Wichita State expected a zone defense against Baylor, and simply, the Shockers shot out of it.

In the span of three minutes, WSU’s Erik Stevenson and Samajae Haynes-Jones combined for three-pointers on six consecutive possessions.

“When it starts going in, it’s contagious,” WSU Head Coach Gregg Marshall said.

Stevenson and Haynes-Jones went on an 18-3 run, pushing the Shockers ahead to a 29-point first half lead.

Stevenson said he feeds off of the play of Haynes-Jones.

“Whenever he crosses a guy, it gets me going,” Stevenson said. “You pass me the ball, and my next shot is going in.”

Stevenson said the momentum starts on the defensive end. He and Haynes-Jones credited forward Jaime Echenique for getting defensive stops and creating opportunities for the pair to knock down open shots from the perimeter.

The Shockers put on an offensive clinic while also reintroducing some of Gregg Marshall’s traditional defense. WSU forced Baylor to nine first-half turnovers.

The Bears racked up six turnovers before scoring a basket. Turnovers, bad shots, and failing to get stops caused the game to “snowball” out of control for Baylor Head Coach Scott Drew.

“When you have a young team, things can snowball out of control rather quickly,” Drew said.

The Shockers quickly rolled out a double-digit lead, but gave the lead away in the second half. Baylor cut a once 33-point deficit down to seven with four minutes left to play. Baylor guard King McClure had a breakaway layup after a steal from Haynes-Jones with under four minutes to play to cut the game to five points forcing WSU Head Coach Gregg Marshall to call a timeout.

Photos from Wichita State versus Baylor 

Baylor outscored WSU 48 to 27 in the second half.

“The they (WSU) got in the first half were the shots we got in the first half,” Drew said.

Haynes-Jones responded, racing down the court on a Baylor turnover to finish at the rim for a lay-up and making the free throw to convert the three-point play. The Shocker put the game out of reach going up 10 points with under three minutes left to play.

“That kid was incredible,” Marshall said of Haynes-Jones.

After the game, Marshall questioned when his players realized that despite leading 44-15 at halftime, the game was far from over.

“I have no idea when it struck all of them that they said, ‘Wow, this game really isn’t over,'” Marshall said.

Stevenson said the team entered the second half with the assumption they had to “play good, but not great” to hold off the Bears. Stevenson said he didn’t expect the Bears to play two bad halves of basketball.

“The game was far from over,” Stevenson said. “You have to step on their neck and keep your foot on the gas pedal.”

Haynes-Jones recorded his first career double-double.

Haynes-Jones finished with a game-high 21 points. Stevenson finished with 18, short of his career-high 21 points the freshman scored against Rice on Sunday. The duo scored 26 of their 39 points in the first half.

WSU forward Jaime Echenique became the first Shocker to block a shot in each of the first seven games of a season since Cliff Levingston in 1981.

Markis McDuffie scored 15 points. He’s currently 10 points shy of 1,000 career points with WSU.

McDuffie said the win “brought the momentum back for us.”

The senior forward had a posterizing dunk on Baylor’s Makai Mason in the second half. McDuffie said he didn’t expect Mason to jump on the dunk.

WSU won the game 71-63.

Baylor lost in its first road game of the season, and the Shockers won to improve their record to a game above .500.

Since 2013, Baylor has only lost three times in the month of December. Two of those three losses are by Wichita State.

WSU will travel to Oklahoma City for the second of two Big 12 contests. They play Oklahoma at 11 a.m. Saturday at Chesapeake Arena in Oklahoma City.

Gallery • 5 Photos

Joseph Barringhaus

Wichita State freshman Erik Stevenson celebrates after making a three during their game against Baylor on Dec. 1, 2018 in Koch Arena.