Today in Shockers Sports History: November 11th

[WuShock Reaper]

Overall Record for the Day: 3 - 0
2016 - WSU 85 vs. South Carolina State 39. 6th place for fewest points allowed in a game. And the game ranks 14th place with the 46-point margin-of-victory. In addition, the bench scored 54 points in the game.

2013 - vs Western Kentucky, WSU had 11 blocks

1998 - Maurice Evans vs. Rutgers scored 30 points as a sophomore

1962 - Gene Wiley had 11 blocks vs. Drake

Exhibition
1982 - WSU 81 vs. Soviet Union 80. One week later, the Russians downed Indiana, 87-77, in their sixth game of a 10-game exhibition series against American college teams. At that point, the Russians were 5-1, having lost only to Wichita State the previous week. A few days later the Commies would beat 7'4" - Ralph Samson io go 6 - 1. I think the Shockers were the only team able to beat them during their exhibition tour.

[SubGod22]

3-0 yet we played four games?

[SubGod22]

Go Shockers - SO MUCH MORE THAN PRACTICE - 40 YEARS AGO, WSU DEFEATED THE SOVIETS

Xavier McDaniel played 36 minutes, twice returning after cramps sent him to the bench, in an exhibition game. No one wanted to sit during this game, regardless of its relative unimportance to the rest of that 1982-83 season.

"He would cramp up, they would take him out," said Mike Kennedy, radio voice of the Wichita State basketball team. "In what seemed like a few seconds, he was literally sprinting to the scorer's table, pounding on the table 'Let me back in there. Get me in there.'"

That game on Nov. 11, 1982 at Levitt Arena turned into the rare exhibition that mattered. The opponent, the timing, the athletes combined to create a special night at the arena for those who watched, in person or on the Shocker Sports Superchannel broadcast.

Wichita State defeated the Soviet National team 81-80 in front of 9,105 fans.

"I was so tired after that game," McDaniel said. "I just know they were big as hell. We played above our heads that day."

Why did that game matter?

Kennedy calls it one of two exhibition games he remembers during a career as voice of the Shockers that continues to this day – the other a 1986 loss to a Yugoslavian team featuring future NBA stars Toni Kukoc, Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovic.

Beyond the presence of the Soviets and all that meant in 1982, it served as the coming out party for McDaniel and the 1982-83 Wichita State team. The 12-game tour by the Soviets also gave American fans a look at center Arvydas Sabonis, early in a hall of fame career.

As the Cold War raged on between the United States and the Soviet Union, the crowd observed a moment of silence for Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, who died the day before the game. In addition to the geo-political rivalry, the countries fought for Olympic basketball supremacy and the Soviet Union's controversial 1972 Olympic victory over the United States remained a point of contention.

Sully with another well done article on what was a huge and yet insignificant game.

[Kel Varnsen]

Amazing how much it meant to players, fans, and our culture as a whole to beat the Soviets and other teams from the Eastern Bloc countries. That's awesome.

Really cool that Sabonis, Kukoc, Divac, and Petrovic all played in games against the Shockers.

[Kel Varnsen]

I don't think people realize how good Sabonis was before he had extensive injury issues. He also didn't start playing in the NBA until he was 30-31 years old.

[WuShock Reaper]

3-0 yet we played four games?

I believe the WSU Media Guide is wrong.

Page 110 - says 3 - 0 for the day. However, it shows on page 142 that Gene Wiley had 11 blocks against Drake. We rarely played Drake before January 1st. We played Drake on 1/11/62, I wasn't there, so I think that is where it belongs so I am pretty sure it's a typo in the guide.

[WuShock Reaper]

Go Shockers - SO MUCH MORE THAN PRACTICE - 40 YEARS AGO, WSU DEFEATED THE SOVIETS

Sully with another well done article on what was a huge and yet insignificant game.

That is so great to see. I looked around a little bit last night to find some footage, but didn't see any.

[Shockm]

This article takes my mind back.

People were underestimating that team because we lost some good players from the Elite 8 team the year before (mainly Levingston but Tony Martin was good too). However, the 82-83 team was very good (maybe our best team ever). We had at least two equivalent 5* players in Antoine, and Aubrey, in addition to at least two Top 100 4*, borderline 5*(Top 75) players in the X man, and Karl Papke. Bernard Jackson might have been an equivalent to a 4* recruit too. That 82-83 team was a Top 10 team at the end of the year, but not allowed to compete in the NCAA Tournament.

[SubGod22]

The thing I didn't know about this game was that they did it without Antoine.

[Atxshoxfan]

[WstateU]

That is so great to see. I looked around a little bit last night to find some footage, but didn't see any.

[ShockingButTrue]

I don't think people realize how good Sabonis was before he had extensive injury issues. He also didn't start playing in the NBA until he was 30-31 years old.

Average sports fans? Maybe. Educated Shocker sports fans who saw Sabonis in person? No.

For sure, X was the better player, as we all saw.

[WuDrWu]

I don't think people realize how good Sabonis was before he had extensive injury issues. He also didn't start playing in the NBA until he was 30-31 years old.

Sabonis didn't play a ton in that game, but when he did, it was clear he played the game differently than the rest of the Soviets. He has a unique skill set, and was a joy to watch play the game.

Paul Crane was good on the call for SSS. "This basketball game is over!"

How far ahead of the game was FADTB? 40 plus years before the Longhorn Network.

HLA was loud that day my friends, especially in F 28 8.

[WuDrWu]

Average sports fans? Maybe. Educated Shocker sports fans who saw Sabonis in person? No.

For sure, X was the better player, as we all saw.

Again, Sabonis was severely hampered by injuries. He was a unicorn on the court.