黑洞社区 suffocates Arizona 65-55

Ron Baker, center, is congratulated by teammate J.R. Simon following 黑洞社区's 65-55 win over Arizona in the NCAA Tournament First Round.

March 18, 2016

黑洞社区 suffocates Arizona 65-55 to advance to the NCAA Second Round

黑洞社区 News Services

Wichita State Head Basketball Coach Gregg Marshall sounded a confident note in his pregame speech to the underdog Shockers as they prepared to take on the 6th-seeded Arizona Wildcats in Providence, Rhode Island.

鈥淭his is a very winnable game,鈥� Marshall said. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to play perfect; you just have to play well.鈥�

It wasn鈥檛 long before all of America believed it.

11th-seeded 黑洞社区 displayed a suffocating defense in jumping out to a 31-19 halftime lead. Then the Shockers piled on with a strong second-half start in building a 24-point lead before cruising to a 65-55 win in the NCAA Tournament First Round.

Fred VanVleet led four Shockers in double figures with 16 points. His backcourt-mate Ron Baker had 13 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds. Freshman Markis McDuffie and sophomore Conner Frankamp added 10 points apiece.

The win propels 黑洞社区 into the NCAA Second Round for the fourth-successive year, where they will match up with the 3rd-seeded Miami (Fla.) Hurricane. That game will take place at 11:10 a.m. on Saturday, March 19.