LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA---"Can we go home yet?"
To conclude the worst three game stretch in the Ron Baker era, the Wichita State Shockers were obliterated, (destroyed, unshucked, any word you want you want to use) by the Iowa Hawkeyes in the 7th place game of the 2015 Advocare Invitational by the score of 84-61.
The contest began in grand fashion for the Hawkeyes, for the team ran away to a 5-0 lead on the legs of a Gesell by the name of Mike. To further widen their lead, the other two parts of the senior trio, Adam Woodbury and Jarrod Uthoff, combined for 15 of Iowa's next 18 points to take a 23-11 lead (8:16 in 1st).
Even when Shockers' "star senior" Ron Baker was finally able to get open and make an attempt, Fran McCaffery's squad closed out the half on an 11-5 run (9 coming from Uthoff, Gesell, and Woodbury) to enjoy a 40-21 advantage heading into the locker room.
Coming out of the intermission, Jarrod Uthoff re-started the party with a layup on their first possession, which spurred an 11-0 spurt for Iowa.
"51-21 Iowa over Wichita State?! That is crazy!"
To see the Shockers playing so poorly was unfathomable! Though, one must remember, two of their best players, Fred Van Vleet and Anton Grady, were not on the court for today's contest.
Nevertheless the obvious holes in the offense, every team has their second half run and Wichita State cashed theirs in at the 12:30 mark down 31 points (64-33 IA). Surprisingly, not Ron Baker and "fab freshman" Markis McDuffie, but sophomore Shaquille Morris and freshman Eric Hamilton netted 13 of 15 points (8 from Hamilton, 5 by Morris) in a four and a half-minute span to put the Shockers within striking distance for the first time on the morning (66-48 IA).
Following a 30 second timeout by the Hawkeyes, Zach Brown got into the scoring act with a trey and two made free throws to narrow the deficit to the lowest it had been in the second twenty minutes (68-53 IA). We had ourselves a ball game!
Just kidding!
Like turning on a light switch, the Hawkeyes reverted back to their first half/early second half selves to quickly re-up the lead to 25 (in large part to six points by Peter Jok). The game was over! Wichita State would leave "City Beautiful" winless.
Stop The Ron
After allowing Dayton star Charles Cooke III to hurt them significantly with a game-high 22 points, the Iowa Hawkeyes limited Notre Dame "jazzy junior" Demetrius Jackson to 12 points, which was much lower than his scoring average entering the matchup. Today, they took it up a notch. With Ron Baker entering the game averaging 20.2 points per game, Fran McCaffery put an emphasis on stopping the only man who could hurt him. And without any trouble, he accomplished the objective. By putting lockdown defender Mike Gesell on the two-time All-MVC first teamer and him having help defense at all times when Baker drove the lane, the Hawkeyes held their biggest threat to seven points (five truly as two came in garbage time) on two for nine shooting. Iowa will head back home to host Florida State as a part of the ACC/Big 10 Challenge on Wednesday (9:15 PM EST start time).
We Aren't Used To This
Known for their domination of the Missouri Valley Conference and long winning streaks, the Shockers have not started off a season this bad since 2008-2009 when they began 3-5. From here the schedule only gets more challenging for Gregg Marshall's group, for they will face a very young but good UNLV team (after a quick trip to St. Louis to play SLU) and Jakob Poeltl's Utah Utes before traveling to Newark, New Jersey, to take on the Seton Hall Pirates and their "stud sophomores."
Sunday's Advocare Invitational Action Schedule
12:30 PM EST
5-1 USC - 3-2 Monmouth (ESPN2)
***3rd Place Game
How They Have Faired In Orlando:
USC:
71-69 Win - 20. Wichita State
87-77 Loss - 23. Xavier
Monmouth:
70-68 Win - 17. Notre Dame
73-70 Loss - Dayton
4:30 PM EST
6-0 23. Xavier - 5-0 Dayton (ESPN2)
***2015 Advocare Invitational Championship Game
How They Have Faired In Orlando:
Xavier:
64-45 Win - Alabama
87-77 Win - USC
Dayton:
82-77 Win - Iowa
73-70 Win - Monmouth
7:00 PM EST
3-2 Alabama - 4-1 17. Notre Dame (ESPNU)
***2015 Advocare Invitational Consolation Championship
How They Have Faired In Orlando:
Alabama:
64-45 Loss - 23. Xavier
64-60 Win - 20. Wichita State
Notre Dame:
70-68 Loss - Monmouth
68-62 Win - Iowa
Coverage of Sunday's games from the HP Field House in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, can and will be found on VAVEL US.