Wichita State holds off Indiana to set up Sunday showdown with Kansas

Game time for KU-WSU not yet known

The Kansas bench watches the closing seconds of the Jayhawks 75-56 win over New Mexico State Friday, March 20, 2015 at the CenturyLink Center, Omaha, Neb. .

Omaha ? Down three at halftime, the seventh-seeded Wichita State University men’s basketball team outscored 10-seed Indiana by eight in the second half of Friday’s opening-round NCAA Tournament game in Omaha, to give the Sunflower State what it has been waiting for and talking about since the brackets were revealed last Sunday.

Kansas vs. Wichita State. Sunday. 4:15 p.m. The winner moves on to the Sweet 16.

“Obviously, when people saw the bracket, they were already talking about Sunday,” said WSU guard Ron Baker, who made just 3 of 13 shots against Indiana but iced the game with a 9-of-10 clip from the free throw line. “It’s a big thing for the state of Kansas. A lot of excitement. A lot of houses are going to be divided. It’s just going to be exciting. As a player, being from Kansas, just really, really fortunate to be in this game. Obviously these type of games don’t happen a whole lot.”

WSU coach Gregg Marshall took it one step further and talked about Wichita State’s incredible run against some of the top programs in college basketball during the past few tournaments.

“Kentucky last year. Indiana this year. Kansas next. I mean, those are blue blood programs,” Marshall said. “It’s an honor to be able to play them and it’s also an honor to be able to compete with them and have a chance to win. And that’s our goal.”

Game time has not been announced yet, but 7 a.m., 7 p.m. or anything in between seems like it would work for the thousands of Kansans who have been waiting for this game to happen since KU and WSU last played in 1993.

The Shockers, who earned a No. 1 seed last year after an undefeated regular season and advanced to the Final Four as an 8 seed the year before, enter Sunday’s game with Kansas with a serious edge in terms of NCAA Tournament experience. But the Jayhawks have a deeper roster and more size, which should make for some incredible match-ups and mismatches in a game the entire nation figures to be watching.

The game will mean a lot for players on both sides, but few will be as impacted as KU junior Perry Ellis, who hails from Wichita and picked Kansas over WSU after enjoying a standout prep career at Wichita Heights.

WSU point guard Fred VanVleet led Wichita State past the Hoosiers with 27 points on 9-of-18 shooting. He also dished four assists and swiped two steals in 37 minutes.

Stay right here at KUsports.com for more reaction to Wichita State’s 81-76 win over Indiana as well as all kinds of in-depth looks at Sunday’s big game.