Fansided

Wichita State upset by Illinois State in Missouri Valley Conference Tournament semis

ByWill Osgood|
Jan 22, 2014; Normal, IL, USA; Illinois State Redbirds guard Zach Lofton (23) dribbles the ball against Wichita State Shockers forward Cleanthony Early (11) during the first half at Redbird Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 22, 2014; Normal, IL, USA; Illinois State Redbirds guard Zach Lofton (23) dribbles the ball against Wichita State Shockers forward Cleanthony Early (11) during the first half at Redbird Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

Wichita State loses in Missouri Valley Conference semi-finals to Illinois State. 

More from March Madness

Regular season Missouri Valley Conference champion Wichita State certainly did not figure to have an easy road to the finals of the conference tournament, but it was more than reasonable to assume they’d make it there.

They will not. Saturday afternoon the Illinois State Red Birds shocked the Shockers in St. Louis, escaping victorious 65-62 to advance to the finals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, which will be held Sunday at Scottrade Center.

Illinois State will play either Loyola of Chicago or No. 11 Northern Iowa. Can we see two huge upsets in the same day in St. Louis?

To secure the upset, Illinois State relied on 25 points from senior guard Daishon Knight, who averaged 13.9 points per game coming into Saturday’s contest. In this game he was 10-15 from the field, including a sparking 3-for-4 from 3-point range.

He was also 2-2 at the charity stripe.

Fellow backcourt mate DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell–a 6’5″ shooting guard–scored 10 points mainly on 6-6 shooting from the free throw line.

The only double figures scorer for the Red Birds was center Reggie Lynch who scooped in 11 points on just 4-9 shooting from the floor. But he got to the free throw line six times and converted half of them.

As a team, the Red Birds were 17-20 from the free throw line, compared to Wichita State’s 4-8. The disparity in attempts was huge in the upset victory.

Fred Van Fleet led the No. 8 team in the country with 19 points on 8-16 field goals, though just 1-5 from deep. Van Fleet also had seven rebounds and five assists.

Van Fleet was the conference’s player of the year a season ago. That award was given this year to Northern Iowa’s Seth Tuttle, who Van Fleet and the Shockers bested a week ago today at home on national television.

But there will be no third matchup between the two powers of the Missouri Valley Conference. Instead, the Shockers get to spend an extra day to rest and prepare for the tournament. But losing Saturday likely will hurt the Shockers’ NCAA seed, which they will learn next Sunday afternoon.

In all likelihood their conference rival will jump ahead of them in the national rankings and gain a better seed in the tournament. That is assuming they can hold off Loyola (Chicago) and the Red Birds the next two games.

The Red Birds might be playing on some St. Louis magic, sharing a nickname (sort of) with the beloved baseball team in that town.

More from FanSided

Home/March Madness