Who: Virginia Tech Hokies (22-11, 11-8 ACC) vs Wichita State Shockers (25-8, 14-4 MVC)
When: Sunday, March 20 @ 11:00 a.m.
TV: ESPN
Where: Cassell Coliseum, Blacksburg, VA
The Opponent: After knocking off Bethune-Cookman in the first round of the NIT, the Hokies face an experienced and deep Wichita State squad. The Shockers, out of the Missouri Valley Conference dominated Nebraska 76-49 Wednesday night to advance to the second round in Blacksburg.
The Shockers are 25-8 on the season and don’t have many bad losses. They lost to Connecticut in Maui by four, at San Diego State by 14, twice to Missouri State, and by one to Virginia Commonwealth in the BracketBusters game this year. WSU was shocked (no pun intended) in the MVC Tournament by Indiana State, the eventual tournament champion.
Here’s a look at their starting lineup:
| No. | Name | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Yr. | PPG | RPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | Toure’ Murry | G | 6-5 | 203 | Jr. | 9.1 | 4.7 |
| 1 | Joe Ragland | G | 6-0 | 193 | Jr. | 6.8 | 1.6 |
| 14 | Graham Hatch | G/F | 6-4 | 206 | Sr. | 5.6 | 2.4 |
| 31 | J.T. Durley | F | 6-8 | 236 | R-Sr. | 11.3 | 5.2 |
| 32 | Gabe Blair | F | 6-8 | 235 | Sr. | 6.3 | 6.2 |
Wichita State is a very deep team, using a 10-man rotation with all 10 having at least one start this season. The five listed above was their starting lineup against Nebraska and it will most likely change against the Hokies tomorrow morning. All 10 players average between 4.5 and 11.3 ppg while playing anywhere between 14 and 25 minutes.
Graham Hatch doesn’t score a lot, but connects on 41 percent of his shots from beyond the arc. Off the bench, guards David Kyles (6-4, 184) and Ben Smith (6-5, 215) shoot better than 40 percent from three as well. Kyles is the team’s second-leading scorer, averaging 10 ppg, while Smith adds an additional 7.1 ppg. Toure’ Murry is another scoring threat from the guard position, but is also a great distributor of the basketball. Murry leads the team with 111 assists this year, more than one-fifth of the team’s total. He also leads the team with 37 steals this season.
On the interior, J.T. Durley is the team’s leading scorer with 11.3 ppg. He shoots 48 percent from the field and is also a 79 percent free throw shooter. Gabe Blair is the team’s leading rebounder with a tad more than six boards per game.
The Shockers don’t have one standout player, but they have a lot of good players that can contribute in multiple ways. WSU is +8 in rebounding margin per game despite no player garnering more than six rebounds a contest.
This is not a good matchup for the Hokies. Tech could be down to six players depending on the status of Victor Davila, who did not play in the second half against Bethune-Cookman on Wednesday. That would leave Tech with six players against Wichita State’s 10-man attack. That and the game being at 11 a.m. on a Sunday doesn’t make me feel too confident either. The students will more than likely show up late and with church going on at a similar time to the game, who knows how big of a crowd will show up in the Cassell tomorrow morning.
Either way, the winner of this game will take on sixth-seeded College of Charleston, who defeated second-seeded Cleveland State 64-56 Saturday afternoon.
