Feb. 7, 2015 Final Stats
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WICHITA, Kan. - With just seven scholarship players in uniform, the outmanned and outgunned Missouri State Bears ran into a buzz saw here Saturday night, falling 78-35 to the No. 16-ranked Wichita State Shockers.
Gregg Marshall's club captured its 29th straight home-court victory behind a 17-point effort from Ron Baker and a triple-double by Fred VanVleet who collected 11 assists to go with his 10 points and 10 rebounds. Darius Carter and Shaquille Morris also contributed 10 points for WSU, which snagged 12 steals and 51 rebounds as a unit.
Missouri State was led by Gavin Thurman who posted 9 points and 7 rebounds in front of his hometown, marking the third straight game the junior has led the Bears in point production. Chris Kendrix also posted 8 points, with fellow underclassmen Shawn Roundtree and Tyler McCullough each adding 6 rebounds.
With two starters on the shelf, the injury-plagued Bears finished with season lows in points, field goals (13), field goal percentage (.250) and assists (6). Missouri State's starting lineup included just one returning letterman - sophomore Tyler McCullough - who was also one of three underclassmen in the rotation.
The Bears got their first bucket of the night on a 3-pointer from up-and-coming freshman Kendrix nearly four minutes into the contest, but the home-standing Shockers responded with the game's next 10 points as part of a 14-3 start. Missouri State later cut into that 11-point margin with back-to-back scores from Camyn Boone and Thurman to make it a 14-7 game at the 11:46 mark.
Midway through the opening half, Thurman and Loomis Gerring teamed up to slice into another double-figure deficit and make it a 20-11 contest with just under 8 minutes left in the opening stanza.
But Missouri State, which committed 9 first-half turnovers mostly under duress from the Shocker full-court pressure, went the rest of the half without a field goal. Meanwhile, the Shockers reeled off a 17-2 run to close out the period and lead 37-13 at the break.
It marked MSU's lowest offensive output in a half since Dec. 8, 2012 at Oklahoma State.
The Bears started the second half with some razzle dazzle as Kendrix broke loose for an easy finger roll at the rim to make it 37-15. But Ron Baker scored 8 of Wichita's next 12 points on an impressive 12-0 outburst by the home side, making it a 49-15 game just over three minutes into the final half.
Wichita State would build its lead to as many as 46 from there, and ultimately handed the Springfield squad its worst defeat since a 52-point loss at Nebraska on Jan. 15, 1983.
The Bears finished 13-for-52 from the field, 2-of-14 (.143) from bonus distance and 7-of-11 (.636) at the line with 33 rebounds and 16 turnovers. MSU's 35-point night was its lowest since Feb. 11, 1950.
Wichita State, which suffered its first league loss of the season at UNI and won a narrow road game at Bradley last week, proved its point to the home crowd by firing up 70 shots - the most ever against MSU coach Paul Lusk. The Shockers finished 31-of-70 (.443) overall, 9-of-21 (.429) from the arc and 7-of-10 (.700) at the line with 51 caroms and just 7 turnovers. Twelve different WSU players finished in the scoring column.
Missouri State played without the services of starters Dorrian Williams, who did not travel due to concussion symptoms, and Christian Kirk, who sat for precautionary reasons due to a medical issue.
The Bears will wrap their two-game road swing Tuesday at Evansville with a 7:05 p.m., tipoff at the Ford Center. MSU then returns home for a nationally-televised game on ESPNU against Northern Iowa on Athletics Hall of Fame weekend on Sunday, Feb. 15, starting at 3 p.m. Tickets for the UNI game are available now at MissouriStateBears.com or by calling (417) 836-7678 during regular box office hours at JQH Arena.
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