Wichita State Shockers Win Second Straight Missouri Valley Conference Title
The Wichita State Shockers have done it again. They’re Missouri Valley Conference champions for the second straight year.
The 11th ranked Shockers took home the title on Saturday, as they defeated the 10th ranked Northern Iowa Panthers by a score of 74-60. With this win, Wichita State has won 32 consecutive games at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita and have not lost a home game since February 27, 2013 against Evansville. Oh, they also snapped UNI’s streak of 16 straight victories.
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Wichita State came out of the gate early and led by 12 at half time. Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet continued to show why they’re the heart and soul of the team, as Baker had 17 points and VanVleet had 13. The other three starters also put up double digit points. In fact, Darius Carter, Tekele Cotton, and Evan Wessel had 11 points each.
The Panthers made it a close game midway through the second half when Paul Jesperson made a three pointer and brought the score within seven points. Wes Washpun later made it a four point game when he hit an impressive three pointer, but the Shockers remained calm and kept their cool.
After Wessel had a nice three, the game went pretty much entirely in Wichita State’s favor. The game was basically put away for good once VanVleet nailed a three with four minutes left to go. Charles Koch Arena was rocking and it was obvious that Northern Iowa was deflated by that point.
The Shockers and Panthers will likely face each other again in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, which will begin next week in St. Louis.
WSU is hoping to make a run deep into the NCAA Tournament, especially after Saturday’s exciting win. Last year the Shockers went an impressive 34-0 and earned a number one seed in the big dance.
After easily handling Cal Poly, the Shockers had a tougher task against the Kentucky Wildcats. While the Wildcats weren’t what they are this season, they still defeated Wichita State, ending their perfect season and sending the Shockers back to Wichita to begin their off season.
While the 2014-2015 season saw the Shockers suffering a loss early on (December 3rd against Utah), the Shockers ended their campaign with a 27-3 record and more than likely a four or five seed (Joe Lunardi had the Shockers with a five seed, as of February 27th) in the NCAA Tournament.
If things go down how Joe Lunardi predicts they will, Wichita State would face either Texas or Davidson, who are slated as 12 seeds, in the first (well technically second) round of March Madness. This of course is all immediately after the most recent match up finished, so things very well could change as far as seedings and rankings are concerned.
Go Shockers!
Next: Cliff Alexander Out Against Texas Longhorns
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