Arizona vs. Wichita State: Score and Twitter Reaction from March Madness 2016

The 11th-seeded Wichita State Shockers turned up the defense to upset the No. 6 Arizona Wildcats 65-55 in the first round of the 2016 NCAA tournament Thursday in the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island.

One of the bigger shocks—no pun intended—following the release of the 68-team field for the Big Dance was the fact that Wichita State was placed in one of the play-in games. The Shockers failed to win the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, but that didn't erase what was an otherwise strong season. KenPom.com ranks the team eighth in the country.

The school may prefer the underdog role, per Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman:

As a result of the play-in game, Wichita State had only one full day of recovery after making the trip to Providence from Dayton, Ohio.

"It's pretty hard to sleep after a game, but especially when you're on a plane," said senior forward Evan Wessel before Thursday's game, per Tony Adame of the Wichita Eagle. "Guys are restless, but by the time we got to Rhode Island, I think everybody was pretty tired. We got some sleep, now we're ready to go."

DraftExpress' Jonathan Givony countered that Arizona didn't exactly benefit from the situation either:

Wichita State looked no worse for wear as a result of its short turnaround time between games. The Shockers forced 19 turnovers and held Arizona to 41.7 percent shooting, which is 6.5 percentage points lower than its season average.

According to CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein, this is the worst loss for Arizona head coach Sean Miller since his Xavier Musketeers fell 76-57 to the UCLA Bruins in the 2008 Elite Eight.

The trio of freshman guard Allonzo Trier, senior guard Gabe York and senior forward Ryan Anderson collectively averaged 45.7 points a game entering Thursday. They shot 11-of-29 from the field for 28 points against Wichita State.

As a result of his star players' combined struggles, Miller was feeling the pressure:

CBS Sports showed how his shirt grew progressively more damp:

Miller had every reason to sweat during his team's anemic first-half performance on the offensive end. After making three of their first four shots to start the game, the Wildcats then had a massive drought, missing 11 straight attempts over a nearly 10-minute span.

Defense has been one of Wichita State's calling cards all season. Entering the game, the Shockers ranked first in opponent scoring (59.0 PPG) and fourth in opponent field-goal percentage (38.2). According to KenPom, they also allowed the fewest points per 100 possessions (88.6).

That stingy defense held Arizona to 19 points on 27.3 percent shooting in the first half.

The Wildcats should've been staring at a halftime deficit bigger than 31-19. Luckily for them, Wichita State had its own issues offensively. The Shockers fell in love with the three-pointer a little too much, which resulted in them attempting two free throws as a team in the first half. They also missed 12 of their 14 attempts from beyond the arc.

CBS Sports' Tom Fornelli didn't see a ton of aesthetic beauty from the first 20 minutes of the game:

"

This Arizona-Wichita State game is…

*looks up words to describe this game*

…not good. It is not good.

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) March 18, 2016"

Wichita State closed the half on a 12-4 run, though, which provided some breathing room as the two teams headed into the locker room.

A strong start to the second half would've helped Arizona quickly move on from its poor start. Instead, the Wildcats scored just four points through the first five minutes, while the Shockers continued to increase their lead.

The difference swelled to 18 points after sophomore forward Shaquille Morris threw down a slam dunk while getting fouled by Arizona center Dusan Ristic with 13 minutes, 38 seconds left in the game:

The Wildcats never got within fewer than eight points the rest of the way. By the time they finally closed the deficit to single digits, only 1:36 remained. By then, Arizona's comeback attempt was too little, too late.

CBS Sports' Matt Norlander argued that the nature of the Shockers' dominant performance should carry some value next year if they are in the tournament hunt once again:

Wichita State will face No. 3 Miami in the second round Saturday in Providence. The Hurricanes are coming off an unimpressive 79-72 win over Buffalo earlier on Thursday. They had the Bulls on the ropes on numerous occasions but couldn't put the MAC tournament champions away for good until the final few minutes of the game.

Miami could be in for a rude awakening if it has similar problems shooting against the Shockers, who are looking like one of the strongest teams in the tournament.

Postgame Reaction

"The way it's viewed, typically the talk is that those teams that are in those play-in games shouldn't be in the tournament," said Shockers senior guard Fred VanVleet, per ESPN.com's Dana O'Neil. "So we just take all of that as ammunition and just keep letting that chip on our shoulder get bigger and bigger."

"It's all about the team that you're playing, not the number in front of it," said head coach Gregg Marshall, per Paul Suellentrop of the Wichita Eagle. "That's what I love about the NCAA tournament. That's what our players love. We get an opportunity to play an Arizona."

Miller praised Wichita State's effort on the defensive end: "Their defense is unbelievable. I wouldn't be surprised if they go on and do some special things."

"From the statistics that we looked at, they're the nation's No. 1 defensive team," he also said of the Shockers, per CBSSports.com's Sam Vecenie. "We were that a couple years ago, and to me it felt like that. They didn't just make it difficult for Arizona to score on them. They make it difficult for every team that plays against them to score."

Check out Bleacher Report's live updating bracket to track your picks along the road to the Final Four.