The Wichita State Shockers couldn’t overcome Illinois State’s zone defense in the second half Saturday afternoon in order to head to the Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship game.

The Redbirds shot 68 percent in the second half to overcome an eight point halftime deficit and beat the Shockers 65-62.

“We lost to a team that played really well, especially in the second half,” Marshall said. “We obviously didn’t shoot the ball well. We’ve got to do better.”

At halftime, Wichita State outscored the Redbirds in the paint by 14 points, off turnovers by four, on fast breaks by eight and off the bench by six points.

The second half changed when Darius Carter received his third foul in just a little more than two minutes. The fouls for WSU tallied up quickly in the second half, leading to 17 free throw attempts for Illinois State. The Redbirds were in the bonus with 11:46 to play.

“I don’t know how they got to the bonus that quickly,” Marshall said. “Just all of a sudden, I looked up, and we had seven fouls. And we were trying to pressure them a little bit, which we do from time to time, and credit them. They went to the line and made their shots.

Illinois State was able to hit 15 of their 17 free throw attempts.

Wichita State fought in the second half and took a two-point lead on a driving layup by Tekele Cotton with 2:55 left. Then the Redbirds recaptured their momentum and went up five with only 39 seconds left.

VanVleet hit two free throws to pull within three, then got a steal and a lay-in to pull within one.

On the ensuing defensive possession, WSU tried to force a Redbird turnover in the backcourt with the clock ticking. Illinois State got past half court and the Shockers were forced to foul Daishon Knight with just seven seconds left.

Knight hit both free throws to go ahead by three.

VanVleet took the ball down court and put up a shot.

“I mean, it always feels good,” VanVleet said. “That’s not always the end result … If it doesn’t fall, you suck. If it does, you’re a hero. That’s just how it goes, and I’ll take those chances every day.”

His shot missed off the back of the rim and out

He said the team will just have to take the loss the hard way

“Our guys are really competitive,” VanVleet said. “We don’t like to lose, especially not in that fashion, coming down to a one-possession game. It’s just heartbreaking. In that moment, you’re just numb.”

The Shockers will use their time off to get healthy before Selection Sunday comes around next weekend. In the last game of the regular season, VanVleet hit his head hard, Evan Wessel did it Friday and Ron Baker did it Saturday

“We’re going to go home and get — hopefully — get healed and feel better,” Marshall said. “I’ve been diagnosed with pneumonia for the last 48 hours, so I’m looking forward to getting some bed time and some rest and knowing that we’re going to the NCAA tournament.

Marshall said he doesn’t care what seed the team ends up with in the NCAA tournament

“They pay Joey ‘Brackets’ and Jerry Palm,” Marshall said. “They pay those guys to do that. And they have a lot of big executives that sit on that NCAA executive committee to make the high-dollar decisions. My job is just to get in and be a part of the party.”

Selection Sunday is a week away. It’s seven days until Wichita State will know what city and bracket they end up in.

Illinois State will have to beat the winner of Northern Iowa and Loyola — who play Saturday afternoon — in order to make the NCAA Tournament.