard Kelly narrowly missed out on a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds, and
Markis McDuffie finished with 11 points and seven boards.
Shaquille Morris (8),
Darral Willis Jr. (8),
Zach Brown (7),
Landry Shamet (7) and
Austin Reaves (6) were all part of a balanced effort that produced 85 points on 47.6 percent shooting. All 16 Shockers played at least four minutes 12 of them contributed at least three points.
Reaves grabbed three steals and turned one of those into a crowd-pleasing transition dunk for his first collegiate points. He's the first newcomer in 20 years to tally three-or-more steals in his Shocker debut.
Frankamp and
Zach Brown shared the team-lead with four assists apiece and combined for just one turnover.
WSU owned nearly every category on the stat sheet, out-rebounding SCSU (0-1) 39-28. The Shocker bench combined to outscore the Bulldogs 54-6, and WSU held a 44-14 edge in the paint.
Greg Mortimer led the Bulldogs with 14 points, while Eric Eaves added 10.
The Shockers blitzed South Carolina State to begin the game on an 11-2 run and would stretch their lead to double-digits barely five minutes into the game.
A three-pointer in transition from Brown gave WSU a 26-8 lead at the 7:55 mark to force a Bulldog timeout.
SCSU made just three of its first 17 attempts from the field and 4-of-23 the entire first half. Both teams combined to shoot just 3-of-17 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.
During Wichita State's smothering attack to begin the game, eight different players scored with no player having more than five points at the 6-minute mark.
WSU's lead reached 41-15 at halftime behind 50 percent shooting from the field, despite going just 2-for-11 from long range. The Shockers dominated every aspect of the opening half. WSU outrebounded SC State by seven, forced 12 turnovers and outscored the Bulldogs in the paint, 16-2.
McDuffie, Kelly and
Landry Shamet each led the way with seven points at the break.
Morris opened the scoring after halftime with a powerful dunk inside and then another layup.
The Shockers continued to build their lead near the midway point of the second half. WSU led 62-23 on the heels of several highlight-worthy plays, capped by a monster putback slam from McDuffie. Back-to-back baskets plus the foul from Nurger and McDuffie spurred a 15-3 run.
A steal and breakaway slam followed by a three-pointer all from Reaves sent the fans into a frenzy and gave the Shockers a 67-26 lead with less than nine minutes to play.
Wichita State's lead reached the 40-point mark with six minutes to go and the largest coming at the 2:18 mark when WSU led 84-35.
John Robert Simon,
Brett Barney and
Eric Hamilton all recorded buckets in the last few minutes.
Up Next:
The Shockers open with two games in less than 48 hours. Friday night's 8:30 p.m. tip is followed by a 7 p.m. Sunday matchup against Long Beach State. The latter was a late schedule add and is considered a fourth, non-bracketed game in the upcoming Battle 4 Atlantis.
Also Notable:
*WSU opened with a victory for the 15
th consecutive year and upped its streak of wins in home openers to 21.
*The Shockers won their 38
th consecutive non-conference home game (the nation's second-longest active streak) and improved to 55-1 in home non-conference regular season games since November, 2008.
*There will be no Shocker redshirts in 2016-17. All 16 players saw at least four minutes of action Friday night.
*The 46-point win was also the largest by a Shocker team in a season opener in 97 years. (On January 13, 1920, WSU (then known as Fairmount College) rolled over Sterling College, 69-18.)
* Reaves became the first Shocker newcomer in 20 years and the first freshman in 21 years to come away with at least three steals in his debut. (Roosevelt Overstreet, a junior college transfer, opened with three against SMSU in 1996, and Marvin Hill kicked off his freshman year with three vs. Utah State).
Postgame Quotables:
ZACH BROWN ON…
… The team's defensive performance
"We go to war every single day on defense. For years and years, our whole game has been defense and rebounding. We make sure that we have everything right and everything together because that is an excellent team driving to the bucket. They have some great shooters, so we made sure that we were prepared for everything that they threw at us."
Leading the charge on defense…
"It is not only our job, it is everybody's job. We hold everybody accountable through every stretch of the game, through every drive, through every play. We have to make sure that we are doing everything that we need to do, and doing all of the little things that got us to where we have been at these last couple years."
… The benefits of a game like this where everyone on the roster gets to play and contribute
"I say it is very encouraging for everybody. It is very reassuring for all of us, that we have guys that could come in and give the same amount of effort and have no drop off from the first starting five. That is one thing that we also hang our hat on is being able to come in and do everything that we need to do to continue to have the same mental intensity that we have had since the start of the game. As you can see from the score, the highest scoring guy was Rauno, (Nurger) and that is only 14 points, and we had 85, so that just says a lot about our ball distribution, and the amount of people that are able to get good quality shots."
MARKIS McDUFFIE ON…
… The difference between tonight's defensive performance and the one from last Saturday
"We have just been working hard. An exhibition game does not count, we are still working. We still have things to do, and we still have things to work on, and that's what an exhibition game is for. Now, coming up to this first game, we had to make sure that we had everything down, the defense, the rebounding, trying not to turn the ball over as much."
… A quick turnaround before Sunday's game.
"It is very exciting. We got a big win to start. We knew coming into this game, we had a tough matchup. Coming into this game, we did not expect to win by this much. We expected it to be a close game, but considering how hard we played and how focused we were mentally, we kind of caused this. This definitely motivates us for the next game."
… On Austin Reaves' dunk and whether or not he saw it coming.
"Uh, yeah. He can jump."
RAUNO NURGER ON…
… Attacking the zone defense
"We knew that in their zone, the middle was kind of open, so our goal was to get the ball in the middle. Everytime we got the ball in the middle today, it seemed like we got layups, and that got us going."
GREGG MARSHALL ON...
… On the win tonight
"It was a nice victory against a pretty good team - a team that won 19 games and has four starters back. I'm proud of our guys, the way we competed, the way we rebounded on both ends, and the way we shared and took care of the basketball. Overall, I'm pleased [with the result] against a team that will more than likely have a great shot at winning their league."
… On the defense playing like it did for long stretches of time
"We've been spending a lot of time, countless hours of defensive drills. There isn't lack of athletic talent nor will to win. It was just a lack of know how and actually showing it for forty minutes. "
… On Rashard Kelly's performance
"I loved the fact that he was very aggressive. He was a man on the defensive glass and he does a wonderful job of running our stuff. I thought he was really good. I like when he is aggressive, taking the ball to the basket and knocking down the open shot. "
… On what he saw from Connor Frankamp tonight
"His defense is continually getting better. He had four assists and one turnover. He runs our stuff and is really communicating well with the bench. Neither he nor Daishon were able to get a basket to go down, but I thought they were both effective in their own way. Seven assists and one turnover, and we won by 46. You judge a point guard by wins and losses, so right now they are 1-0."
…On which player has really stood out on the defensive side recently
"I think all of them have. Its hard to spend as much time and spend as much emphasis and go as hard as we do as many days as we have, without improving. You would literally have to just not participate or slosh your way through it and that's not going to happen. "
