#8 Wichita State Won't Be Undefeated This Year, #25 Utah Takes Care Of Shockers 69-68 In OT

Wichita State ran the table last year in the regular season, not this year.

You would think the Shockers were destined to pull it off against Utah.  Down by nine late in the second half Wichita State went on a 11-0 run to take a 60-58 lead until Tekele Cotton fouled the Utes Dakarai Tucker with :19 left.

Tucker hit a pair of freebies to sent the game into overtime 60-60.

The game stayed tight in overtime but Utah prevailed when Delon Wright nailed the game winner with :14 left in overtime to give the Utes a huge victory over Wichita State 69-68.


"I knew I had to make a play," Wright said. "I looked for Brandon Taylor but he wasn't open and I found a way to get into the lane and make a shot."

"It was tough," Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "Our guys just hung in there."

In Krystkowiak's first year at Utah iin the 2011-12 season the Utes won only six games.  Methodically Krystkowiak has increased the win total and talent.

Wednesday night in Salt Lake City was the opportunity the Utes were looking for to get a signature win over Wichita State.

"It's a surreal feeling to see the way this program has turned around a complete 180," Dakarai Taylor said. "I was so hyped out there."

"It was just a gritty game with two teams going at it all night," Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said. "They were just one point better."

The Shockers had won 35 straight regular season games before the loss to Utah.

Wichita State didn't have a comfortable night shooting only 38.1 percent from the field and had a hard time buying a basket in the overtime going 2-7 from the field.

Utah had four players in double figures and shot 42.9 percent from the field and out rebounded Wichita State 40-37.

"This is huge for us and huge for our program." Delon Wright said.  "This is the type of game we have always lost in the past and this time we found a way to get it done,"

Wichita State Runs the Regular Season Table

Hey, 31-0 ain't nothing to sneeze at. And sure football may all be about the "High and Mighty" big schools, but NCAA basketball is not.

The Wichita State Shockers completed a 31-straight regular season win streak by taking down Missouri State 68-45 Saturday afternoon. Which gave them a 31-0 record on the season.

Coach Gregg Marshall's charges head to the Missouri Valley Conference next week with no losses and credit from even the naysayers of small schools for being the real deal.

Cleanthony Early dropped 19 points and Ron Baker chipped in 13 to lead the Shockers to the win. Missouri State had taken them to overtime at their gym back in January.

Surprisingly to at least us, Wichita State is still ranked only #2 in the NCAA polling behind 25-2 Florida who also has a pretty good team but plays in a "Name" conference which in reality might be worse than the MVC.

And duly noted that the Shockers were a Final Four team in 2013, most of that team returned with more experience.

Expect them to be a #1 seed in a couple of weeks when March Madness begins and it would not be a surprise to see them playing yet again in the Final Four.

Your highlights from ESPN.com: (okay, all they've posted is postgame with Marshall--so that will have to do for now)

More Hoops Carousel: Darrin Horn out at S. Carolina

And the carousel keeps spinning.

The University of South Carolina, long an SEC basketball doormat has parted ways with head coach Darrin Horn.

Horn a former Western Kentucky coach and star took over the program in 2008 and was 60-63 during that time. This season was particularly bad as the Gamecoks lost 12 of their final 13.

More on the firing RIGHT HERE

Speculation has already been rampant that Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall is next in line for the job. However, the Shockers are currently playing in the NCAA tournament.

Marshall does have the ties, he was the coach at Winthrop for several years when they were an NCAA Cinderella team.

We'll see who ends up with the job be it Marshall or someone else. Whomever does take it...and someone will, inherits a team with little major conference talent outside guard Bruce Ellington.

Needless to say, it is definitely a job for an optimist.