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."