Three Players Earn Valley Recognition
Wichita State men’s basketball players Randy Burns, Jamar Howard and Terrell Benton earned Missouri Valley Conference regular-season honors, as the Shockers ended the 2001-02 season with a 15-15 overall record.
Freshman guard Randy Burns, a native of Houston, was named The Valley’s Freshman of the Year, as well as to the conference’s all-freshman team. He was joined on the all-freshman team by Howard, a native of Shawnee Mission, Kan. Howard was also named to the five-member all-defense team. Burns and Benton, a senior and a native of Derby, Kan., were named to the all-Valley team as honorable mention selections.
Burns is the first Shocker since Jason Perez in 1997 to earn Freshman-of-the-Year recognition and became just the third player from WSU to be named to that honor. Howard is the first Shocker since 1997-98 to be named to the all-defense team. Burns averaged a team-leading 12.1 points per game, while Howard and Benton followed him with 10.9 ppg and 10.7 ppg, respectively. Howard drew each team’s best offensive player each game and nabbed a team-leading 35 steals. Benton became wsu’s 33rd player to score 1,000 points during his collegiate career.
The Shockers completed regular-season play with a 15-14 record and entered the MVC Tournament in St. Louis, Mo., 9-8 in The Valley. On March 2, they took to the court against the Southwest Missouri State Bears and made a late first half surge to tie the game at intermission, but were unable to complete the comeback as they fell 72-59, before 10,151 spectators in the Savvis Center. WSU was out-rebounded by a 41-to-30 margin, and the Bears converted on 19-of-23 free-throw attempts, earning them an 82.6 percent day at the line.
Senior center Troy Mack completed his career as a Shocker with a bang, scoring 19 points on 8-for-11 shooting. Mack also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and blocked four shots. Burns tallied 13 points, while Howard added 12.
Shocker Women Finish 14-15
Wichita State senior forward Jennifer Kaczka was named to the five-member 2002 State Farm/Missouri Valley Conference All-Tournament team, as the Shockers completed the season with a 14-15 overall record.
On March 7 at the Hoops in the Heartland MVC Tournament in Springfield, Mo., Wichita State outscored Southwest Missouri State 41-14 in the second half, en route to a 75-44 win. The win by No. 6-seeded WSU was the first postseason victory under fourth-year head coach Darryl Smith and the first in conference postseason tournament action since 1997.
WSU, the top rebounding team in the MVC, owned a 44-32 edge on the glass over sms and also hit a season-high 6-for-11 from behind the arc. No. 3-seeded SMS came into the game ranked third in the MVC in field goal percentage (.423), but was held to .302 from the floor by WSU. Angela Buckner recorded a career-high five blocks in the game, which is the second-best Valley tournament single-game mark.
Wichita State advanced to play No. 2-seeded Drake on March 8, but came up short against the Bulldogs, 77-70. Kaczka had 22 points and 12 rebounds for her 12th double-double of the season.
