After giving up a 'layup drill' to Southern Illinois in the first half, Wichita State picked up their second half defense.

"We mixed up our defenses a little better, tried to take them out of rhythm," head coach Greg Marshall said. "They got in great rhythm to start the game. They started the big lineup and pounded it in. The second half we just mixed up our defenses a little more."

"They really struggle with their point guard play," said the Shockers' Toure' Murry. "We switched defenses and went to a zone and really caused some havoc."

Southern Illinois had a 40-26 lead over Wichita State with 1:46 remaining in the second half, but were out scored 48-24 over the remaining 21+ minutes of their 74-64 loss.

"Our guards played great," said SIU coach Chris Lowery. "They showed up. We took them out of everything they tried to do, and then it flip-flopped. They hit a couple of shots and we became nervous for some reason and we allowed that press to really bother us."

The Shockers picked up their defense and also began to press down the stretch.

"Their press changed it," Lowery said. "It was something we worked on for two days. They got into it and we turned it over two straight times and the third time we get Carlton a foul. Seck was the only guy we had that played with no fear attacking their press."

Wichita State sophomore guard Demetric Williams struggled to begin the season, but he is starting to bounce back.

He had a strong run in Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and was set to enter the season as the team's point guard as a replacement for Clevin Hannah.

"I knew losing Clev was a big key," Williams said. "When you lose a good point guard like that, there's always questions about who's going to step in that role. I put a lot of pressure on myself that I had to make the right plays right away instead of letting it come to me and just play."

Illinois State held an early lead against favored Wichita State on Friday night before they went ice cold from long range.

The Redbirds led 19-14 with more than eight minutes left in the first half of the eventual 65-51 defeat.

They finished 3-for-19 from three-point range.

“They out-toughed us,” said Austin Hill, who led ISU with 14 points. “Everything was going good. We have to be stronger in certain situations. We can’t start taking bad shots and not rebounding. We’ve got to give 100 percent the whole time.”