March Madness – (10) Indiana vs. (7) Wichita State
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:40 am ESTPublished:
(10) Indiana Hoosiers vs. (7) Wichita State Shockers (-5.5, 140 o/u)
The No. 7 Wichita Shockers were ousted in the third round of last year’s March Madness despite being a No. 1 seed. The year before, however, the eighth-seeded Shockers made a miracle run to the Final Four. As a No. 7 seed this year, the team will look to rekindle its March magic starting with a battle against the No. 10 Indiana Hoosiers (20-13, 9-9 Big Ten) tomorrow at CenturyLink Center Omaha (2:45 PM Eastern).
The Shockers are getting Indiana at the right time; the Hoosiers have lost four of their last five, including a 75-69 setback to Maryland in the Big Ten tournament.
Indiana wasn’t particularly good at either end of the floor against the Terps, shooting just 35-percent from the field while allowing Maryland to connect at over 45-percent.
The poor shooting performance was out of character for Indiana, which averages 77.5 PPG (18th in the nation) and 46.6-percent shooting for the year.
The shooting woes could continue for Indiana tomorrow, though, as they’ll face a Wichita State team known for its tough defense.  The Shockers rode their seventh-ranked D (55.8 points against per game) to a 28-4 record during the regular season, including a 17-1 MVC record.
The Shockers were a top-ten team in the national polls at one point, but suffered an embarrassing 65-62 loss to Illinois State in the semifinals of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament (a team they had already beaten twice on the year). The loss ended a nine-game winning streak.
The team knows that shutting down Indiana’s potent offense will be a little different than containing the small squads in the MVC.
“They’re playing small; they’re playing fast. Really good offensive team,” Shockers coach Gregg Marshall said about the Hoosiers. “The point where the ball is tipped on Friday afternoon, seeding is irrelevant.”
Wichita State is a 5.5-point favorite at the moment, and the game total is at 140 points.
The Shockers went 17-13-1 ATS on the year, while Indiana was 15-16-1. Looking a little closer at the relevant trends, the Hoosiers are 0-4-1 ATS in their last five NCAA Tournament games. The Shockers are 10-4 ATS in their last 14 neutral site games as a favorite.
(Photo credit:Â TonyTheTiger (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)
Sports Writer
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
