The Wichita State men’s basketball team continued their winning streak late Monday night beating the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 66-49 in front of a raucous and rowdy crowd at Charles Koch Arena.

“I thought the crowd was awesome,” Head coach Gregg Marshall said. “I want to commend Shocker Nation for coming in droves, the place was rocking. It was very, very cool to see the place packed at 2 a.m.”

The late-night game saw an 11:59 p.m. tip off and was played live on ESPNU and ESPN2 as part of the stations 24-hour college basketball Tip-Off Marathon.

The Shockers started the game strong with a 6-0 run, starting with a three-point shot by Fred VanVleet and capped off by a short jump shot by Kadeem Coleby.

VanVleet scored 17 points in the game with five rebounds. In the first half, he made five shots off six attempts, scoring 11 of the 30 points the Shockers put on the scoreboard.

The Hilltoppers quickly turned around the pace of the game though, holding WSU in check for much of the rest of the first half.

A steal by VanVleet sparked a run to give Wichita State a small lead with minutes left in the half that caused the crowd to go into a frenzy.

Marshall said the Shockers had very little rhythm in the first half defensively.

“We were very impatient, itchy, and off kilter in our offense in the first half,” he said.

The second half was all Wichita State.

The team came out of the locker room rejuvenated, putting up nine unanswered points beginning with a three-point shot by Ron Baker followed by six points by Coleby.

VanVleet said that the reason the team turned things around so well in the first half was because they started to flow a little better and were smarter about the shots they took.

“I think in the second half guys were passing up good shots to get great shots,” he said.

The Hilltoppers kept Baker locked down during the game, allowing the star player only one shot in the first half with no rebounds. In the second half Baker put up one field goal on top of the three point shot with three rebounds.

Cleanthony Early led the team off the rim with nine rebounds – only one being offensive. Coach Marshall says the team needs to work on this.

Marshall said Western Kentucky was a very good team that he expects to have a successful season.

“That team will win 20-something ball games and probably be in the NCAA tournament,” Marshall said. “They’re going to beat some people.”

Marshall credits his team’s performance and is proud of their win, but this early into the season he doesn’t think much of being undefeated.

“It just makes us 2-0 instead of 1-1 at this point, I don’t want to put to much stock in it,” Marshall said. “What I love is the fact that we won by 17 against a really good team.”