BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Markis McDuffie scored 21 points, and Wichita State knocked off Indiana, 73-63, Tuesday night at Assembly Hall to earn a trip to the NIT semifinals in New York.
WSU (22-14) is the first team in NIT history to reach Madison Square Garden with wins over each of the top-three seeds in its region. The win at No. 1 Indiana was preceded by road victories at No. 3 Furman and No. 2 Clemson.
The Shockers will face either Lipscomb or North Carolina State on Tuesday, Apr. 2. Game time will be announced later this week.
Dexter Dennis scored 17 points on 5-of-7 three-point shooting and blocked a career-high six shots. He played all but 59 seconds.
Samajae Haynes-Jones provided a late lift offensively to finish with 13 points and six rebounds. He was perfect on eight free throw opportunities, setting career-highs for both makes and attempts.
McDuffie hit four three-pointers on 12 attempts to log his 13th 20-point game of the year. Near the 8:00-mark of the first half he became just the 13th player in Shocker history to cross the 1,500-point threshold.
Jaime Echenique overcame first-half foul trouble to grab a team-high 11 rebounds in 17 minutes, and Erik Stevenson came off the bench for nine points, four rebounds and four assists.
Juwan Morgan led Indiana (19-16) with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Devonte Green added 12 points and seven rebounds.
WSU outrebounded the Hoosiers 43-37 and held them to 38.5 percent shooting. The Shockers hit just 40 percent but made 11-of-29 three-point tries and outscored the hosts 18-7 at the foul line.
IU outscored WSU 36-16 in the paint and 17-2 on fastbreak points.
WSU trailed for less than two minutes. Indiana’s last lead was 10-9 at the 11:07-mark of the first half. The Shockers responded with a 9-0 run, fueled by seven McDuffie points. His triple made it an 18-10 advantage with 8:54 to play in the half.
The Shockers led 36-29 at halftime.
Dennis scored 14 of his 17 points on 4-of-5 three-point shooting in the second half.
Indiana trimmed WSU’s lead to 51-50 but missed a free throw that would have tied it.
Dennis hit threes at 8:06 and 6:12 to restore order. The latter gave the visitors a 59-52 edge.
Haynes-Jones (4:06) and Dennis (2:44) continued to apply pressure with three-pointers. Dennis’ shot made it 65-57.
