McDuffie returns; Shockers finish non-conference play with a 10-point win over FGCU
No. 11 Wichita State defeated Florida Gulf Coast 75-65.
Wichita State forward Markis McDuffie leaves the court after the beating Florida Gulf Coast Eagles 75 – 65 in Koch arena
No. 11 Wichita State finished non-conference play with double-digit wins after defeating Florida Gulf Coast by 10.
“My biggest take away from the non-conference schedule…we are 10-2, we have played probably the most difficult non-conference schedule in my tenure,” Head Coach Gregg Marshall said. “We played a great majority of it without our leading rebounder and scorer.”
The Shockers and The Eagles were back-and-forth nearly the entire second half. The one thing that won Wichita State the game is the one thing that was their weakest point in previous games: defense.
With four minutes left of the game, Wichita State was able to hold Florida Gulf Coast to zero field goals for almost the entirety of that time.
The Shockers were able to stop The Eagles’ offense so well, that they held FGCU to shooting 37 percent—their lowest field goal percentage of the season.
Sophomore guard Landry Shamet was the driving force for The Shockers’ offensive success. Shamet was able to provide clutch baskets and assists when Wichita State needed them the most.
Shamet assisted senior guard Conner Frankamp in a three that got The Shockers ahead.
“When anybody is dibbling the ball at the top of the key for 20 seconds , a lot of the attention is going to be on them,” Shamet said. “I was just trying to draw a couple defenders and make a play.”
Shamet finished as the leading scorer with 23 points. In addition, he had five assists. Senior center Darral Willis finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds.
Junior forward Markis McDuffie made his debut. Playing nine minutes, McDuffie finished with three points-all from the line- five rebounds, and two assists.
“It’s great to see him smile,” Marshall said. “He was supposed to go 8-10 minutes and he went nine minutes so I followed the rules.”
McDuffie said he was overwhelmed going into his debut game and he still has some work to do in order to get the rust off.
“I never in my life didn’t play basketball for three months,” McDuffie said. “There’s a lot of rust in me right now, I have a whole week to get my groove back.”
Wichita State shot 39 percent and had 15 turnovers. The Shockers, now the third-best rebounding team in the Nation, finished with 43 rebounds, but only out-rebounded The Eagles by four.
Wichita State begins their conference play on the road against UConn at 11 a.m. on Dec. 30th.
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...
