The Wichita State Shockers watched their undefeated season come to an end Sunday after losing to the Kentucky Wildcats 78-76 in the third round of NCAA Tournament play.

“They deserved it tonight,” head coach Gregg Marshall said. “They played one play better.”

Cleanthony Early led all scorers with 31 points and seven rebounds in his final college game.

“I am just sorry his career is over now here, but I will guarantee you his career is just starting at the next level,” Marshall said.

It was a dogfight with a lot of back and forth between the two teams from tipoff, just as Marshall said it would be.

Early put up the first points for the Shockers on a three-pointer after Kentucky started the game with a 4-0 run.

With 8:39 left in the first half, Fred VanVleet started WSU on a 10-2 run that gave the Shockers a nine-point lead with just under five minutes to go.

Heading into the half, WSU led 37-31.

Then Kentucky came back with a run of their own, outscoring the Shockers in the first four minutes of the second half.

The dogfight continued as Kentucky took the lead and the Shockers fought back. But after sending the Wildcats to the foul line so many times, the game was dwindled to a two-point lead with 3.2 seconds left on the clock.

“I don’t know at what point it started, but they just started lowering their head and driving it, and we had to do a better job of either showing our hands or not bodying them so much,” Marshall said.

Fred VanVleet took a three-point shot for the win but only caught the rim. The Kentucky were sent screaming and jumping on the court while the Shockers fans spun into a pit of sadness as they saw their team’s run come to an end.

Marshall was pleased with how his team performed and their historic run this season.

“It was a great basketball game,” he said. “I told Coach Calipari that, I told our players that.”