Jacks fall in non-conference finale

Thursday, December 22

Wichita, Kan.

7 p.m.

South Dakota State University

7-8

Wichita State

10-3

South Dakota State

Wichita State

Photo by: Dale Stelz/Wichita State Athletics

12/22/2016 9:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

WICHITA, Kansas -- South Dakota State saw three Jackrabbits reach double figures but fell, 89-77, at Wichita State Thursday evening in the final non-conference game of the year.

SDSU (7-8) shot 48.1 percent for the night and hit 10 3-pointers, but shot a season-low 53.8 percent from the free throw line. Wichita State (10-3) hit 54 percent from the field and was 15 of 34 beyond the arc.

Mike Daum paced the team with 20 points, reaching that mark for the fourth consecutive game as he shot 8 of 15 from the field. Michael Orris and A.J. Hess both added 15 points as Hess shot 5 of 9 on 3-pointers and Orris went 6 of 8 from the field.

Tellinghuisen added six points to go alongside a team-high seven rebounds while Ian Theisen had six points as well.

Slow going for both teams early on, SDSU carried an 8-7 lead just past the 15-minute mark of the opening half before the Shockers went on a 9-0 run over a two-minute span before Orris hit his first 3-pointer of the year at 11:40 to end the run and pull the Jacks back within five, 16-11.

Soon after, a Daum 3-pointer moved SDSU back within four, 18-14, but the Shockers stretched their advantage to 10 (24-14) after a pair of treys on the other end. SDSU closed the gap back to six once more, 26-20, with two straight layups from Orris, but another seven unanswered as part of an 11-3 WSU run pushed it to 37-23 inside four minutes to play in the half.

An A.J. Hess 3-pointer at 1:31 ended a stretch of over four minutes without an SDSU field goal, and though the Jacks outscored the Shockers, 8-5, over the final 91 seconds and nearly had a 70-footer buzzer beater from Orris, the Jacks went into the locker room down 12, 44-32.

Second chance points and a 7-3 advantage in offensive boards helped Wichita State control the score at half. SDSU fired at 52 percent from the field in the oepning 20 minutes against a Shocker team that ranked ninth nationally in field goal percentage defense entering the night.

SDSU opened the second with a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to seven, 44-37, but saw Wichita State answer with eight straight of its own to end the Jackrabbits' initial comeback threat, all in the first three minutes of final period action.

Down 66-44 just outside 10 minutes to play, SDSU showed life with a 9-0 spurt as SDSU climbed back to within 13 (66-53). WSU ended the run with a 3-pointer at 7:31 but the Jacks continued to push and found themselves down 12 (71-59) with 6:39 to play after a 3-point play from Reed Tellinghuisen. That was it for the Jacks, however, as the Shockers recovered and used its double figure cushion to hold on for the win.

Head Coach T.J. Otzelberger
On whether or not the game held something to build on ...
"Yeah there was. I was happy with how we came out for the most part. This is a challenging place to play and a well-coached team. I thought out guys answered the bell. I thought we did have things going pretty well early. We did have turnovers early before the first media timeout that we talked about, but we feel like offensively we've come a long way and we're really good."

On playing tough Wichita State defense ...
"I was happy with how we played for the most part. We got Mike (Daum) involved and got him going, and we got A.J. Hess to knock down shots and we had a huge, huge burst off the bench from Michael Orris who played a heck of a game and showed some great leadership. In general, there were a lot of positives to take away."

On Orris' play ...
The point guard has been kind of a bit of a revolving door for us, whether we've played Cole Gentry, Sergio (El Darwich), (Michael) Orris or even Andre Wallace at times. We're looking to stabilize it a bit and Orris is a five-year guard. He's played in buildings like this, games like this and he really came out and stepped up for us tonight."

Game Notes

Tonight's meeting was the first between the teams since 1977 when Wichita State defeated the Jackrabbits, 104-83, at home. The game took place on Dec. 22, exactly 39 years before tonight's matchup.
Daum had hit a school record 40 consecutive free throws entering tonight's game and pushed the streak to 42 before missing last in the second half. Over the past seven games, Daum has hit 60 of his 63 free throw attempts.
Entering the game, Wichita State had trailed by a combined 51 seconds at home this season. SDSU led by 58 seconds total in the first half.
Orris had 11 first half points to set a new career-high in a Jackrabbit uniform. He finished the game with 15. His overall career-high is 18, set while playing at Northern Illinois in 2014-15.
Mike Daum has hit double figures in 12 consecutive games and 13 times this season. Daum went over 20 for the fourth straight game and has reached the 20-point mark 17 times in his career.
Wichita State has won 55 of its last 56 home non-conference games.

What's Next
The Jackrabbits will take a short break over the holidays before conference play begins Dec. 28 as North Dakota State comes to Brookings, S.D., for a 7 p.m., tip that night.