Wichita State played the first two games of the tournament without All-American guard Fred VanVleet (hamstring) as well as his backup Landry Shamet (foot) while starting forward Anton Grady suffered a spinal cord concussion after a scary collision in the 64-60 loss to Alabama on Friday.
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Leading scorer Marcus Allen had 12 points but was 3 for 12 from the field for the Cardinal.
Iowa has a big size advantage – Wichita’s only player over 6’8 is little-used center Tom Wamukota; Grady played the post, for the most part – a fairly ideal defensive setup for Baker, and enough weapons to simply outscore Wichita absent an out-of-nowhere performance by one or two of the supporting cast.
Wichita State senior forward Anton Grady, walking with crutches, left the hospital Sunday in Orlando to travel back to Kansas with his Shockers teammates, the school announced. USC has 59 three-point makes in six games for an average of 9.8 per game this season. Trailing 43-37, the duo scored 12 straight points to give the Shockers a 49-43 lead with 12:43 left.
Forward Shannon Hale also contributed 19 points, while guard Arthur Edwards had 15 for Alabama.
“That’s how we run our offense, pushing the ball, getting easy shots, easy layups, which leads to opening up from the outside”, said Norris, who was 2 of 4 from three-pointers. “This year, we’re a better basketball team”.
It was first time Alabama (3-2) beat a Top 25 team on a neutral court since November 29, 2009, a 68-66 victory over then No. 15 MI.
That, Shockers coach Gregg Marshall said Sunday (via The Associated Press), will determine if and when Grady will return.
USC will face No. 23 Xavier, a 64-45 victor over Alabama, at 2:30 p.m., Friday in one semifinal, while Wichita will play Alabama at noon. Alabama took advantage of its trips to the free throw line, converting 25 of its 33 attempts. “Those runs a year ago would result in a 10-point loss”, USC coach Andy Enfield said of WSU’s 12-0 spot. Alabama finished 5 of 20 against Wichita State. Jarrod Uthoff scored 38 points in the two games and Adam Woodbury had 14 points and 10 rebounds against Notre Dame. But our prayers go out to him and his family. Seaborn made it an 11-point game with a 3-point play with 28 seconds left.
Uthoff had his third 20-point game this season and seventh overall….
Grady fell after his head hit the shoulder of an Alabama player late in the second half.
Coming out of the break, Iowa scored the first 11 points to open up a 51-21 lead.
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USC: It was the first time since 1967 that the Trojans played the same opponent twice in the same season within the first seven games. Now the Shockers are 2-4, meaning this is the worst start to a season Marshall’s had since taking the WSU job in 2007.
