LOS ANGELES — Gregg Marshall sat atop a stage, squinted at the bright
lights that reflected off his glasses and tried to make sense of all
that had occurred the past two weeks. He needed a few more hours, both
to process and to explain.
Let’s see. The N.F.L. quarterback Tim Tebow addressed Marshall’s Wichita
State Shockers on their team plane. His forward, Carl Hall, cut off his
dreadlocks and mailed them home to his mother. His glasses, the ones
with the bright yellow frames, were analyzed on social media.
At the end of all that, his team, the one that lost its top five scorers
from last season, the one with a mascot called WuShock, dispatched Ohio State
in a 70-66 thriller on Saturday at Staples Center to advance to the
Final Four. There stood the Shockers (30-8) atop a ladder late Saturday,
scissors in hand, snipping at the nets.
Back on stage, Marshall took one final question, “West Regional
Champion” spelled out on the banner behind him. He was asked, as he is
often asked, whether he considered this a lucky N.C.A.A. tournament run,
a confluence of favorable factors, whether he considered Wichita State a
Cinderella.
“If you get to this point, you can win the whole thing,” Marshall said.
“I think Cinderella just found one glass slipper. I don’t think she
found four.”
In two weeks, Wichita State managed to introduce its basketball team to
the casual sports fan, advance to the N.C.A.A. tournament national
semifinals for the first time since 1965 and somehow redefine its
nickname. From upset to upset to upset, the Shockers became less about
wheat and more about, well, shock.
Perhaps it should have been less shocking.
On Saturday, the Shockers faced another team favored to end their
season. There was Ohio State, the second seed in the West Region, the
Big Ten bully, its roster stocked with prized recruits, its athletics’
budget among the country’s largest.
In comparison, Wichita State was smaller. It did play in a less
prominent conference. But the term midmajor also provided an inaccurate
description. The Shockers flew to away games on private planes, same as
the major schools. Marshall’s salary reportedly went over $1 million.
Marshall knew his team could rebound, knew it could play defense. Beyond
that, he told the Shockers to play angry, which became their mantra,
which meant tough and physical, football without pads. Then his team
began to shoot well, or better, which made the Shockers dangerous,
served three ways.
They did not, it should be noted, luck into a national semifinal into
Atlanta. They battered four opponents, beat each soundly, beat two by
double digits. Along the way, three higher seeds fell: first Pittsburgh
(No. 8), then Gonzaga (No. 1), then the Buckeyes.
“I understand they’re shooting off fireworks back in Wichita,” Marshall said.
After upsets became the new normal, of course the West Region of the
N.C.A.A. tournament ended this way, with the No. 9 seed left standing. A
team with a nickname sure to inspire puns from coast to coast until the
Final Four tips off.
Ohio State had taken the improbable route to this point, behind
back-to-back buzzer-beaters, a pair of shots hoisted in the final
seconds to snatch consecutive victories over Iowa State and Arizona.
Aaron Craft made the first and assisted on the second, and the Internet
nearly exploded. Someone even said Chuck Norris planned to shave his
head to look more like Craft, after Craft battered him in a fistfight.
So there was that.
Wichita State entered this game with its usual underdog status and a
more impressive tournament résumé. The Shockers won their first three
tournament games by a combined 38 points.
Fans filed into the Staples Center early, the majority clad in red.
Supporters of the Shockers filled the section behind the team bench, a
spot of yellow in a sea of red, and the assembled refused to sit until
the halftime buzzer sounded.
Wichita State made its run over the final 11 minutes of the first half.
The score was 19-15, advantage Shockers, when guard Tekele Cotton made a
3-pointer. Guard Demetric Williams followed with another 3 from almost
the same spot. As Ohio State called a timeout, Williams danced back to
the sideline, full of swagger, as WuShock implored the crowd to stand.
They were already standing.
Ohio State (29-8) trailed by 20 points with 12 minutes 39 seconds left.
As the second half continued, that 20-point lead dwindled.Deshaun
Thomas, so cold in the first half he nearly froze solid, called for the
ball, fought into double teams, scored and rebounded as if possessed. At
the end of a 28-11 run, Ohio State trailed, 62-59.
Here was the same Wichita State team that lost at home against
Evansville in late February, that lost twice to Creighton in early
March. Another Buckeyes comeback seemed inevitable.
In the stands, a fan waved a sign that read “100 percent Cotton.”
Indeed. Indicative of a team that lacks a true superstar but makes up
for it with balance, Cotton, quiet for much of Saturday, made a series
of key plays down the stretch. This included the 3-pointer that made it
65-59 and an offensive rebound that extended the next possession.
“We just did what we’ve been doing all year,” guard Fred VanVleet said.
Afterward, Ohio State could only lament its missed shots, 42 of them, to
be exact. The Shockers had wanted to stop Craft from driving, to force
the Buckeyes outside. That game plan worked well. Ohio State took 25
3-point attempts. It made five.
Asked for his assessment of why the Buckeyes lost, Coach Thad Matta
clenched his teeth and started back at his questioner.
“Were you in there?” Matta said, then added, referring to the team’s field goal percentage: “Thirty-one percent.”
When the final horn sounded, the Shockers’ fans were standing, clad in
yellow, as they waved their signs. Coaches fist-bumped other coaches.
WuShock signed autographs and posed for photographs. Forward Cleanthony
Early made a beeline for Marshall, nearly knocked him over, nearly
knocked off those yellow glasses.
Early screamed, “Here we go, baby!” Next stop: Atlanta for the national semifinals.
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