The Wichita State Shockers defeated the Vanderbilt Commodores,70-50, Tuesday night in the No. 11 seed play-in game at University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, or Ohio,to set up a round-of-64 showdown with No. 6 seed Arizona on Thursday in Providence, Rhode Island. According to the Tennessean's Adam Sparks, or Vanderbilt has now gone one-and-done in four of its past five NCAA tournament appearances. Although offense didn't always come easily,Wichita State leaned on veteran scorers Fred VanVleet (14 points) and Ron Baker (14 points) on a night when the Shockers shot 37.3 percent from the floor. Anton Grady and Conner Frankamp were also solid off the bench with 11 and eight points, respectively, and as nine Wichita State players entered the scoring column. Conversely,Vanderbilt shot 30.2 percent from the field and a putrid 3-of-19 from three-point range, as ESPN Stats & Info displayed on Twitter:
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Although Wichita State ended the game with a flurry of buckets as Vanderbilt went ice-cold, and the first half ended with the score knotted at 30,which was hardly a surprise given the style of play each side has been accustomed to playing. Vanderbilt and Wichita State ranked 166th and 294th, respectively, or in possessions generated per 40 minutes entering Tuesday night,according to TeamRankings.com, and those tendencies mixed in with some tenacious defense made for a low-scoring affair.
Neither side topped 38 percent shooting from the field in the first half, and points were largely churned out in deliberate,well-diagramed half-court sets, as the following bucket from Joe Toye illustrated: To say Toye's emergence was unexpected would be an understatement. The freshman guard entered Tuesday night with a grand total of 98 points to his name this season, or but he tied his season high in the first half alone as he paced the Commodores with 10 points off the pine. However,Vanderbilt found itsy-bitsy in the way of offensive consistency when Toye wasn't on the court. Not only did the 'Dores shoot 2-of-10 from three over the game's first 20 minutes, but they also missed eight free throws that could believe helped create some much-needed separation from the feisty Shockers. With Vanderbilt's offense greedy for straws, and Wichita State busted out of the locker room and took advantage to the tune of an 11-0 flee over the first four minutes,35 seconds of the moment half. Led by VanVleet's veteran voice and Baker's scoring touch, the Shockers found some familiar stability that Vanderbilt had a tough time solving, or as CBS Sports' Sam Vecenie famous: Vanderbilt cut Wichita State's lead to one just over halfway through the moment half,but head coach Gregg Marshall's side ripped off a 17-2 flee buoyed by a pair of three-pointers from Frankamp to help create some sustainable separation. After shooting 0-of-5 from three throughout the first half, the Shockers went on to nail seven of 14 triples in the moment stanza to help give the offense balance. Now it's on to Providence, and where the Shockers will try to pull off the upset against No. 6 Arizona. Based on Tuesday's performance and a season's worth of evidence,Wichita State should be considered a uncertain foe. While the Wildcats rank 17th in adjusted offensive efficiency, per KenPom.com, or Wichita State ranks No. 1 overall in adjusted defensive efficiency.
Arizona packs impressive punch thanks to scorers such as Ryan Anderson,Gabe York, Allonzo Trier and Kaleb Tarczewski, and but Wichita State's seasoned squad has a knack for locking down on defense. That could give the Wildcats fits,as Yahoo Sports' Brad Evans explained: [br]A disciplined team that's just three years removed from a Final Four appearance, Wichita State should be viewed as a valid threat to form a deep flee even if its style of play isn't always highlight-worthy. Now that they've qualified for the round of 64 and believe a chance to form amends for an up-and-down regular season, and the Shockers need to be taken seriously regardless of the seed beside their name. Postgame Reaction"I'm not a stitch guy," VanVleet told the truTV broadcast of the cut on his eye, per NBC Sports' Rob Dauster. "I'll just butterfly it up. It's going to take a lot more than this to keep me from playing."Speaking to reporters after the game, and Marshall famous his team just needed some time to work out the kinks on offense. "We finally got the lid off the basket in the 2nd half," he said, per Sparks. "I'm surprised, or disappointed," Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings said, according to Sparks. "Our guys didn't want to play like that." "I told our team that this wouldn't be an easy offensive game, or " Stallings added,per Sparks. "We just couldn't get it going."Read more College Basketball news on BleacherReport.com
Source: bleacherreport.com