Shocker Radio Postgame: Marshall | Brown

WICHITA, Kan. – A matchup billed as the potential "game of the year" in the Missouri Valley Conference regular season didn't turn out to be much of one.
 
Wichita State rolled to an 86-45 win over Illinois State, Saturday evening at Charles Koch Arena, to avenge its lone conference loss and reclaim a share of first-place in the standings.
 
Up 22-20 with six minutes to play in the first half, WSU (21-4, 11-1 MVC) outscored the visiting Redbirds 35-4 over the next 12 minutes of action to pull away.
 
Conner Frankamp scored a career-high 18 points, hitting 4-of-6 from three. Markis McDuffie added 16, and Shaquille Morris tallied his third double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Zach Brown added 10 points and teamed with McDuffie to limit ISU's Paris Lee to four points on 2-of-11 from the field.
 
WSU posted the most lopsided win in series history (41 points) and looked like an entirely different team than the one that fell by 14 at Redbird Arena three weeks ago.
 
The 55-point swing between games was WSU's largest ever in a Valley home-and-home, topping the previous record of 49, set by the 1972-73 Shockers, who lost by seven points at West Texas State but beat the Aggies a week later in Wichita by 42 (103-61). In 1955, the Shockers lost by 21 in Peoria but won the rematch by 27 at WU Fieldhouse (+48).



ISU came into the night ranked fourth nationally in field goal percentage defense (.371). No Redbird opponent had shot better than 47 percent in a game and no MVC team had fared better than 42 percent.
 
Yet, the Shockers – who flailed their way to 62 points on 35 percent shooting in Normal – put up 86 points on 56.6 percent shooting in the rematch (both season-highs for an ISU foe).
 
WSU shot over 73 percent in the second half (19-of-26).
 
Illinois State (19-5, 11-1 MVC) struggled without starter MiKyle McIntosh, who missed his second straight game due to injury. The Redbirds scored a season-low 45 points on 33 percent from the field and finished with 19 turnovers.
 
No Redbird player reached double-figures. Phile Fayne led ISU with nine points.
 
ISU shooting woes included an 0-for-10 stretch in the first half, during which it went over five minutes without scoring.
 
The drought ended what had been a back-and-forth struggle by enabling an 11-0 Shocker run. McDuffie's tip dunk, a Frankamp three-pointer and two technical free throws helped give WSU its first double-digit lead.
 
Frankamp closed the half with a team-high 13 points – which doubled as the Shockers' halftime margin, 35-22.
 
WSU picked up right where it left off in the second half with a 22-2 run out of the gate.
 
Baskets from Darral Willis Jr. and Brown put WSU up 39-22. A Morris jumper then made it 41-22, and added a dunk on the next trip down.
 
Three-pointers from Brown, Landry Shamet, Frankamp and Kelly all dropped over a stretch of less than three minutes to make it a 57-24 game.
 
Another mini-run midway through the half stretched the lead past 30. McDuffie drove for a reverse layup and then dunked the next time down. Willis knocked down a shot at the 9:05-mark to make it 68-32.
 
The Redbirds found their shoot touch briefly but struggled to contain WSU's bench players in the closing minutes. 12 different Shockers scored, including Eric Hamilton, John Robert Simon and C.J. Keyser.
 
Keyser's first collegiate dunk – and the team's sixth dunk of the night – came on a baseline inbound lob from Simon. That gave WSU its biggest lead of the night at 44.
 
Up Next:
Wichita State hosts Missouri State Thursday, Feb. 9 on CBS Sports Network with the game set to tip off at 8 p.m. CT.

Follow the Shockers
Download the official mobile app of Wichita State Athletics – Go Shockers. Now, you can stay in touch with the Shockers anytime, anywhere, on your Android or iOS mobile device.

Sign up now for the new and improved Shocker Mail. Get weekly updates on promotions, tickets, events and everything else Wichita State Athletics delivered straight to your inbox.