Postgame Quotes |  Notes | 

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – No. 21/22 Wichita State's performance in Sunday's Missouri Valley Conference championship game left no room for doubt. With a 71-51 win in the rubber match against regular season co-champion Illinois State, the Shockers secured bragging rights and silenced any NCAA Tournament bubble talk by claiming the league's automatic bid.
 
WSU (30-4) reached the 30-win mark for the fourth time in five seasons and will dance for a sixth-straight year, tying Cincinnati's MVC record for consecutive appearances.
 
The Shockers claimed the MVC Tournament crown for the fourth time in program history and for just the second time since the event moved to St. Louis in 1991.
 
Conner Frankamp earned Most Outstanding Player honors after scoring a career-high 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Frankamp averaged 15.3 points in WSU's three tournament games, while hitting 11-of-22 three-point attempts.
 
Landry Shamet scored 14 points and joined Frankamp on the all-tournament squad.
 
Markis McDuffie added 16 points, helped by a perfect 11-for-11 shooting night from the charity stripe.
 
Paris Lee led the Redbirds (27-6) with 18 points, and MiKyle McIntosh added 16 points and seven rebounds.
 
The Shocker defense held Illinois State to a paltry 29 percent shooting, including a 6-of-28 mark from three. WSU shot 38 percent overall, while knocking down 7-of-16 from behind the line. For the second game in a row, WSU was impressive at the free throw line, going 26-of-37.
 


Right out of the gate Wichita State was on a mission. The Shockers sprinted out to a 10-2 lead to force an Illinois State timeout just 3:30 into the game. Three-pointers from Frankamp and Shamet keyed the start.
 
After WSU upped its lead to nine, Illinois State brought it back to within four before another Shocker spurt made it 22-14 with 7:30 to play in the half.
 
Frankamp's third three-pointer of the half put the Shockers back in front by nine and then a tip-in from Darral Willis Jr. gave Wichita State its largest lead of the half, 33-22, with less than two minutes until the break.
 
A Paris Lee three-pointer with 25 seconds remaining cut the Shockers' halftime lead to eight, 33-25. Frankamp led all players with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
 
Wichita State made 40 percent of its shots in the half compared to Illinois State's 35 percent. Both teams converted on 4-of-12 attempts from beyond the arc.
 
The first five points of the second half belonged to the Shockers courtesy of a Shamet triple and bucket in the paint from Willis Jr. to extend the WSU lead to 13. Over the next 10 minutes the two teams traded baskets to help the Shockers maintain a double-digit lead.
 
WSU started to pull away after an 8-0 run built all from the free throw line gave the Shockers a 54-37 lead with just under 10 minutes to play. Wichita State's drought from the field spanned more than six minutes without a field goal, but the Redbirds couldn't make up any ground due to their own struggles from the field.
 
A Shamet floater as the shot clock expired snapped the field goal drought and gave WSU a 17-point lead with 5:10 to play. On the next offensive possession a technical foul on Illinois State's Deontae Hawkins sent the Shockers to the free throw line for four free throws. After making the first three, Shaquille Morris came down with the offensive rebound and kick out to McDuffie for a dagger three to put WSU up 67-44.
 
At the final media timeout the Shockers held a 69-51 lead. With 1:46 to go, another Illinois State technical upped WSU's lead to 20, 71-51, which would turn out to be the final tally.

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