(St. Louis, MO) – To no one’s surprise, Wichita State is the champion of the Missouri Valley Conference. Many attempted to believe that Northern Iowa would win Saturday’s showdown at the Roundhouse, but there wasn’t much conviction behind those beliefs.
The atmosphere was special. The caliber of play was spectacular, but in the end, the Shockers asserted their muscle and won the regular season title for the second straight year, and their third title in the past four years. WSU has now won 32 straight home games. Who really believed that streak would end on Saturday with the league championship at stake?
Wichita State didn’t blow the Panthers away, but it wasn’t that close either. The final score (74-60) somewhat mirrored UNI’s win back in January (70-54), setting up the potential for a great ‘best-of-three’ championship game at Arch Madness.
As is often the case, guards win play-off games. UNI forward Seth Tuttle was brilliant scoring 29 points in the January 31st win, and he was still very effective (16 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists) in defeat. But pre-season All-American Fred VanVleet was just too much for the Panthers to handle.
VanVleet and running mate Ron Baker each handed out seven assists and combined for 30 points. Northern Iowa collected only eight assists all day! The relentless Shocker defense created numerous ‘unforced errors’ and had the UNI offense out of rhythm all day.
Though they led 20-16 midway through the first half, you never had the feeling the game was going the way they planned. Guard Wes Washpun who had been so good in Cedar Falls, was only adequate in Wichita. The Panthers shot from distance well, but didn’t record a steal and forced only three turnovers. VanVleet was that good.
Wichita State Head Coach Gregg Marshall told ESPN, “Combined with ‘College GameDay’ being here, a top-10 opponent, playing for a championship, I’ve coached 17 years and this is the biggest regular-season home game I’ve ever had. Our team responded. And our fans responded. It was electric.” In his post-game comments Marshall told reporters it was an honor to be a part of Shocker nation.
Barring a huge upset, these two nationally ranked teams (Wichita State is now 8th in the nation and UNI fell to 12th), will meet one more time for bragging rights in the MVC.
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