No. 16 Wichita State 85, Tennessee State 71: Tekele Cotton scored 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting as the host Shockers pulled away from the upset-minded Tigers in the second half.
Cleanthony Early added 16 points and seven rebounds for Wichita State (4-0), which trailed by four less than a minute into the second half. Ron Baker pitched in nine points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
Patrick Miller led Tennessee State (0-4) with 23 points. M.J. Rhett added 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds while Jaleel Queary scored 10 for the Tigers, who made just 4-of-16 attempts from 3-point range.
Miller's 3-pointer with three seconds left in the first half gave Tennessee State its second lead of the game and a 29-28 edge going into the break. Alex Bates' three-point play pushed the cushion to 32-28 with 28 seconds gone in the second half.
Early's layup reclaimed the lead for Wichita State with 16:36 left as part of a 9-0 run. Early's three-point play and Cotton's 3-pointer pushed the Shockers lead to 10 with 13:07 to play and the Tigers were unable to get closer than eight from there.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Wichita State reserve Nick Wiggins added 12 points and fellow backup Kadeem Coleby registered eight rebounds. … The Shockers shot 42.9 percent from 3-point range. … Tennessee State entered the game ranked second-to-last in the country in scoring at 54 points per game.
Tennessee St. | Wichita St. | |
Patrick Miller 23 | Scoring | Tekele Cotton 18 |
Kennedy Eubanks 4 | Assists | Ron Baker 8 |
M.J. Rhett 11 | Rebounds | Kadeem Coleby 8 |
M.J. Rhett 6 | Free Throws Made | Ron Baker 4 |
Patrick Miller 3 | Steals | Fred VanVleet 4 |
M.J. Rhett 3 | Blocks | Cleanthony Early 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Tennessee St. | 71 | 44.8 | 4-16 | 15-24 | 9 | 30 | 3 | 7 | 15 |
Wichita St. | 85 | 45.2 | 9-21 | 20-30 | 18 | 36 | 3 | 8 | 11 |