The Wichita State men’s basketball team played a good offensive game by gaining and keeping the lead in the first 12 seconds of the game against the South Carolina State Bulldogs in the season opener. The Shockers also showed a strong defense by allowing only 15 points in the first half.

This is WSU’s 38th straight non-conference home game, 21st straight home opener, and 15th straight opening game win.

“For years and years our basis on our whole game is defense and rebounds,” Zach Brown said. “So we made sure we had everything right and everything together because they’re a good team in driving to the bucket and have some great shooters.”

The Shockers took the lead and remained in the lead for the first half by gaining possession at tip off. The Bulldogs then fouled and gave redshirt junior Shaquille Morris a free throw opportunity going two for two. The Shockers offense continued and their defense only allowed 15 points in the first half.

“That’s one thing we hang our hat on, and that is being able to come in and do all the little things, everything we need to do to continue to have the same mental intensity that we’ve had since the start of the game,” junior Zach Brown said.

A dunk and a layup by Morris made it a 30 point game to open up the second half. The Shockers kept up with their strong offense and made it a 40 point game with 8:58 left to play in the second half. The Shockers had their largest lead by 49 points with 2:08 left in the game and kept their lead until the end with a 85-39 victory over the Bulldogs.

“It was a nice victory, against a pretty good team,” head coach Gregg Marshall said. “A team that’s won 19 games, has four starters coming back. I’m proud of our guys in the way we competed, the way we rebounded on both ends, and took the basketball, took care of the basketball, and shared the ball.”

Junior Rauno Nurger led the team offensively with 14 points and three assists. Sophomore Markis McDuffie made 11 points with seven rebounds, and junior Rashard Kelly had nine points. Kelly also had a career high of nine rebounds.

“We’ve been doing really good in practice lately,” Nurger said. “Today it showed on the court that the work we had been putting in in practice, so it feels good to see the results of your hard work.”

The Shockers have a quick turn around and play their next game at Charles Koch Arena on Sunday against Long Beach State at 7 p.m.