No. 3 Wichita State 88, Loyola 74: Fred VanVleet had 22 points, eight rebounds and six assists as the visiting Shockers downed the Chicago-based Ramblers to become the 18th team in college basketball history to win its first 28 games.

VanVleet was 6-of-6 from the field and made all 10 of his free throws for Wichita State (15-0 in Missouri Valley play), which stands as the nation’s lone unbeaten team after top-ranked Syracuse lost to Boston College earlier Wednesday. Cleanthony Early added 18 points and Darius Carter scored 13 as the Shockers clinched the top seed in next month’s MVC postseason conference tournament.

Milton Doyle scored 18 points and Jeff White added 14 for Loyola (9-18, 4-11), which has dropped six of its last seven games. Devon Turk tallied 13 points and Christian Thomas added 12.

Loyola trailed by 17 with 11:32 remaining before putting together an 11-4 surge to pull within 65-55 with 6:33 to play. VanVleet scored the next four points and Early rolled off five consecutive points a short time later to give Wichita State a 74-58 lead with just over 4 1/2 minutes remaining.

The Shockers led by as many as 11 in the first half before taking a 39-32 lead into the break. VanVleet’s basket capped a 13-4 run to start the second half that boosted Wichita State’s lead to 16 with under 16 minutes to go.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Shockers were 31-of-34 from the free-throw line, while Loyola was 11-of-14. … The Ramblers were just 5-of-18 from 3-point range. … Wichita State collected 14 offensive rebounds en route to a 41-24 edge on the boards.