LOS ANGELES — The mantra coming out of Wichita State throughout its storybook NCAA Tournament ride from the relative obscurity of the Midwest has been simple: “Play angry.’’
The Shockers played as if they were pretty ticked off, all right, en route to a gritty 70-66 upset of No. 2 seed Ohio State in last night’s West Region final at Staples Center to reach their second Final Four in school history and first since 1965.
Wichita State advances to the national semifinal on Saturday in Atlanta, against the winner of today’s Louisville-Duke Midwest Region final in Dallas.
“I don’t think we’re Cinderella at all,’’ Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said at the suggestion by a reporter after the game. “Cinderellas usually are done by this stage. If you get to this point, you can win the whole thing. You beat a No. 1 seed and a No. 2 seed … I think Cinderella just found one glass slipper. I don’t think she found four.’’
The Shockers, who won a school-record 30th game against just eight losses, have now taken down a No. 2 seed in this tournament to go along with its upset of Gonzaga, the No. 1 seed in the West.
“This is part of a dream,’’ Wichita State’s Cleanthony Early, a Middletown, N.Y. native, said. “Disbelief is what I’m feeling right now. Last year, I was in junior college watching this on TV. Now, I’m looking at this hat that says, ‘Final Four 2013’ with my school’s name on it. It’s crazy.
“I still can’t believe we’re here. You try to expect it, but you expect a lot of things that don’t happen. This really happened. This is unreal.’’
What truly was unreal was the way it looked like the Shockers were about to dismantle mighty Ohio State, ballooning a 35-22 halftime lead to 51-31 bulge with 12:41 remaining in the game.
Ohio State, with a furious 23-6 run — during which Early sprained his left ankle and was forced to sit out several minutes before returning — clawed its way back to pull within 62-59 with 2:49 to play.
But a huge 3-pointer by Tekele Cotton, who also had a critical offensive rebound in the final seconds, cooled the Buckeyes’ rally and gave Wichita State a 65-59 lead with 2:16 left.
Ohio State would get no closer the rest of the game.
Wichita State’s tenacious defense vexed Ohio State all game, holding it to 31.1 percent shooting. The Buckeyes, who entered the game averaging 82 points in their previous three tournament games and were 23-of-46 from 3-point range, shot 5-of-25 from long distance against the Shockers.
Wichita State, which shot 40 percent from 3-point range, set the tone early en route to a 13-point halftime edge and stifled Ohio State stars Deshaun Thomas and point guard Aaron Craft.
Thomas, the Buckeyes’ leading scorer, had 21 points but struggled to get those, shooting 7-of-19, including 0-of-6 from 3-point range.
Before the game, Marshall, though complimenting Thomas, called him “a bad shot-taker and a bad shot-maker,” saying, “He can take bad shots and make them. What we’ve got to do is make him take bad shots and hopefully miss a great majority of them.”
Craft, the engine that makes the Buckeyes’ offense go, had his worst game of the NCAA Tournament, scoring nine points on 2-of-12 shooting. He had just three points (on 1-of-7 shooting) and two fouls in the first half.
“You’ve got to give them credit,” Craft said. “They really came out firing and we really didn’t regain our footing until it was too late.”
It’s not too late for Wichita State to make more history. Now, as the Shockers take their act to Atlanta next week, their mantra might now shift from “play angry’’ to “stay angry.’’