McDuffie leads with 20, Shockers empty bench with 42-point blowout
Wichita State’s bench celebrates an Eric Hamilton three-pointer late in the second half against Southern Illinois. Hamilton scored 8 points in a total five minutes of play. (Jan. 24, 2016)
Markis McDuffie didn’t expect the attention to be on him, but instead MVC player of the week Shaq Morris, who scored 20-plus points in two straight games.
McDuffie, the sophomore forward, liked having the attention off of him. Tuesday, he claimed the title of leading scorer with 20 points.
“There’s no egos on the team,” McDuffie said. “We all gel together, we all have great chemistry. We go out there and play to the best of our abilities.”
McDuffie scored 14 of his 20 points on five shots in 15 minutes in the first half.
“It was my teammates. I was running as hard as I can to find open spots on the floor when they can pass me the ball. They did a great job looking for me in transition; that’s where I got my points at the beginning of the game,” McDuffie said. “We build off each other.”
Wichita State defeated Southern Illinois 87–45 making this the eighth straight win by double figures against the Salukis.
WSU ousted Southern Illinois in the paint, shooting 56.1 percent to SIU’s 27.8 percent. WSU out-rebounded the Salukis by 20.
For the first 10 minutes of play, McDuffie and teammate Darral Willis, Jr. possessed all of WSU’s points until head coach Gregg Marshall benched both, opening the door for forward Rashard Kelly to get a dunk and forward Rauno Nurger to sink a three-pointer from the corner.
Nurger’s three put the Shockers up by double figures, paving the way for the Shockers to keep the lead in double-digits. At halftime, WSU led by 17.
“You have to have that mindset that the game is still in doubt and not in hand,” Marshall said. “You have to go play as well or better than in the first half.
“I think tonight we did that.”
Despite a two-game winning streak and eight conference wins, WSU is entering the second half of MVC play outside the top spot in the conference rankings since 2011.
“Hopefully we continue to get better everyday and try not to lose any more games,” junior guard Conner Frankamp said. “I feel like the ceiling is pretty high for this team if we just lock in and focus, execute right and do what coach says then we have a good chance to be pretty good.”
The Shockers are away at Bradley on Sunday. Bradley is currently ranked seventh in the Missouri Valley.
Aliyah Funschelle was a sports reporter covering men's basketball for The Sunflower. She studied sports management at Wichita State, and worked as a Campus...
