Wichita State used to be known as a small-conference powerhouse that would upset teams in the NCAA Tournament. Now, the Shockers are the upset victim.
No. 13 Marshall secured its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory in an 81-75 upset of No. 4 Wichita State Friday afternoon.
Marshall had not made it to the tournament since 1987. Jon Elmore scored 27 points, including 4-for-8 3-point shooting.
Elmore outdueled Wichita State’s Conner Frankamp, who also scored 27 and went 6-for-10 from behind the arc.
The Shockers led the Thundering Herd 37-34 at halftime, but Marshall took control in the second half, particularly with this dunk by Ajdin Penava in the final minute that put them up five:
Marshall draws up a perfect play out of the timeout to take a 80-75 lead! 👏#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/nqyGzF3RTV
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 16, 2018
However, the final minutes of the game slowed to a crawl due to three different official reviews that took referees to the monitors each time. In one case, they appeared to get the call wrong — the out-of-bounds call that set up Penava’s dunk. Then, the referees caught both teams trying to illegally substitute a player into the game during that timeout.
Whether the calls were right or wrong, fans and analysts noticed how much time it took for the game to conclude.
Replay at the end of Wichita State-Marshall…a fiasco. Sound effect: air out of a balloon.
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) March 16, 2018
The last three seconds of WSU vs Marshall have taken twenty minutes to play. Come on. #MarchMadness
— Mike Greenberg (@Espngreeny) March 16, 2018
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