ST. LOUIS -- There will be no waiting game for Wichita State this March, no week full of hope and angst, no sleepless nights wondering if it will be a part of the NCAA Tournament.

Leaving nothing to chance Sunday, the No. 21 Shockers led wire-to-wire, thumping top-seeded Illinois State 71-51 at Scottrade Center for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title and a sixth straight NCAA bid.

Conner Frankamp tallied a game-high 19 points for second-seeded Wichita State (30-4), earning Most Outstanding Player honors for the tournament. Markis McDuffie added 16 and freshman guard Landry Shamet hit for 14 points.

But the story was the Shockers' defense, which cut off the Redbirds (27-6) at every turn. Illlinois State canned just 29.3 percent of its field goal tries and 21.4 percent of its 3, flailing and failing repeatedly as it sought good shots but settled for poor ones.

"I'll put us up against any team in the country," Shamet said. "We deserve this recognition, being one of the top teams in the country. Not just mid-majors ... we're in there with the top teams in the nation."

Wichita State stumbled in the MVC tourney last March, suffering an upset loss to eventual champion Northern Iowa in the semifinals, and had to settle for a berth in the First Four. It beat Vanderbilt and Arizona before falling to Miami (Fla.) in its third game in five days.

There was speculation that if the Shockers botched the MVC tourney this weekend that they could suffer a similar fate despite outscoring opponents by nearly 20 points per game and entering the event with a 12-game winning streak.

Instead, they emphatically took care of business and left the worrying to the Redbirds, whose meltdown not only included poor shooting but 28 fouls and three technicals. That included the ejection of leading scorer Deontae Hawkins with 5:06 remaining when he drew his second technical foul after fouling out with only five points.

"We picked a bad day to have a bad day," Illinois State coach Dan Muller said. "Hopefully, they'll look at the full body of work we have, and obviously, we want to be in."

MVC Player of the Year Paris Lee tried to rally the Redbirds at various points, finishing with 18 points, but simply didn't have enough help. Half of MiKyle McIntosh's 16 happened after Wichita State owned a 23-point lead on McDuffie's 3-pointer with 5:02 remaining.

By then, the Shocker fans in a bi-partisan crowd of 11,744 were in celebration mode, fully enjoying their team's second MVC tourney title in 30 years and their fourth 30-win season in six years.

"Thirty wins in a season is amazing," Frankamp said. "We just hope to keep it going into the tournament and not see this end for a long time. This is great."

Wichita State wasted no time putting its stamp on the game, establishing a 10-2 lead 3 1/2 minutes into the day on a Zach Brown layup. It was a lead it wouldn't relinquish, even on the occasions where Lee was able to convert shots.

He scored seven points in a row after the Shockers' early run, cutting the deficit to 13-9, and added a long 3-pointer late in the half to slash the margin to 33-25 at intermission.

But after Lee's last bucket, a driving layup with 11:19 left, pulled Illinois State within 46-37, Wichita State ended the suspense. It rattled off eight straight points -- all at the line -- and boosted the lead to 17 at the 9:37 mark.

All that remained from there was for the game to skulk through a foul-filled ending until Shockers like Rashard Kelly, who marked the occasion by jumping on the scorer's table, could go into celebration mode.

As for the Redbirds, it's contemplation mode. Their at-large candidacy does have one booster on the other bench.

"They didn't show it today, but I think they're a quality team," Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said. "I think Illinois State is capable of winning a game or two. I told Dan Muller, 'You had a really good year. I'll be pulling for you.'"

NOTES: This was the first meeting of regular season co-champs for the MVC tourney championship since 2002, when Creighton dumped Southern Illinois. ... Since losing to Creighton in the 2013 MVC title game, Wichita State is 75-6 against conference opponents. Three of those losses have occurred against Illinois State. ... Redbirds coach Dan Muller had a chance to become only the second man to ever win the MVC tourney as a player and coach. The only one to do it is Chris Lowery, who was part of two title-winners as a player at SIU and one as a coach.