by DAYTON, Ohio – No. 11 seed Wichita State dominated the second half in a resounding 70-50 win over No. 11 seed Vanderbilt to advance out of the First Four of the NCAA Tournament Tuesday night at UD Arena.
The Shockers move on to face No. 6 seed Arizona in the round of 64 of the South region, which will be in Providence, R.I. Wichita State and Arizona will meet at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on Thursday, March 17 at approximately 8:20 p.m. CDT.
Wichita State (25-8) collected its 25th win of the season for the seventh consecutive season and earned its eighth NCAA Tournament win over the last three seasons.
The two teams played an even first half, with the score tied 30-30 after 20 minutes, but only one team came out of the locker room. The Shockers outscored Vanderbilt (19-14) 40-20 after halftime and held the Commodores to only 30 percent shooting for the game.
Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker (Citizen Potawatomi) each scored a game-high 14 points, while VanVleet dished seven assists and Baker pulled down nine rebounds to lead WSU. Anton Grady scored nine of his 11 points in the first half to go with seven rebounds.
Conner Frankamp, Markis McDuffie and Rauno Nurger all contributed big minutes in the second half. McDuffie added seven points and seven rebounds, while Nurger got the start to begin the second half after Evan Wessel picked up three first half fouls.
Joe Toye scored all 10 of his points in the first half and Riley LaChance added 10 second half points to lead VU.
WSU went 0-for-5 from beyond the arc in the first half, but knocked down 7-of-14 in the second half. The Shockers shot 37 percent overall from the field. The Commodores were just 3-for-19 from outside, as they could never find a rhythm.
Despite holding a noticeable size advantage, Vanderbilt was outrebounded by WSU, 43-38.
A slow start out of the gate for both teams led to a low scoring first half, as WSU led 25-20 with 4:30 on the clock. Both teams held a lead by as many as five points in the first 20 minutes that also saw seven lead changes and seven ties.
A 10-0 Vanderbilt run put the Commodores back in front 30-25 with 1:25 left in the half, only to see WSU score the final five points of the half. The two squads didn’t play the most aesthetically pleasing first half, so it was only fitting that the halftime score was all tied up at 30.
Grady ignited the WSU offense with nine points off the bench. Baker and VanVleet added seven and six points, respectively. Toye led all scorers with 10 points for Vanderbilt, while Kornet had eight points and four boards.
Wichita State and Vanderbilt converted on nearly identical attempts from the field, as WSU hit 9-of-26 and Vandy just 9-of-24. The Shockers were 0-for-5 from beyond the arc, while the Commodores only 2-of-10.
The Shockers came out of the locker room looking to make a statement, and a statement they made. WSU blitzed the Commodores with an 8-0 run courtesy of Baker, VanVleet and a strong defensive presence inside from Nurger to force a VU timeout. Baker kick-started the run with a steal and breakaway bucket and then a three-pointer after a VanVleet trey.
Another VanVleet three-pointer out of the timeout bumped the WSU run to 11-0, giving the Shockers a 41-30 lead.
Following an alley-oop from VanVleet to Shaquille Morris that made it 47-38, Vandy scored five straight to cut the lead to four, leading to a Shocker timeout with 10:38 to go. Wichita State’s lead shrunk to one after a three-point play from Damian Jones, but a three-pointer from Zach Brown on the ensuing possession bumped it right back to a four-point game.
Back-to-back three-pointers from Frankamp and McDuffie extended Wichita State’s lead to nine, with five minutes left in the game. From there, Wichita State would never look back.
The Shockers took their largest lead to that point, 60-48, into the final media timeout after another three-ball from Frankamp. That lead would grow to 16 after Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings picked up a technical foul with 2:58 remaining.
A VanVleet three in the corner gave the Shockers their largest lead of the game and final score of 70-50.
