Southern Illinois

Carlton Fay scored 21 points and hit two clutch free throws to lead Southern Illinois to a 56-53 upset of Wichita State on Tuesday night. The Salukis (11-14, 5-9 Missouri Valley) were playing without four regulars and entered the game having lost five straight. Mamadou Seck scored 14 points for Southern Illinois, and Jack Crowder added 11. The Shockers (20-5, 11-3) saw their conference lead fall to a half-game. Toure Murry led them with 16 points, while J.T. Durley added 10. Southern Illinois took its first lead at 33-31 on Fay's 3-pointer with 17:14 remaining.

Wichita State used 16 kills from Emily Adney to sweep Southern Illinois.  The Shockers won by scores of 25-20, 25-15 and 25-22.  Adney also added 12 digs, while Ashlyn Driskill had 10 kills.  Chelsey Feekin had eight kills, 34 assists, six digs and four blocks and Jackie Church had 15 digs. SIU took an early 6-1 lead in the first set, but a 3-0 Shocker run closed it to 6-4.  The Shockers finally tied it at nine and took an 11-9 lead after back-to-back kills from Ashley Andrade.  SIU regained the lead 13-12 with a 4-0 run, but a kill by Elizabeth Field gave WSU a 17-14 lead.  The Shockers went on to win the set 25-20.

Kansas State is in Hawaii this weekend as they get set to take part in the Diamond Head Classic.  The Wildcats (6-1) start the tournament Thursday afternoon against Southern Illinois (3-5) at approximately 3:30 pm Central Time. Kansas State has never lost to the Salukis but also hasn't played them since 1983. Thomas Gibson is Kansas State's leading scorer averaging 12.6 points per game but that's only slightly more than the team's 4th leading scorer, Rodney McGruder (11.4 ppg)

Wichita State had four players score in double figures and eight more men put points on the board as it rolled to an 85-42 victory over Southern Illinois on Saturday night. The Shockers (17-3, 8-1 Missouri Valley) got 11 points from Carl Hall, Joe Ragland and David Kyles and 10 points from Jake White. Ehimen Orukpe grabbed nine rebounds for Wichita State and White had eight. Dantiel Daniels scored 12 points to lead Southern Illinois (6-14, 3-6). Wichita State broke an early tie with a 13-0 run and never looked back.

Southern Illinois used three home runs to defeat Wichita State 6-3 in the opening round of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. Starter Josh Smith took the loss. He went three innings and gave up four runs on seven hits. Reliever TJ McGreevy threw five shutout innings in relief. Erik Harbutz went 1-for-4 with two RBI for the Shockers. SIU jumped on the board in the first inning.  Jake Welch led off with a single and after stealing second base, Chris Serritella singled to left field with one out to score Welch for a 1-0 lead.

Wichita State freshman Casey Gillaspie drove in four runs on two homeruns to lead the Shockers in a 10-7 win against Southern Illinois Sunday at Eck Stadium. The Shockers' come-from-behind win gave Wichita State a 2-1 edge in the three-game Missouri Valley Conference weekend series between the teams. Wichita State improved to 17-13 overall and 2-1 in conference play. Southern Illinois dropped to 15-13 overall and 3-3 in the MVC. Shocker pitcher Albert Minnis got the win to improve to 2-4 this season in front of a crowd of 2,751.

The Wichita State baseball team has been voted third in the annual Missouri Valley Conference baseball preseason coaches poll, announced Feb. 1 by the league office.   The Shockers accumulated 47 points in the poll.  Missouri State was picked first in the poll with 60 points and five first-place votes, while Creighton was picked second with 53 points and three first-place votes.   The Shockers open play on Fri., Feb. 17 against Louisiana-Lafayette at the Bobcat Invitational in San Marcos, Texas.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) - Kansas State men's basketball coach Bruce Weber hired Chris Lowery, who worked for him at Southern Illinois, as an assistant. Lowery was 145-116 in eight seasons as head coach of Southern Illinois, where he was fired last month. “I'm really excited about Chris joining the coaching staff,” said Weber.  “He has been with me at both Southern Illinois and Illinois as an assistant coach and we have a great relationship, which is critical in building a staff.  He is an outstanding recruiter with great ties to the Midwest and will be a huge asset in helping us to establish a great recruiting base.  He also has the added experience of being a head coach for eight years at SIU, which is only going to help me on the bench.  I look forward to K-State Nation getting to know Chris and his family.” Kansas State said Thursday that contract details are being finalized, but he'll earn a base salary of $210,000 for 2012-13.

“Officials used to go to the monitor on calls that they weren't sure of, now they go even when they are - it's an unnecessary interruption in an exciting game”. Analyst Jeff Van Gundy after an obvious call with a minute left in a tied playoff game between the Spurs and Grizzlies last night. Which is the lucky team? Which team is fortunate to be 1-1 in the Miami-Indiana series?  Were it not for an incredible run to the hoop in less than three seconds of game one for the game winner at the buzzer - the Heat would be down 2-0 after two games at home.  I'm sticking with LeBron in this series, but Indy's Paul George has a pretty good argument for being the second best player remaining in the playoffs.  The strong forward out of Fresno State---Fresno State?

Illinois State has to feel a little ripped off. Here they are hosting this event and they've been delayed an hour and a half in primetime for their game on Wednesday, then had 53 degree temperatures for their start last night. Crowds have been minimal at a time when a very good team should have been featured. What a day--- I'm not sure how many people are paying attention, but yesterday may have been one of the greatest ever for Wichita State baseball at the Valley Tournament, not so much in terms of what they accomplished - but how they accomplished it. Scoring 20 runs on 25 hits in two games is impressive enough - but throwing back to back shutouts is jaw dropping.

The Wichita State offense continued to roll, and the Shockers got a little revenge as well in their elimination game against Southern Illinois. After falling in the opening game of the MVC tournament to Southern Illinois, the Shockers got their revenge by knocking out the Salukis, this time with a 15-0 seven-inning win. The Shocker bats have now combined for 26 runs in the last two games after being held to one run in the first game. For the second-straight game, WSU was helped by a strong first inning, as the Shox pushed two across the plate.

Wichita State is the 2012-13 Missouri Valley Conference all-sports champion. It marks the seventh crown in the past 10 years for Wichita State, which has a league best 19 all-time. WSU finished second in the all-sports trophy race in 2011-12. Wichita State finished in the Top 3 in 14 of the 15 sports it sponsors (with softball the lone exception). The Shockers won four team championships (women's basketball, women's indoor track & field, men's golf, and women's tennis) and finished second in eight others.

For What it's Worth---March 8 -- Another reason to like Wichita State hoops Coach Gregg Marshall, for me anyway-- I walk into his press conference yesterday afternoon with my 14 year old son and he stops in mid-answer to say hello to him---from the podium. It made Jake's day. Missouri State is next--- I liked Wichita State regardless the opponent today, but I like their matchup with Missouri State better with Missouri State than I do Southern Illinois. The Bears play a more conventional game that SIU which, outsized, takes everything to the rim off the dribble.

The Shockers are in St.Louis preparing for their first game in this years Missouri Valley Conference.  They will play Friday at 6 p.m. against the winner of tonights game between Missouri State and Southern Illinois. The tournament is hosting a pre-tournament press conference.  Click here to watch live press conference from St. Louis Bruce Haertl is in St. Louis with the Shockers.  He'll have coverage of the team through the weekend.

The Missouri Valley Conference announced postseason awards on Tuesday, and Wichita State figured prominently in the announements. Cleanthony Early was named Newcomer of the Year for the Shockers. Early was also named to the First Team. Carl Hall was named to the Second Team, and Malcolm Armstead was named Honorable Mention. In an announcement that surprised no one, Doug McDermott of Creighton was named Player of the Year for the second consecutive year. Armstead & Early were both named to the All-Newcomer Team.

I'm going to miss the BracketBusters.  Up until the last couple of years I'd really come to wonder what immediate benefit Wichita State got from this game.  Yes, it helped in their scheduling, but through the first seven years rarely did it seem to have the desired effect, not that it didn't foster some interesting bedfellows. Year three - George Mason Through the ten year run of BracketBusters, WSU has always been the higher ranked team in their match-up, which has generally made the game more important beneficial for the opponent than it has the Shockers.  When George Mason came in in 2006, they were an up and coming team in the Colonial Athletic Association.  Wichita State has just beaten Creighton in overtime and was on the verge of clinching their first Missouri Valley Conference championship in 28 years.  The Patriots won by three in the Roundhouse, spurring their run to the Final Four, a run that included a Sweet 16 rematch with the Shockers in their home city of Washington, DC.  Last three years VCU, Davidson and Detroit have all been meaningful.  To this day Virginia Commonwealth coach Shaka Smart credits his team's win in Wichita as the driving force in their Final Four run in 2011.  In truth, that one point game won by the Rams on a controversial call in the final second was probably the difference in VCU going to the NCAA with the Shockers headed to the NIT.  It worked out for both and a rivalry, of sorts, was born.  A year...

It was only fitting that a senior walked off the court leading the way in scoring as Wichita State soundly defeated Southern Illinois 80-55 on senior night. Darice Fountaine finished with 17 points in the Shockers' second highest scoring night of the year.  Jazimen Gordon and Alex Harden each finished with 10 points for Jody Adams' team. 10 ladies took the court tonight for the Shockers and none of them scored fewer than 4 points.  The Shockers built up a solid 42-23 lead at halftime then went on a 10-0 run to start the second half and essentially seal their win. The Salukis turned the ball over 14 times and Wichita State took advantage, scoring 22 points off of turnovers.  The Shocker bench also outscored the Salukis' bench 39-10.