Never Sweeter

(St. Louis, MO) – Wichita State has had some classic battles in Omaha, but none more important nor more sweet than Sunday’s win over Kansas. The Shockers are a Sweet Sixteen team once again after a 78-65 win over the mighty Jayhawks.

There was so much to like about this game. Kansas won’t schedule Wichita, and the Shockers attempting to, once-and-for-all, prove they are worthy opponents to one of the truly historic college basketball programs.

The gritty Shockers were not intimidated by the moment, the opponent or by the opportunity to get back to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. All five WSU starters reached double figures in scoring and the surprising star may have been Evan Wessel.

Playing against his high school teammate Perry Ellis from Kansas, Wessell scored 12 points on four of six shooting from distance and grabbing nine rebounds. In a very even statistical game the Shockers made 10 three-pointers to the Jayhawks’ six on 21 attempts. That 12 point difference was almost identical to the 13 point difference in the final score.

Was it Wessel’s best game ever? “Yeah, I’d say it’s definitely up there. I just got to give credit to the my teammates; they were able to attack, find me, give me shots. And this was an all-around team effort, offensively and defensively,” said Wessel.

Head Coach Gregg Marshall said Wessel played a key role, “Giving up 3, 4 inches to Perry Ellis most of the day, his high school teammate, and fought him, evenly I thought, and then stepped out and made four three-pointers.”

Tekele Cotton (19 points), Ron Baker (12) & Fred VanVleet (17) each played 37 minutes in the win. Senior Darius Carter also collected 10 points.

Defeating Kansas was sweet for the Scott City, Kansas native Baker, “To me this is probably one of the biggest wins I’ve been involved with being a Shocker, just because we don’t get the opportunity to play KU, and we’re going to the Sweet 16.”

Cotton’s extra offense (19 points was his season high) and typical stellar defense helped win the game, but post game, he could barely put words to his feelings about Sunday’s win, “To me, I’m speechless. Like I heard Fred say, in the locker room he said, he didn’t know what to feel, this feeling was unreal, and he was right about that. And this is one of the best wins that I’ve had as well, and we’re just going to keep trying to advance, and that’s our goal. “

Wessel and Ellis both grew up in Wichita and the Shocker forward agreed with his teammates about how big the game was, “It’s definitely one of the biggest wins I’ve been a part of, definitely hits home, being a Wichita kid, growing up a Wichita State fan. My family went to Wichita State, and it’s big for the community, and I’m just glad we got the win and ready to move on to the Sweet 16.”

It was a sweet win for the head coach, “Just a great day to be a part of Shocker nation and to lead these young men into battle. I thought they played a beautiful basketball game.”

In the end, Governor Sam Brownback, who wore a tee-shirt with both teams’ logos on it, visited the Shocker locker room after the win, and was given a Shocker shirt emblazoned with “Kings of Kansas” across the front.

Sweet indeed.

Wichita State (30-4) heads to Cleveland for their Sweet Sixteen matchup with Notre Dame (31-5).

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