LAHAINA >> Rashard Kelly’s star turn for No. 6 Wichita State went beyond his two highlight-reel blocks seconds apart against Marquette in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational semifinals on Tuesday.
Kelly, who had six points, eight assists and 10 rebounds in the Shockers’ 80-66 victory, showcased some comedic chops at the postgame interview podium, too.
The Shockers’ 6-7 senior forward was asked, aside teammate Austin Reaves, what a Maui championship would mean to the team. WSU faces No. 13 Notre Dame in today’s 5:30 p.m. title game at the Lahaina Civic Center.
Kelly turned not to Reaves, but instead to his right and WSU’s 11th-year head man, Gregg Marshall, and said, “Coach, you had a championship here yet?”
Marshall replied, deadpan, “I’ve never had a championship here, Rashard.”
Kelly turned back to the media: “All right. It would mean the world to us.”
Marshall: “There you go.”
WSU (4-0), which returned almost all its production from a 31-5 team a season ago, is in position to take a first Hawaii tournament title in eight tries. That’s despite the absence of a key cog at forward, Markis McDuffie, who’s out with a stress fracture in a foot.
The Shockers succeeded with balance anyway, led by guard Landry Shamet’s efficient 19 points.
“They have outstanding coaching,” said Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski, the 1997 Maui MVP with Duke who took his first loss here as a player or coach. “They have tremendous experience. They have terrific offensive balance. They have a pro point guard. They have a strong identity in roles and definition, and they’ve got a terrific bench.
“Other than that, they’re not very good,” he deadpanned.
Under Marshall in the islands, the Shockers were fifth in the 2010 Maui Invitational and went on to win the NIT that year. They finished runner-up to George Washington in the 2014 Diamond Head Classic, after Kelly, then a freshman, had the game-winning putback against Hawaii in the DHC semis.
Kelly, still a do-everything type for the Shockers, made an imprint on everybody in the cramped Civic Center with 3:33 left in the first half.
He electrified the gym, even some Golden Eagles fans, with his first-half hustle on a Marquette breakaway, chasing down Sacar Anim for a block, then swatting Anim again on a putback attempt a second later. Marshall called it the best play he’d seen so far this season.
Asked why he applied so much effort on what looked like a lost play, Kelly laughed.
“You got to come to one of our film sessions one day then,” he said. “No, seriously, we’ve got to create a mind-set, play angry. That’s been our motto around Wichita State. Somebody’s just got to fall in love with doing the dirty work. I don’t want to be the superstar, the highlight-type player. I just want to get the job done.”
Guards Markus Howard and Andrew Rowsey combined to score 51 points for the Golden Eagles, but no other player had more than five.
No. 13 Notre Dame 92, LSU 53
Behind vastly superior guard play — 26 points from T.J. Gibbs and 17 points and seven assists from Matt Farrell — the Fighting Irish (5-0) advanced to today’s championship game.
The Irish hit 15 3-pointers, assisted on 18 baskets and committed only six turnovers, compared to six 3s, nine assists and 17 turnovers for the Tigers (3-1).
It is the first Maui title game appearance for Notre Dame since losing 102-87 to North Carolina in 2008.
