Box Score |
Box Score (PDF) |
Photo Gallery |
Postgame Interviews WICHITA, Kan. – Gregg Marshall became the Shockers all-time coaching wins leader, surpassing hall of famer Ralph Miller, and No. 21/22 Wichita State took care of Southern Illinois, 76-55, Wednesday night to stretch its Missouri Valley Conference lead to four games with seven to play.
A night of milestone achievements also included the program's 1,500
th victory. Marshall (221-81 in nine seasons at WSU) and Miller (220-133 in 13 seasons from 1951-64) have combined for over a quarter of them.
In addition,
Evan Wessel became just the fourth player in Shocker history to record 100 wins (joining
Fred VanVleet).
WSU (17-5, 11-0 MVC) won its 12
th-straight and extended the nation's longest active home winning streak to 43-games by sweeping the Salukis (18-6, 7-4 MVC) for the fifth time in the last seven years.
VanVleet collected a double-double with 12 points and 11 assists (matching his career-high). He added four steals and committed just two turnovers in 27 minutes, while hitting 3-of-5 three-point attempts.
Shaquille Morris scored a team-high 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting to go with four boards and three blocks.
A total of eight Shockers contributed at least six points.
Anton Grady added 10 points on an efficient 5-of-6 shooting, while
Ron Baker chipped in nine and a team-best eight rebounds.
WSU shot 48 percent from the field and converted on 9-of-20 attempts from downtown.
The Shockers entered the night having outrebounded seven-straight opponents, with six of those by double-figures, but SIU turned the tables with a 48-31 advantage, marking the first time seven years that a Marshall team has been outrebounded by 10-or-more. (SIU won the rebounding battle 31-21 on Jan. 7, 2009).
The Shockers atoned by forcing 22 SIU turnovers and held the Salukis to only 30.6 percent from the field. SIU was just 6-for-23 from three and 11-for-19 from the free throw line, as well.
Anthony Beane scored 10 of the first 12 Saluki points, on his way to a game-high 20. He was just 6-for-17 from the field and 3-of-9 from deep. Bola Olaniyan grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds to go with seven points. Nine of his 16 boards were on the offensive end.
Barely a minute into the second half the Shockers increased their nine-point halftime lead into a 14-point cushion that forced an SIU timeout. Wessel drained a corner three and Morris converted a layup during the quick five-point spurt.
The Shockers' lead reached 19 at the 14:11 mark following back-to-back buckets by Grady. SIU crept back within 15, but consecutive three-pointers from Wessel and VanVleet gave WSU its largest lead of the game to that point, 64-42, with 7:48 remaining.
Eric Hamilton and
John Robert Simon got in on the scoring action late in the game to put the Shockers ahead 76-50.
To start the game, Baker knocked down a jumper from the top of the key sandwiched between two Morris baskets to give WSU a 6-0 lead. Beane responded to score 10 of SIU's first 12 points to keep the Salukis in it near the midway point of the half, as the Shockers led by just one, 18-17.
At the 8:41 mark, WSU still held just a one point lead, but would go on a 9-0 run in just a little under four minutes to go up 29-19.
A
Markis McDuffie three-pointer with 40 seconds left had the Shockers up by 11, but Beane would answer with a trey of his own right before half.
Wichita State's 37-28 halftime lead came on 48 percent shooting from the field and nine first half points from Morris. VanVleet added five points and seven assists and Baker pulled down seven boards in the first 20 minutes.
SIU managed to shoot just 37 percent from the floor and committed nine turnovers. Without Beane's 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting, the Salukis scored only 13 points on 6-of-20 field goal attempts. Southern Illinois did outrebounded WSU, 20-17, in the first half.
Up NextThe Shockers hit the road for two games in four days, beginning with Saturday night's 9 p.m. CT tip at Illinois State on ESPN2.
-Wichita State-
GREGG MARSHALL ON... …Defensive planning against top scorers like Anthony Beane"We've got guys that are committed to trying to stop them. We certainly focus on these guys and have a great deal of respect for them as players and scorers especially. We send multiple guys at them. It used to be
Tekele Cotton and
Ron Baker, and now it's
Markis McDuffie and
Zach Brown. They split 40 minutes tonight evenly and used their athleticism and length to their advantage…You can't stop them, you just try to contain them…I thought our guys did a good job on that."? ?
…Morris and Grady's post performance "That was an emphasis at halftime. I thought Shaq Morris did a wonderful job and
Anton Grady followed that up. I think they were 7-for-9 at the half, so the emphasis was to go back inside to those guys. They got really deep post position and they (Southern Illinois) elected not to double down in the post…They were one-on-one in the post and our guys did a good job of getting the ball in the basket when they got their post touches."? ?
…On what it means to be WSU's all-time wins leader"It just means that you've been coaching a long time, and had a lot of great [assistant] coaches and a lot of great players. To equal a legend in Coach Miller - a guy who captivated this city and made basketball important…He struggled his first year, as did I. With great defense, tenacity, and sound basketball from all I've been told, he left in '64 with 220 wins and left it better than he found it…with a Final Four team."
FRED VANVLEET ON… …Being part of Gregg Marshall breaking the all-time coaching wins record"[He] goes to work everyday, spends countless hours with young men, being away from your family, and traveling. For that guy, who didn't have a coaching tree to come up out of and just made it out on his own, for him to pass that milestone tonight here at Wichita State is a huge accomplishment. It's a special moment. He probably won't say it or acknowledge it much, but we all know how much it means to him. [We're] happy to be a part of it."
…Taking SIU out of its offensive rhythm"That's kind of what they do…they've got [Anthony Beane], who scores a lot of their points, so most of the time the ball is in his hands. I'm not sure what their average is for assists [per game], but seven is probably a low number for them. A seven-to-22 assist-turnover ratio is good for us. I know we got beat on the glass, but to force them into that ratio was obviously helpful for us."
…How the team feels defensively when guarding a talented scorer like Beane"I'm sure for the guys who guard them, like Zach [Brown], Markis [McDuffie], and Ron [Baker], they take it personally. For me, I just try to help as much as possible. If I get the chance to guard them, I know I take it personally. It takes more than one guy to guard those types of player that can take 20 shots a game and have the ball in their hands a majority of the time. You know eventually they're going to get their points, you just have to make it tough on them. [Beane] went six-for-17 with 20 points, no assists, and five turnovers. We'll take it."
SHAQUILLE MORRIS & ANTON GRADY ON… …Their success scoring in the post tonight… Anton: "Our guards were doing a really great job of penetrating and dropping the ball off to us. They looked down in the post, and Shaq and I were able to make moves and have success down on the low block tonight."
Shaq: "I'd have to agree. I have to give all the credit to our guards. We're not the ones bringing up the ball. Pounding the ball inside is something we both like, and we just tried to finish."
