Cleanthony Early put on a display last night in the come back win against SIU. He scored 39, which is the most points by a shocker player in 28 years.

Most since the X-Man (Xavier McDaniel) dropped 44 back in the 80's!

Do you Shox fans see this as another Sweet 16 type team?

I really do, especially when we get Carl Hall back next week and Ron Baker in about a month. I really think this team at full strength is more talented than the sweet 16 team back in 2006

Agreed. I'm really pleased where this team is at and where we are headed. We just can't hit the wall at Arch Madness. We ran out of gas there last year. But for now...looking very good for a run! GO SHOX!

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcspor...h-of-the-year/

Cleanthony Early: 39 in comeback win. Gregg Marshall: Coach of the Year?

Rob Dauster

Jan 10, 2013, 10:04 AM EST
Leave a comment
Southern Illinois Wichita St Basketball

You see that picture to the right?

The one right next to this text?

It’s Cleanthony Early, and that’s a picture of him not giving a good gull dern about Wichita State’s injury issues.

The Shockers are missing three starters — that includes their best perimeter shooter, Ron Baker, and Carl Hall, who, at the time of his injury, was the team’s leading scorer and rebounder. Throw in the fact that the Shockers were supposed to be in the midst of a rebuilding year because, you know, they lost their top five scorers from a season ago, and there wouldn’t be a single person that would be surprised if Gregg Marshall’s club was scooting along in the bottom half of the always-crazy Missouri Valley.

But no.

After an 82-76 win over Southern Illinois on Wednesday night, Wichita State is 15-1 on the season, 4-0 in the Valley ranked in the top 25. And Early is the biggest reason why. The 6-foot-8 JuCo transfer and Middletown, NY, native went for 39 points in last night’s win, shooting 13-19 from the floor and 5-9 from three as the Shockers came back from an 11 point halftime deficit to beat the Salukis. This came just one game after Early went for 24 points as the Shockers knocked off Bradley on the road.

Now it would be tough to credit Marshall for Early’s performance the past two games. That’s simply a great player being a great player.

But it is easy to credit Marshall for putting his team and his program in a position where they are not only prepared to weather the departure of their top five scorers, but the injury to three starters the following season as well. Marshall is consistently underrated and forgotten when discussing the best coaches in the country, but there no one has done a better job than he has this season.

With all due respect to Tubby Smith, John Groce, Larry Shyatt and every other coach having a great year, if the season ended today, Gregg Marshall would get my mythical vote for National Coach of the Year.

Yuck.

Down 1 with 40 seconds or so left.

Not sure why Marshall decided to foul -- even if he only made 1-2.

And Jake White is a TERRIBLE three point shooter.

Why they run plays and he continues to shoot them is beyond me.

yup a very disappointing game, cant expect to turn the ball over 22 times and win on the road or anywhere for that matter. But as disappointing as it was, the bright side is we get Carl Hall back on Wednesday, and we did go 6-1 without him. Every shocker fan would have taken that record once the injury happened. This loss does make the Creighton game next Saturday an absolute must win. Time to learn from our mistakes and get better, the season is still very young.

Ugh...what a mess. Turnovers are killing us. I know its only one game but as hard as it is for MVC to get more than two teams into the dance, it's games like this that come back to haunt us. It puts pressure on the remaining games. Mr. Arrowhead is right though...this 6-1 run was not what I expected with three starters out, so there is that. Gotta put this one behind us and get ready for the next one. Take care of the rock and we'll take care of business. GO SHOX!

Shox get back on the winning track and knock up Ill St 74-62. Carl Hall returned and grabbed 10 boards. Saturday is the big one, Wichita State host #10 Creighton with 1st place on the line on ESPN 2 at 3 o'clock. Wichita is ready for this one, game has been sold out for over a month, and tickets are being sold on stub hub for as much as $200 a piece. Can't Wait!!!!

Let's go SHOCKERS! This is a big one!

2 hours til Game Time. Heres some pics of students that camped out last night, waiting to get into the door

http://instagram.com/p/UrNd2EMTJe/

Good luck guys. Should be a great game.
Lets go
http://www.creighton.edu/fileadmin/u...uejay_logo.gif

Great first half.

Score?