# 2008–09 Wichita State Shockers men's basketball team

The 2008–09 Wichita State Shockers men's basketball team represented Wichita State University in the 2008-09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team, which played in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), was led by second-year head coach Gregg Marshall. The Shockers opened the season with a win over Florida A&M on November 10, 2008, and ended the season with a loss to Stanford in the College Basketball Invitational. Their final record for 2008–09 was 17–17 (8–10 MVC), an improvement from their 2007–08 record of 11–20 (4–14 MVC).

## Regular season

The Shockers started out with mediocre level of play, but performed well against then ranked Michigan St. and Georgetown and even beat a very good Siena team in the Old Spice Classic at the end of November. On February 21, the Shockers beat a Cleveland State team with an RPI of almost a hundred better than WSU's. Then came conference play. The Shockers lost their first 6 games in Missouri Valley play, and on January 14, were in dead last in the MVC. Then came the comeback. In the more-than-century-old MVC, 49 teams had started 0–6. None won more than five games in conference play for the rest of the season.

## Post-season

Wichita State finished MVC play 8–10 but were not rewarded well with a 7 seed in the MVC tournament. They beat Missouri St. 59–46 in the play-in game at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, and now had to face a hot no. 2 Creighton team. It was a game no one expected them to win. The Shockers tried to keep close in the first half, but were down by 13 at halftime. Creighton came out and made a huge run in the second half, giving them a 22-point lead and a chance to embarrass Wichita State. But the Shockers did not give up, and shut Creighton down almost the rest of the way. They came within 13 with 3:43 to play in the game and 5 with about 1 minute. The Shockers were down 59–61 with about 10 seconds left, but had the ball. Toure' Murry, who had already had two game-saving shots this season, caught the inbounds pass and quickly shot a 3-pointer, which swished through the net. The Shockers had come back from 22 down to take the lead. With 9 seconds left, Creighton inbounded the ball and brought it all the way down, but shot a wild jumper that missed. A Shocker tried to grab the rebound but lost it out of bounds. Creighton had 1.8 seconds to take the lead. Booker Woodfox half-fumbled the inbounds pass, but threw up a 17-footer which swished right through. The Bluejays had escaped.
The Shockers were given a chance to bounce back from the heartbreak with a spot in the College Basketball Invitational, one of the NCAA's minor post-season tournaments made for improving teams. In the first round of the single-elimination tournament, Wichita State beat Buffalo by a score of 84–73. The Shockers season was then ended on March 23 with a 70–56 loss to Stanford in the second round of the CBI.

## Schedule

Missouri Valley Conference Standing: T-9th :
| Date | Opponent* | Location | Time$^#$ | Result | Overall | Conference |
| Exhibition Games ||||||||
| November 10, 2008 | Emporia State | Wichita, KS | ?:?? p.m. | W 71–58 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| Regular Season Games ||||||||
| November 16, 2008 | Florida A&M | Wichita, KS | ?:?? p.m. | W 77–53 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| February 21, 2009 | ESPNU Bracketbusters | TBD | TBD | | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Missouri Valley Conference tournament ||||||||
| March 5–8, 2009 | TBD | St. Louis, MO | TBA | TBD | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| *Rank according to ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. $^#$All times are in CST. Conference games in BOLD. ||||||||