Fred VanVleet scored a career-high 32 points and Connor Frankamp added 10 to lead No. 22 Wichita State past Evansville 78-65 on Sunday.
The Shockers (16-5, 10-0 Missouri Valley Conference) have won 11 straight since starting the season 5-5.
Evansville (18-5, 7-3) was led by D.J. Balentine with 18 points. Egidijus Mockevicius had 16 points and 12 rebounds in front of a record crowd at the Ford Center, but the Purple Aces lost for the second time in three games.
Wichita State relied on a stout defence, holding the Aces to just 23.8 per cent shooting in the first half as it built a 32-21 lead.
The Shockers extended the lead to 48-28 when VanVleet made two free throws with 12:10 left in the game. Evansville didn't get closer than 12 the rest of the way.
Coach Gregg Marshall earned his 220th win at Wichita State and can break Ralph Miller's school record for wins Wednesday night at home.
VanVleet put him in position to do that.
The senior guard went 8 of 18 from the field and was a perfect 15 of 15 from the free-throw line — the first Shockers' player to do that since 1963.
And he kept Wichita State in control most of the game.
Blake Simmons gave Evansville its only lead, 3-2, just 89 seconds into the game. After the Aces tied the score at 10, Wichita State regained the lead on a layup from VanVleet and Evansville spent the rest of the game playing catch-up.
The Shockers closed the first half on an 11-5 run, opened the second half on an 8-2 run to make it 40-23 and never let Evansville challenge again.
FREEBY
On a day the Shockers were an impressive 24 of 27 from the free-throw line, nobody was better than VanVleet, who became the first Shockers player since Dave Stallworth in 1963 to attempt at least 15 free throws without a miss. VanVleet also bested his previous high of 29 points.
TIP-INS
Wichita State: Wichita State now has a commanding three-game lead in the conference and has already swept Evansville, which is tied for second with Southern Illinois. ... The Shockers also had a season high nine blocks, with Anton Grady blocking four shots — the highest single-game total for any Wichita State player this season.
Evansville: Despite missing his first nine shots, Balentine moved into second place on the school's career scoring list. With 15 second-half points, he now has 2,253. Balentine needs 27 points to pass Colt Ryan for the top spot. ... The announced attendance was 10,034. ... Mislav Brozja scored 11 points for the Aces.
UP NEXT
Wichita State hosts Southern Illinois on Tuesday.
Evansville visits Northern Iowa on Wednesday.
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.