The RoundHouse | 12/1/2018 10:36:00 PM

 
The rewards of playing tough defense – defense the way Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall wants it played – started to hit home for the Shockers against Rice. Saturday against Baylor, the Shockers backed that effort up with a dominant first half on their way to a 71-63 win over Baylor at Koch Arena.
 
It reminded Wichita State senior Markis McDuffie of the Shockers of his freshman and sophomore seasons. Those teams could win with defense and often did. Last season's Shockers, on their way to earning a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament – departed from that identity. 
 
The Shockers (4-3) led Baylor 44-15 at halftime after holding the Bears to six baskets and forcing nine turnovers. The Shockers, much like they did against Rice, forced Baylor into guarded shots and bad passes by physically overwhelming ball-handlers. They deflected passes, harassed dribblers into poor decisions and awkward shots and refused to let the Bears do anything without resistance.
 
Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker would have recognized the effort, like McDuffie did.
 
"It reminded me of my freshman year . . . when we used to grind, we were gritty," McDuffie said. "Every single possession, we were just locked in."
 
Baylor coach Scott Drew had to call timeout down 10-0 after four missed shots and four turnovers. He had to call timeout again – trying to calm a revved-up crowd and his team – down 31-6. 
 
"First road games are usually tough, and they're extremely tough on young teams," Drew said. "When things start to snowball with a young team, that's not a good thing."
 
Things flipped in many ways in the second half. Baylor steadied itself. The Shockers eased up enough to let the game tighten.
 
Baylor cut the lead to 60-55 with 347 to play and 65-59 with 1:34 to play. That forced the Shockers to execute and make shots with pressure on them. They did enough – Erik Stevenson scored on an inbound play, Samajae Haynes-Jones recorded a three-point play to push the lead to 65-55 with 2:16 to play.
 
Blowouts are great. This is also a team that needs to learn, so the drop-off in the second half might teach the Shockers some lessons. Marshall chose to look at it that way. He wasn't sure when the Shockers throttled back their focus, but he will look for it on video and use that as a teaching point.
 
"We didn't lose a game, but there's a lot I'll be able to talk about," he said. "It's the perfect scenario for me."
 
It doesn't take much to give a good opponent life. The Shockers, Marshall said, took some bad shots, went to one-on-one play and got loose with the basketball in the second half. In a blink, the momentum switched.
 
"It's such a fine line, especially with a young team," he said. "Baylor played very well. They were uber aggressive, they were driving it, they were pounding the glass."
 
Most of the fans who came to Saturday's game entered the arena past the Dave Stallworth statue unveiled earlier that day.
 
Stallworth's All-American career changed Wichita State basketball, lifting the Shockers to a national profile they didn't previously enjoy while playing in the Missouri Valley Conference when it reigned as one of the nation's top conferences.
 
His teammates want you think more about Stallworth's friendly personality and humility when you pass by the statue. That, they believe, should be a significant part of his legacy. Teammate Dave Leach asked the crowd to think about their relationships with other people when they look at the statue. Treating people with kindness and respect, Leach said, would bring a smile to Stallworth.
 
"It's a wonderful privilege for us to honor Dave," Leach said at halftime. "He was a great teammate. He was also a great guy off the floor and a great citizen for this community. Dave treated everyone as equals."
 
As Wichita State athletic director Darron Boatright pointed out during the morning ceremony, the accomplishments of the early 1960s Shockers – peaking with the 1965 Final Four – also rang out off the court. They bonded during a turbulent time. Wichita State, and other Valley schools, recruited and played black athletes at a time when other conferences and schools, particularly in the south, did not.
 
The 1965 Shockers played a role in moving basketball forward in many ways.
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.