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Wichita State Shockers Top La Salle Explorers, Set Up Historic Elite Eight Matchup

Ron Baker and Wichita State dropped La Salle to cement a meeting with Ohio State in the Elite Eight. (SI) LOS ANGELES – Florida Gulf Coast might have a beach,
Stewart Mandel|
Wichita State Shockers Top La Salle Explorers, Set Up Historic Elite Eight Matchup
Wichita State Shockers Top La Salle Explorers, Set Up Historic Elite Eight Matchup

Ron Baker and Wichita State dropped La Salle to cement a meeting with Ohio State in the Elite Eight. (SI)

Ron Baker and Wichita State dropped La Salle to cement a meeting with Ohio State in the Elite Eight. (SI)

LOS ANGELES – Florida Gulf Coast might have a beach, but Wichita State … well, "Wichita is known as the air capital of the United States," Shockers coach Gregg Marshall told reporters the day before his team's Sweet 16 game here against La Salle. Airplane manufacturing is a big deal in Kansas' biggest city … but so is basketball. And Saturday night, Wichita State will play its biggest basketball game in more than 30 years.

The ninth-seeded Shockers did not need a barrage of threes to advance this round like they did last weekend in upsetting West top seed Gonzaga, nor was there any late-game drama. Marshall's team simply ran past the undersized and largely overwhelmed Explorers, jumping to a 16-point halftime lead and extending it to 22 early in the second half en route to an easy 72-58 victory. On Saturday, Wichita State (29-8), the Missouri Valley's second-place team during the regular season, will take on No. 2 seed Ohio State (29-7), which tied for second in the Big Ten, in its first Elite Eight game since 1981.

The Shockers continue to show off their surprising depth and frontcourt athleticism. Guard Malcolm Armstead led the way with 18 points, but as is its hallmark, Wichita State got contributions from 10 different players. La Salle's four-guard lineup did not fare well against the Shockers' brawnier squad, which dominated the boards (47-29) and limited Explorers guard Ramon Galloway to 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting.

With 1:28 left and the game well in hand, Carl Hall and Ron Baker -- the star of the Gonzaga win -- walked off the court to a rousing applause from the impressive yellow-clad contingent that filled two lower sections of the Staples Center and parts of several others. The Sweet 16 was not unfamiliar territory for them; former coach Mark Turgeon took Wichita State this far in 2006. But that Shockers team won the MVC in a particularly memorable year for that league. As a No. 10 seed, they fell to fellow mid-major George Mason in Washington, D.C.

This team had no such trouble with its upstart opponent, La Salle, which may well have worn out from playing four games in three different cities over the past nine days (it has not been back to campus since leaving for the First Four last Monday). The Shockers now turn their attention to Ohio State, which notched its second straight last-second victory earlier Thursday against Arizona.

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Stewart Mandel
STEWART MANDEL

Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated Stewart Mandel first caught the college football bug as a sophomore at Northwestern University in 1995. "The thrill of that '95 Rose Bowl season energized the entire campus, and I quickly became aware of how the national media covered that story," he says. "I knew right then that I wanted to be one of those people, covering those types of stories."  Mandel joined SI.com (formerly CNNSI.com) in 1999. A senior writer for the website, his coverage areas include the national college football beat and college basketball. He also contributes features to Sports Illustrated. "College football is my favorite sport to cover," says Mandel. "The stakes are so high week in and week out, and the level of emotion it elicits from both the fans and the participants is unrivaled." Mandel's most popular features on SI.com include his College Football Mailbag and College Football Overtime. He has covered 14 BCS national championship games and eight Final Fours. Mandel's first book, Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls: Tackling the Chaos and Controversy That Reign Over College Football, was published in 2007. In 2008 he took first place (enterprise category) and second place (game story) in the Football Writers Association of America's annual writing contest. He also placed first in the 2005 contest (columns). Mandel says covering George Mason's run to the Final Four was the most enjoyable story of his SI tenure.  "It was thrilling to be courtside for the historic Elite Eight upset of UConn," Mandel says.  "Being inside the locker room and around the team during that time allowed me to get to know the coaches and players behind that captivating story." Before SI.com Mandel worked at ESPN the Magazine, ABC Sports Online and The Cincinnati Enquirer. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1998 with a B.S. in journalism. A Cincinnati native, Mandel and his wife, Emily, live in Santa Clara, Calif.

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