As the weekend long tournament comes to an end, Wichita State finished victorious and will advance to the NCAA tournament to represent the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) in March. The 30-4 Shockers defeated the 27-6 Redbirds with a final score of 71-51; both teams finished the season 17-1 in conference play.

As the first half got underway, Wichita State shot 12-30 from the field, just barely missing the 50 percent mark. The Shockers made four of their 12 attempts from downtown and went 5-6 from the free throw line just within the first half of play.

The second half was a slightly different story for such a dominant offense. The Shockers came out of the halftime break shooting 7-20 from the field; a whopping 35 percent completion. They made three of their four attempts from three-point territory, but continued to draw the foul and scored 21 points from the charity stripe.

Illinois State struggled to find any offensive rhythm throughout the contest. The Redbirds were shooting 9-26 in the first half and then finished the second half shooting just 8-32. Only two of their players (Paris Lee and MiKyle McIntosh) had over 10 points: Lee scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds, McIntosh had 16 points and seven total rebounds.

Conference play has come to an end within the MVC, the Shockers will advance to the NCAA “March Madness” tournament and represent the MVC as they take on some of the best basketball colleges in America.