Disappointment Without Devastation

(Indianapolis, IN) – After a three-point loss to Kentucky on Sunday, the Wichita State team was hurting, but unbowed. Disappointed, but not devastated. Beaten, but not broken. With every contributing piece coming back next season, this is a team that took Sunday’s NCAA Tournament second round loss as a detour, not a stop sign.

The 65-62 defeat at the hands of Kentucky, who has ended two of the past four Shocker seasons, was a bitter defeat. In 2014 the two teams finished two points apart. Both games were played in the tournament’s second round.

Landry Shamet was brilliant in defeat, scoring 18 second half points including 13 in the game’s final seven minutes, but his game tying shot attempt was blocked and he took responsibility for not running the correct play in the Shockers’ final possession. His head coach, Gregg Marshall says his team truly believed they not only could win the game, but that they were the better team.

 

 

 

Kentucky’s roster is filled with players expected to play in the National Basketball Association next season and Wichita State expects to have most of its roster returning for another run in March Madness. WSU guard Zach Brown says a victory might have silenced the Shocker detractors, forcing them to admit Wichita State belongs on the national stage.

 

 

Center Shaquille Morris who played a dynamic first half, says after taking a little time off, he wants to get back in the gym to get ready for next season. He says his team is a very close knit group of ‘brothers’ and there is no stopping ‘the train’.

 

 

Gregg Marshall’s team has AVERAGED 29 wins per season over the past eight years. They’ve been to six straight NCAA Tournaments and won ten March Madness games in the past five years, and have won or shared the Missouri Valley Conference’s regular season title four straight seasons.

You can understand why they expect to be back on the national stage next season.

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