Wichita, KS (SportsNetwork.com) - Fred VanVleet scored 22 points, grabbed eight rebounds and handed out five assists in No. 13 Wichita State's dominant 62-43 win over Evansville on Sunday.
Ron Baker added 18 points and 15 rebounds for the Shockers (25-3, 15-1 MVC) for his first career double-double.
The Purple Aces' 43 points was their second-lowest total of the season after only scoring 41 against Wichita State in a January loss.
Egidiju Mockevicius led Evansville (19-9, 9-7) with 15 points and 11 boards. The Missouri Valley Conference's leading scorer, D.J. Balentine, was limited to eight points on 2-of-10 shooting.
Wichita State and Evansville came into the game as co-leading scorers in the Missouri Valley conferences with 70.9 points per game. However, it was the defenses that controlled the first half.
The Purple Aces had a particularly difficult time on the offensive end. They scored just 14 points, their lowest-scoring half since they scored 18 in the first half in their first meeting with Wichita State. Evansville shot just 4- of-22 from the field and made just one shot in the final 13 minutes.
Wichita State was not much better at 38.5 percent, but the Shockers hit 6- of-12 attempts from long distance. With 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting, VanVleet proved difficult to stop as Wichita State took a 30-14 lead into the break.
Evansville started the second half by making two of its first three shots but soon fell into another drought. Wichita State led 40-19 after Baker scored five straight points.
At 12:55, Mockevicius' layup snapped the Purple Aces out of their funk, but VanVleet hit a triple to respond a minute later to restore Wichita State's lead to 22 points which would be its high-water mark of the game.
VanVleet secured his place in the Shockers record book with 5:05 to play. His assist on Rashard Kelly's layup was the 431st of his career, setting a new Wichita State record.
"He sets the record with a handful or more games left in our season, as a junior," said Shockers coach Gregg Marshall. "I hope that I get a point guard that can one day break the number that he's going to put up, because it's going to be incredible."
Corey Henderson connected with Zach Brown for an alley-oop with 31 seconds remaining to punctuate Wichita State's win. Jaylon Brown's jumper at the other end accounted for the final margin.
Game Notes
Wichita State has won 25-plus games in six straight seasons ... The Shockers have won 31 straight home games with their last loss coming on Feb. 27, 2013 against Evansville ... Wichita State scored four points off 13 turnovers while the Purple Aces did not tally a single point off eight Shockers turnovers ... Wichita State travels to Indiana State on Wednesday while Evansville plays at Northern Iowa.
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