Wichita State’s Fred VanVleet, the former Rockford Auburn star, looks to pass during last Saturday’s 68-62 Missouri Valley Conference victory at Illinois State. (Wichita State photo)

Another memorable year for Auburn’s VanVleet

It was a worrisome moment for friends and fans of Fred VanVleet last Saturday.

The Wichita State basketball star — a onetime Rockford Auburn standout — had crumpled to the Redbird Arena floor late in the first half and didn’t immediately get back up.

“He goes up for a catch or a shot and somehow (a) kid’s foot gets underneath him and he rolls it pretty hard,” said Shockers coach Gregg Marshall. “He’s coming out of the air and all that weight is on that ankle and he turns it.”

But visions of a Shocker team without VanVleet, the team’s point guard and spark plug, were unwarranted.

“He comes back and plays,” Marshall said. “I hoped that he would, I kind of anticipated that he would but most guys would not. He’s going to do what it takes to win.”

VanVleet was helped to his feet, hopped and then limped to the Shocker bench and was back in the game a minute later as he scored 15 points in a 68-62 victory over Illinois State.
“I’m good,” VanVleet said after the game. “We won, so it feels a lot better. It’ll be all right with some ice on it.”

It’s been another marvelous run for VanVleet and the Shockers, Missouri Valley Conference co-leaders and 15th in last week’s Associated Press college basketball rankings.
The 6-foot junior is averaging 12 points per game, good for second on the team, plus 140 assists.

“Fred is just a dynamic player,” said Marshall said. “He’s one of the toughest guys that I’ve ever coached. … It’s not easy to pinpoint all the things that he does.”

The Shockers are 88-15 in VanVleet’s three seasons, including a trip to the NCAA Final Four in 2013 and an unbeaten regular season and 35-game winning streak last year.

Another NCAA tournament trip seems certain for a Wichita State, a team that’s 23-3 and shares the MVC lead with No. 13 Northern Iowa, a team that handed the Shockers their first league loss in two seasons just two weeks ago.

“I’m having a good year overall,” VanVleet said. “We lost three games and everybody’s acting like the world’s going to end. But that’s the expectations you give yourself when you go undefeated the year before.”
VanVleet was an All State performer at Auburn after averaging 20 points and six assists his senior year. He scored 22 points as the Knight beat Bloom 57-46 for third place in Class 4A. As a junior he average 18.6 points and 7.5 assists as he helped lead Knights. And was ranked by a recruiting web site as one of the nation’s top point guards and among the nation’s top 150 recruits.

As a freshman, VanVleet appeared

in 39 games as a backup and averaged 4.9 points and .3 assists. In the NCAA tournament he had double-doubles in two of five games, including 13 points against Gonzaga and 12 against Ohio State.

Last season he appeared with teammates on the cover of Sports Illustrated as Wichita State put together a perfect regular and post-season Missouri Valley season before falling in the third round of the NCAA tournament. VanVleet earned a series of All-American honors after starting 36 games, led the team in minutes place (1,141) and averaged. 11.6 points.

VanVleet opened this year as a consensus first team preseason All-American and named of the nation’s top 20 guards by Sports Illustrated.

Wichita State has won four straight and hopes continue playing well enough to extend that streak to eight — including a season-ending clash with Northern Iowa at Charles Koch Arena — before heading into next month’s Missouri Valley championship tournament.

“I think I’ve been playing pretty well, especially of late,” VanVleet said. “That’s all you can ask for — to be playing the best basketball down the stretch and hopefully peaking at the right time.”