Wichita State appeared to catch Arizona off guard with pressure defense off the opening tap, Sean Miller calling a timeout just 53 seconds into the game. As an 11 seed, the Shockers shouldn’t necessarily be provided with a rose petal-lined path to the Final Four.
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Wichita State tournament veterans Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet led the way for the rugged Shockers.
Miami is not the underdog, at least on the seed line against Wichita State, but many experts have predicted a Shockers win come Saturday afternoon.
It seems that these teams are so evenly matched coming into the tournament, that over the past four years, both teams had exactly 119 wins. All these guys, I love them. “And Fred, I think, is the heart and soul of their team because of how he has the ability to make the game easier for his teammates”. You know how I feel about us.
“According to Ken Pom statistics, they’re the No. 1 defensive team in the country, and that obviously is something that we’re going to have to address with our players as to how to attack them and how to score against their defense”, Hurricanes coach Jim Larranaga said. “And I thought we were going to be a 10, maybe a nine, but we had some injuries, and it hurt us”.
The Shockers survived foul trouble to build that lead and hold the Wildcats under 20 points in a half for the first time since 2009.
WISCONSIN: The Badgers’ two most important players, forward Nigel Hayes and point guard Bronson Koenig, have known nothing other than making it to a Final Four during their careers, having each played in 11 NCAA games the previous two seasons. VanVleet and backcourt mate Ron Baker combined for a triple double – 28 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists – as Wichita State pulled away in the second half and held Vandy to its lowest point total of the season.
“We’ve been sleeping during the day and then doing things at night, traveling, red eyes”, Marshall said. This game is one of the profound examples of the mis-seeding of the tournament, but it does make for a great first round matchup. They’ve put up over 80 points per game against some of the best teams in the nation, but none of those squads play defense the way Wichita St does.
For Marshall and Wichita State, size really doesn’t matter.
Arizona will finish the season at 25-9 and has been ousted in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008.
Buffalo tried to sag in on Miami’s big men in the second half, but were bitten several times when the Hurricanes were able to get the ball out to the perimeter for open three-pointers.
Kadeem Allen led the Wildcats with 11 points while Ryan Anderson and Kaleb Tarcewski grabbed 11 and 10 rebounds, respectively.
The Shockers tailed 7-6 when VanVleet sped down the court for a layup to start a 13-2 run, helped by two hustling defensive plays by McDuffie.
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After losing to Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, Gregg Marshall’s club was sent to Dayton to play Vanderbilt in a First Four game on Tuesday night.
