Written by John Kekis at CBSSports.com
It didn’t take long for Wichita State to send a message to Arizona that the Wildcats were in for a long night.
After Wichita State’s Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker dived to the floor for a loose ball at Arizona’s end in the first minute of their NCAA Tournament game Thursday night, Wildcats coach Sean Miller called a timeout.
It was evident from the outset that Wichita State’s in-your-face defense was going to be a huge factor again.
”That was kind of a statement from the go that we were going to start the game playing hard,” Baker said.
The Shockers’ senior duo of VanVleet and Baker combined for 29 points and Wichita State’s swarming defense did the rest in a 65-55 first-round victory. Arizona entered the game averaging 81.2 points.
”Big-time effort, big-time game plan,” said VanVleet, who finished with 16 points and five steals. ”Obviously, I was able to have some success early.”
Wichita State (26-8) will play Miami (26-7), the third seed in the South Region, on Saturday.
The Shockers forced 19 turnovers they converted into 22 points and snared nine steals. And Arizona’s big three of Ryan Anderson, Gabe York, andAllonzo Trier, each averaging 15 points, combined for just 28.
The Shockers didn’t flinch at Arizona 7-footer Kaleb Tarczewski, limiting him to three shots. They were used to coping with big guys, using terrific team defense in the post to beat a Vanderbilt team with three 7-footers by 20 points in a First Four game in Dayton, Ohio on Tuesday night.
”We tried to deny them (Arizona’s big men) the ball as much as we could,” Shockers coach Gregg Marshall said. ”Our post players did a great job.”
Baker and VanVleet, who were part of the Shockers’ 2013 Final Four team, led the way against Vandy, combining for a triple double (28 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists).
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