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Wichita State earns a win to savor against Kansas
To understand how Wichita State toppled second-seeded Kansas and earned in-state bragging rights for years to come, you only need to watch one sequence from Sunday's hotly anticipated NCAA tournament clash.
The Jayhawks already trailed by nine points midway through the second half when Wichita State freshman forward Zach Brown deflected a Frank Mason pass and tipped it into the frontcourt. All the urgency should have been with Kansas considering the deficit it already faced, yet Brown outraced Kelly Oubre to the ball, attacked the rim and threw down a two-handed transition slam.
No play better sums up why seventh-seeded Wichita State claimed a 78-65 victory over Kansas than that one does. The Shockers may not have the size and strength in the paint that the Jayhawks do or a roster full of former McDonald's All-Americans, but they played Sunday's game like the outcome mattered more to them.
Wichita State's victory was meaningful to its program for more reasons than merely just securing a spot in the Sweet 16 against third-seeded Notre Dame or keeping alive the possibility of a rematch with Kentucky. Sunday's win also served as revenge against Kansas for its unwillingness to schedule the Shockers since 1993.
Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall has tried to publicly goad Kansas into agreeing to a home-and-home series for the past couple years to no avail. Kansas coach Bill Self feels his program has nothing to gain by deviating from his longstanding policy of not scheduling the Shockers even as they have ascended from quality mid-major to budding national power.
Two years ago, ninth-seeded Wichita State stunned Gonzaga and Ohio State en route to one of the most improbable Final Four appearances in college basketball history. Last year, the Shockers validated that and then some by completing the regular season unbeaten before suffering their first loss against Kentucky in the NCAA tournament. This year, Wichita State has overcome the graduation of star Cleanthony Early to eclipse 30 games for the third straight year, win a regular season league title and reach the Sweet 16 for the second time in three seasons.
Wichita State earned that Sweet 16 bid Sunday by outplaying Kansas in virtually every facet of the game.
Tekele Cotton and Fred VanVleet fueled Wichita State's offense with 19 and 17 points, respectively, but it was Evan Wessel's four threes that were the most meaningful. In the matchup in which Kansas appeared to have the biggest advantage entering the game, the 6-foot-4 Wessel played 6-foot-8 Perry Ellis to a near standstill, making up for the 17 points he gave up near the rim by using his quickness as an advantage on the perimeter.
Ellis and point guards Devonte Graham and Frank Mason combined for 50 of Kansas' 65 points, but many of the other top Jayhawks were no-shows. Ever-erratic Wayne Selden in particular went scoreless as Kansas shot only 35.2 percent from the field.Kansas kept alive the program's streak of advancing to the round of 32 or further for the ninth straight year, but the Jayhawks could not survive the opening weekend for the second straight year. Last year's team lost to Stanford in the round of 32 in a game in which Joel Embiid sat out with an injury and Andrew Wiggins hardly made an impact.While Kansas has a long offseason to ponder what went wrong, Wichita State has a few days to prepare for what should be a monumental week.The matchup with Notre Dame pits two of the nation's best backcourts. Should the Shockers win that, their reward could be a crack at the same Kentucky team that ended their undefeated season a year ago.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
