When the Omaha region popped up on television screens on Selection Sunday, it showed one of the biggest potential storylines of the entire tournament with the possibility that a third round Sunflower State showdown would take place between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Wichita State Shockers for a trip to the Sweet Sixteen.
On Friday afternoon both teams did their part to make it official as Kansas rolled over New Mexico State and Wichita State came from behind to eliminate the Indiana Hoosiers. Now a game that Wichita State has yearned for and one the Jayhawks having consistently avoided is set for Sunday at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
Game One: No. 2 Kansas def. No. 15 New Mexico State, 75-56
The last time the city of Omaha hosted an NCAA Tournament it witnessed one of the most memorable upsets in the history of the event when 15-seed Norfolk State upended 2-seed Missouri, 86-84, back in 2012. Missouri’s border rival Kansas avoided that fate today with an impressive second round victory over the Aggies of New Mexico State.
Sophomore point guard Frank Mason III led all players with 17 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. He took over in the second half and missed on only one of his seven field goal attempts on the day.
“I put a lot on Frank — and Landen knows this, but when Frank is into it, he’s always into it, but I mean when he’s making sure that everybody is on point like he has been of late, I think it gives us a much better chance to play without the negative stretches because he’s been right on point,” said Kansas head coach Bill Self.
Kansas got a balanced offensive attack in the first half. Five different players had at least two made baskets, junior forward Perry Ellis led the way with nine points in 13 minutes as the Jayhawks took a 13-point lead at halftime.
The Jayhawks never trailed and used an 11-3 run to build some separation after New Mexico State freshman forward Pascal Siakam tied the game at 4-all in the first few minutes.
Siakam, who scored the first four points of the game for the Aggies, did not score again the rest of the half. His teammates wouldn’t find it much easier to put the ball in the basket thanks to the Kansas defense which held New Mexico State to 33.3% shooting in the half. The Jayhawks broke the game open when the Aggies went scoreless for more than six minutes toward the end of the half. Freshman guard Devonte’ Graham capped off the run with a pair of 3-pointers to give Kansas a 34-16 lead.
Kansas hit 5-of-8 from beyond the arc in the half and shot 53.6% from the field overall.
New Mexico State got as close as 12 points in the second half, but a jumper by Mason preceded a pair of 3-pointer baskets by sophomore guard Brannen Greene stretched the lead to 63-43 with 7:06 remaining. Mason then scored his team’s next five points, hitting a couple free throws and burying a 3-pointer of his own to give Kansas a 23-point advantage, its largest of the game, to put things out of reach.
“It was nice to see the ball go in the basket,” said Mason. “It gave us confidence as the game went on, and we were happy that we knocked down shots.”
Kansas maintained control throughout the game and aside from a few runs to get the lead down to a manageable margin, the Aggies never could get close enough to swing the momentum in their favor.
“We ran into the real Kansas Jayhawks tonight,” said New Mexico State head coach Marvin Menzies. “I know they sputtered there in the tournament, made more threes tonight than they did in the whole conference tournament. But I knew Bill would have his guys ready, I knew they wouldn’t take us for granted. That’s what good staffs and good players do.”
“They made shots. I mean nine threes, 9 for 13, we do a phenomenal job guarding the three-point line, but they were able to penetrate the interior, make good passes and get finishes; got to the free-throw line relatively well as well and shot it well when they got there. So just overall statistically, as you look down at the stat sheet you go, well, they just outplayed us. And they did. But I’m really really proud of my guys. I’m proud of the season we had.”
Game Two: No. 7 Wichita State def. No. 10 Indiana, 81-76
Wichita State point guard Fred VanVleet scored a game-high 27 points and the Shockers went 29-of-34 at the free throw line to hold off Indiana on Friday afternoon.
The Hoosiers took control in the first half behind the play of their point guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell. The six-foot tall junior out of Indianapolis had his way with Shocker senior guard Tekele Cotton, scoring 11 of his team’s first 18 points to get the underdog Hoosiers out to an 18-12 lead near the midway point of the first half.
VanVleet stepped up on both ends of the floor. He got going offensively and drew the assignment of chasing Ferrell around. The early returns were good as Ferrell went scoreless and the Shockers fought back to tie the game at 23-all with 7:40 to go in the first half.
Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall realized after Ferrell’s strong start that VanVleet might be a better option to defend the allusive Hoosier floor general.
“I thought Fred is really good guarding point guards,” Marshall said. “Tekele is a great defender but, I think, at times he’s better off of the ball in a denial stance trying to create havoc on a shooter, coming off a screen or whatnot, and Fred just understands guarding point guards a little better. Yogi was having his way, and Fred I thought did a wonderful job, besides scoring all the points he did, he defended beautifully.”
After a timeout, Indiana sophomore forward Collin Hartman keyed an 8-0 run with a couple 3-point baskets to give the Hoosiers their largest lead of the game with, 31-23, with 5:39 left in the first half.
The rest of the opening period featured VanVleet and Ferrell taking turns making plays against each other. VanVleet scored nine of his 19 first-half points in that stretch, including a lay-up and a free throw towards the end of the half to cut Indiana’s lead down to one point before Ferrell returned the favor with a drive and score of his own to finish with 15 points in the half and send the Hoosiers to the locker room leading 39-36.
The Shockers and Hoosiers traded runs in the first 10 minutes of the second that saw the lead change hands four times before VanVleet’s two free throws with 10:52 remaining tied the game and kicked off a 7-0 run by Wichita State to take the lead for good.
Indiana didn’t bow out easily as Hartmann and Ferrell each hit 3-pointers in the corner on consecutive possessions to cut a seven point lead down to 72-71 with 2:21 remaining.
“No matter how large the deficit is, we always stay together, we always say anything can happen. We could easily back and get two more threes or two more possessions, we get a bucket and we’re right there in the game,” said Indiana sophomore forward Troy Williams. “We never see each other as out of the game. Yogis got us down 1 and we were right back in it after that.”
After a couple free throws by Wichita State junior guard Ron Baker, the Hoosiers once again cut it to a one possession game on a spin and lay-in by Williams with just over a minute to go. Out of a timeout, Tekele Cotton put the final dagger in Indiana’s season with a tough basket off the glass through the contact. Baker wrapped up the win by hitting 3-of-4 at the free throw line as the Hoosiers didn’t score again.
Baker struggled from the field, but hit 9-of-10 at the free throw line finishing with 15 points to go along with five steals. VanVleet led all scorers and tied his career-high with 27 points.
“I just wanted to be aggressive, honestly,” VanVleet said. “I found opportunities in ball screens with the bigger guys, I could use my quickness against them. Just a team that is so potent offensively a lot of times it’s hard to do both. They were running — they were kicking us in transition and, you know, I was just trying to do a little bit of the same to keep ’em on their heels and balance the floor a little bit. I was getting in there to pass and the first couple of times I went in there to pass and I noticed I could have shot it. I started to be more aggressive, trying to get there, trying to get to the free-throw line. I think a key tonight was the free-throw line and how many times we were able to get there and at the percentage we were able to knock them down.”
The Shockers finished 29-of-34 at the free throw line with Baker and VanVleet each going 9-for-10 in the victory.
Next up for the perennial Missouri Valley Conference power is a chance at some in-state bragging rights against 3-time national champion Kansas. The opportunity against the Jawhawks is something Gregg Marshall has practically begged for, but it’s not one
“Kentucky last year, Indiana this year, Kansas next, I mean those are blue-blood programs. Those are programs with some of the winningest college basketball in the country. It’s an honor to be able to play them and it’s an honor to compete with them to win,” Marshall said. “That’s what we’re after, no matter who the next opponent is, our goal is to get to Cleveland and the Sweet 16. That’s our goal. Kansas has great players, unbelievable coach, Bill Self does a great job, and they’re right up the road.”
“It’s a game in the making. They whipped us last time. I don’t know where I was 23 years ago, I was a neophyte in coaching, I can assure you that. It’s an opportunity, it’s a wonderful opportunity and whoever plays the best is going to win. We’re not the “blue blood,” so to speak, that those teams are, but we generally play well against them, and if we play really well, we’ll have a chance to win.”
CBS will televise Sunday’s game between the Jayhawks and Shockers. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. (CST) at the CenturyLink Center Omaha.