Wichita State 81 Indiana 76
Seventh-seeded Wichita State shook off some poor shooting to finally overtake the tenth-seeded Indiana Hoosiers in a tightly fought first round matchup in the Omaha regional.
The Shockers trailed by eight points in the first half and played from behind most of the game before going on a 15-3 run in the middle of the second half, giving them thier biggest lead at 65-57. Freshman Zach Brown had six of his 11 points off the bench during the stretch.
The Shockers shot a dismal 2-of-13 from three-point range, but were able to offset that mark with a 29-of-34 performance from the free-throw line.
Wichita State’s Fred VanVleet had a game-high 27 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field and 9-of-10 from the free-throw line while adding four assists, two rebounds and two steals and just one turnover. Ron Baker, the Shockers’ leading scorer, mustered 15 points on a 3-of-13 shooting effort, but was able to go 9-of-10 from the foul line. Baker also added a game-high five steals, and sealed the win by draining two free-throws with 19 seconds left in the game to push the Shockers lead to 80-76.
Indiana was led by 24 points from Yogi Ferrell, who shot 7-of-15 from the field. The Hoosiers closed the season at 20-14, and are expected to return their entire roster next season, as their roster lacks a single senior.
Wichita State moves on to face the two-seeded Kansas Jayhwaks on Sunday. The two in-state teams have not met since 1993, when the Jayhawks dominated the Shockers 103-54 during a Final Four season.
