No. 7 Wichita State upsets No. 2 Kansas with 78-65 win

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Wichita State Shockers guard Fred VanVleet (23) drives to the basket past Kansas Jayhawks guard Brannen Greene (14) during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. (Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports)

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Wichita State Shockers guard Ron Baker (31) brings the ball up court against the Kansas Jayhawks during the first half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. (Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports)

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Kansas Jayhawks forward Perry Ellis (34) drives against Wichita State Shockers guard Evan Wessel (3) during the first half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. (Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports)

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Wichita State Shockers guard Ron Baker (31) controls the ball against Kansas Jayhawks guard Wayne Selden Jr. (1) during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. (Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports)

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Kansas Jayhawks guard Frank Mason III (0) drives against Wichita State Shockers guard Fred VanVleet (23) during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. (Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports)

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Kansas Jayhawks forward Perry Ellis (34) battles for the ball with Wichita State Shockers guard Fred VanVleet (23) during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. (Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports)

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Kansas Jayhawks guard Frank Mason III (0) tries to inbound the ball against the Wichita State Shockers during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. (Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports)

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Kansas Jayhawks guard Brannen Greene (14) controls the ball against Wichita State Shockers guard Ron Baker (31) during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. (Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports)

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Kansas Jayhawks forward Perry Ellis (34) is unable to convert on a dunk against Wichita State Shockers forward Zach Brown (1) and forward Darius Carter (12) during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. (Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports)

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Wichita State Shockers guard Evan Wessel (3) follows through on a three-point attempt against the Kansas Jayhawks during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center.(Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports)

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Kansas Jayhawks guard Devonte Graham (4) shoots against Wichita State Shockers guard Ron Baker (31) during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. (Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports)

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Kansas Jayhawks forward Landen Lucas (33) dunks against Wichita State Shockers forward Darius Carter (12) during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. (Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports)

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Wichita State Shockers guard Fred VanVleet (23) drives to the basket against Kansas Jayhawks guard Devonte Graham (4) during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. (Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports)

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Kansas Jayhawks guard Devonte Graham (4) drives to the basket against Wichita State Shockers guard Fred VanVleet (23) during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. (Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports)

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Wichita State Shockers forward Zach Brown (1) blocks the shot of Kansas Jayhawks guard Kelly Oubre Jr. (12) during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. (Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports)

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Wichita State Shockers guard Tekele Cotton (32) passes the ball away from Kansas Jayhawks guard Frank Mason III (0) during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. (Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports)

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Wichita State Shockers guard Fred VanVleet (23) controls the ball against Kansas Jayhawks guard Devonte Graham (4) during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. (Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports)

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The Sports Xchange

March 22, 2015 - 3:58 pm

OMAHA, Neb. — Forward Tekele Cotton scored 19 points to lead five Shockers in double figures, and No. 7 seed Wichita State made the most of a long-awaited game with its in-state rival, defeating the second-seeded Kansas Jayhawks 78-65 in Sunday’s NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional quarterfinal at Century Link Center Omaha.

Guard Fred VanVleet added 17 points, and forwards Evan Wessel and Ron Baker scored 12 apiece for the Shockers, who advance to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the second time in three seasons.

Wichita State (30-4) handled the Jayhawks in the teams’ first meeting since 1993, thanks to 59.3 percent shooting after halftime and salty perimeter defense that held Kansas to 35.1 percent shooting for the game.

Forward Perry Ellis and guard Devonte’ Graham scored 17 points apiece to pace Kansas (27-8).

Wichita State, leading by one point after Kansas scored on its first possession of the second half, reeled off a 12-2 run.

Kansas coach Bill Self called two time outs in a span of 1:03 to try to slow the flurry, which included five straight points by Cotton, a Wessel 3-pointer, a wide open drive for an easy VanVleet layup and a Baker put-back of a missed VanVleet transition layup.

Wessel had three 3-pointers in the first 8:11 of the second half to help Wichita State open its biggest lead, 54-40, with 11:49 remaining.

Wichita State withheld a Kansas counter punch. Twice when the Jayhawks pulled within eight points, the Shockers scored in transition — one breaking the Kansas press — to push the lead back to double digits, and maintained that margin.

Wichita State began the game shooting just 4-of-13 from the field and endured a scoring drought of 4:12 in falling behind by eight points.

But the Shockers counted on defense, particularly its ball pressure on the perimeter, in closing the half on a 13-2 run over the final 4:15 before halftime for a 29-26 lead.

Ellis had eight points in the first half despite leaving the game and returning to the locker room after he took a hit on his nose late in the first half.

NOTES: Wichita State is 3-0 all-time against No. 2 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, having knocked off Tennessee (2006, Round of 32) and Ohio State (2013, Elite Eight) before Sunday. … Kansas played its 141st NCAA Tournament game. That number of games ranks third all-time in NCAA history, behind Kentucky (164) and North Carolina (154). … WSU junior G Fred VanVleet reached 1,000 career points in the Shockers’ victory Friday over Indiana and became the third WSU player to reach that milestone in the last six weeks (Ron Baker, Feb. 7; Tekele Cotton, March 6).