by OMAHA, Neb. – Behind a career-high tying 27 points from Fred VanVleet, the No. 7 seeded Wichita State Shockers fought past the No. 10 seed Indiana Hoosiers, 81-76 on Friday, March 20 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the CenturyLink Center.
The win sets up the much-anticipated matchup with No. 2 seed and fellow Sunflower State foe, Kansas, on Sunday for the right to march on to the Sweet 16. The two programs haven’t met on the hardwood since the early 1990s.
Needing only nine points coming into the game, VanVleet got that and then some to surpass the 1,000-point mark for his Shocker career on a basket midway through the first half. He became the third Shocker this season to join the 1,000-point club along with Ron Baker and Tekele Cotton. It is the first time in WSU history that three different players joined the club in one season.
Aside from his 27 points, the junior point guard added four assists, two rebounds and two steals, while shooting 9-of-18 from the field and 9-for-10 from the free throw line.
Ron Baker (Citizen Band Potawatomi) added 15 points, five rebounds and five steals, while freshman Zach Brown tallied a career-high 11 points to go with eight rebounds off the bench.
Yogi Ferrell led Indiana with 24 points on 7-of-15 shooting and 4-of-6 from downtown. James Blackmon, Jr. added 14 points, while Troy Williams and Collin Hartman each added 11.
WSU shot 41 percent (25-for-61) from the field, but went just 2-for-13 from behind the arc. On a day when the shots weren’t falling from the outside, the Shockers converted at the free throw line by shooting 29-for-34 (85 percent).
Indiana shot 40 percent (24-for-59) from the field, including 50 percent (11-for-22) from 3-point range. After turning the ball over only four times in the first half, the WSU defense forced nine IU turnovers in the second half.
The Shockers dominated the paint, outscoring IU 44-24, while also winning the rebound battle, 39-37.
Trailing 47-42, the Shockers used an 8-0 run to take a 50-47 lead, their first lead since early in the first half. Indiana would regain the lead after a 7-0 run, but the Shockers responded with their own 9-0 run to lead 61-57.
Wichita State grabbed its largest lead of the game to that point, 63-57, after Zach Brown leaked out for an uncontested dunk forcing an IU timeout at the 8:16 mark.
Leading 72-65 with 3:56 to go, the Hoosiers would get back-to-back 3-pointers from Ferrell and Hartman to cut the lead to one, 72-71. After Baker hit a pair of free throws to put WSU up 76-72 with 1:20 to go, Indiana’s Robert Johnson scored inside to again cut the lead to two, 76-74.
After the two teams traded baskets and free throws down the stretch, WSU shut the door after Baker hit 1-of-2 free throws to give WSU an 81-76 lead. The Hoosiers couldn’t answer on what turned out to be their final possession.
It was a one-man show in the first half for the Shockers, as VanVleet led all scorers with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 7-for-8 from the free throw line. Baker grabbed a team-best five rebounds in the half.
Ferrell led the Hoosiers with 15 points after shooting 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. Collin Hartman and James Blackmon, Jr. added eight and six first half points, respectively.
As a team, WSU shot 39.3 percent (11-for-28) from the field, but were just 1-for-8 from behind the 3-point line. Indiana shot just 38.2 percent from the field, but knocked down 6-of-13 from 3-point range.
Ferrell gave Indiana an 18-12 lead midway through the first half on his third 3-point basket of the half. The Shockers responded by tying it up at 23 on 3 from Zach Brown in the corner, but five quick points put Indiana back in front, 28-23.
The Shockers had a hard time getting baskets to go down other than VanVleet in the first half. To close out the half VanVleet scored eight of the last 10 points. The rest of the team was just 5-for-16 from the field in the first 20 minutes.
The Hoosiers led by as many as eight points in the first half en route to a 39-36 lead at halftime.
