St. Louis – Wichita State won their 15th-straight game by blowing out top-seeded Illinois State in the Missouri Valley Conference title game by a final of 71-51 on Sunday at Scottrade Center to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth-straight year.
The Shockers (30-4) were led by 19 points from Connor Frankamp (named Most Outstanding Player), and Markus McDuffie poured in 16 (on 11-for-11 from the line), as Wichita State never trailed. The game was marred by 46 personal fouls, 28 on the Redbirds (including three technicals) that sent Wichita State to the line 37 times where they scored 26 of their points (70.3%).
Illinois State (27-6) was paced by MVC Larry Bird Player of the Year Paris Lee who finished with 18 points but was held to just 7-of-21 shooting (2-9 from three) while the Redbirds shot just 29%, including 6-of-28 from behind the arc (21.4%) en-route to their 5th-straight tournament championship game loss.
Other interesting facts…
- Wichita State won all of its tournament games by 10 or more points. The 9th time in 40 previous MVC Tournaments that has happened.
- The Shockers are now 76-6 against MVC teams since losing to Creighton in 2013 MVC Tournament title game.
- Illinois State set program records for regular-season wins (25) and overall victories (27)
- Joining Frankamp on the all-tournament team was fellow Shocker Landry Shamet, Paris Lee (Illinois State), Jaylon Brown (Evansville), and Alize Johnson (Missouri State)
