OMAHA—It’s the type of matchup that takes the NCAA Tournament to build.
The Indiana Hoosiers (20-13) vs. the Wichita State Shockers (28-4). A middle-tiered Power Five conference Hoosiers against the dominant mid-major conference Shockers.
David vs. Goliath? Far from it, junior guard Nick Zeisloft said.
He said it’s not quite that simple.
“It’s not the typical big school against the little school-type thing,” Zeisloft said. “Losing is weird to them. They’re the ones used to going to the Tournament and winning.”
Winning has become the norm in Wichita, Kan.
In the last three seasons, the Shockers are 93-14. They reached the Final Four in 2013 and followed it up with an undefeated regular season in 2014.
The Shockers, who play the Hoosiers around 2:45 p.m. in the second round of the NCAA Tournament today, have had just four losses this season. Forward Shaquille Morris said he remembers all of them.
Defeats are easy to keep track of when they’re so far and in between.
The most recent was a loss to Illinois State in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. Another was a loss to George Washington in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
“We’re hungry,” Morris said. “Not winning the conference or in Hawaii, that does give us another drive. We’ve got guys that have been here before. We just need to put it together this year.”
Experience is certainly on Wichita State’s side. The Shockers are the No. 19 most-experienced team to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, contrasting the No. 65 Hoosiers.
Where the teams draw their parallels is in the backcourt.
IU and Wichita State both rely on heavy guard sets. Each’s dependable guard play orchestrates its respective offense, covering up any existing holes in the holes in the frontcourt.
“Both of these teams do rely a lot on guards because there’s such an importance to shoot the ball at any position now,” Zeisloft said. “The way you can stretch a defense, shooting is key. It really opens up a lot of lanes for the drivers and make their jobs easier.”
Zeisloft is no stranger to the Shockers. An Illinois State transfer, he has played against Wichita State seven previous times in his career, losing in all five games he appeared in.
Freshman guard Robert Johnson said Zeisloft’s experience playing Wichita State already has been helpful to IU in preparing for its NCAA Tournament matchup.
He said preparing for a trio of guards like Fred VanFleet, Ron Baker and Tekele Cotton is difficult because they’re not just talented, but experienced. He likes the talent IU’s own guards have, but experience isn’t something working in the Hoosiers favor.
“They’ve got a lot of experience and there’s really nothing we can do about that,” Johnson said. “We’re just going to need to match that with toughness and energy.”
Junior guard Yogi Ferrell said matching that toughness means coming out ready to play and not falling behind early.
That’s because the Shockers rarely make mistakes on both ends of the floor for teams to take advantage of. Wichita State ranks No. 8 in the country in turnover percentage and in the top-20 in both adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency according to data on kenpom.com
That will put the burden squarely on the shoulders of the guards, but by design IU Coach Tom Crean said.
It will go a long way toward deciding which team advances to the Round of 32.
“Three guards have always been a big thing for us,” Crean said. “One thing I learned from Larry Brown a long time ago, and it was at Marquette at an early age, is if you could get three multidimensional versatile guards and find a couple of people that could be game changers in other areas, you could be really good.”
