WICHITA, Kan. - No. 9 Wichita State (3-0) will pay a special tribute to the MTXE era when longtime rival Tulsa (3-2) comes to town on Saturday for a 2 p.m. tipoff.

The Shockers will dress in MTXE throwback jerseys, similar to those worn by former head coach Gene Smithson's teams from 1978-86, when WSU enjoyed one of the most successful runs in school history.

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COVERAGE:

Tipoff is slated for 2:00 p.m. Central Time, and the game will be televised on Cox Channel Kansas (Cox Cable channel 22, HD 2022), with Bruce Haertl  and Bob Hull on the call. ShockerVision subscribers can stream the game online through goshockers.com. Those outside the Cox viewing area may also tune in on ESPN3.com... The Voice of the Shockers, Mike Kennedy - now in his 35th year - will call his 1,107th consecutive game on the radio side and will be joined by Dave Dahl. Fans can tune in locally on KEYN 103.7 FM or online at goshockers.com.

THE STAKES:

• Several Shocker streaks are on the line Saturday, most notably a run of 34-consecutive regular season wins (the nation's longest active string). A 12-0 start to the year would place the Shockers among the top-10 all-time in that category.

• WSU will look to finish out its third-consecutive unbeaten November. Its last November setback came against Temple (78-74 OT) in the third-place game of the 2011 Puerto Rico shootout... The Shockers' last November loss at homewas over five years ago (Nov. 19, 2009) when UMKC stunned them 66-63.

• Bragging rights are also on the line. A win Saturday would give the Shockers seven straight wins over Tulsa, which would be their longest-ever streak in a series that dates back to 1931. WSU strung together six-consecutive wins between Feb. 1987 and Jan. 1989.

• WSU was one of 46 Division I unbeatens heading into Friday. The Shockers opened at 9-0 in 2012-13 and posted college hoops' first-ever 35-0 start a year ago. The Shockers have won 33 of their last 34 non-conference games, dating back to Nov. 25, 2011...

THE ALL-TIME SERIES WITH TULSA

Overall:     WSU leads series 63-60
In Wichita:     WSU leads 35-23
In Tulsa:    Tulsa leads 34-27
Neutral:    Tulsa leads 3-1

This is the 124th meeting in a series that dates back to 1931. The teams met twice or more annually from 1946-96, while both were members of the Missouri Valley Conference... This is the 12th non-conference meeting in the 19 years since Tulsa left the Valley... Even though the two no longer share the same conference, Tulsa remains the Shockers' third most-played opponents, after Drake and Bradley...  The Shockers have won six straight, four of them under Gregg Marshall, turning the tide on what had become a very one-sided affair. Prior to WSU's December, 2003 win in Wichita, Tulsa had won 13 straight and 16 of 17... A total of 10 games in the series have gone into overtime.

MTXE HISTORY LESSON

Basketball fans around the country now associate the slogan “Play Angry” with the Shockers. Over three decades ago, former head coach Gene Smithson popularized his own motto: MTXE (which stands for Mental Toughness eXtra Effort). That philosophy helped WSU shape one of the greatest stretches in program history between 1978 and 86, when Smithson's teams compiled  a 155-81 record with two Missouri Valley Conference titles and a trip to the Elite Eight. All-Americans Cliff Levingston, Antoine Carr and Xavier McDaniel went on to enjoy long NBA careers.

THE COACHES:

• Gregg Marshall, the reigning National Coach of the Year, is in his eighth season at WSU and is 177-71 (.714). That includes a staggering 124-24 mark since the start of the 2010-11 season - tops in all of Division I. He needs just 43 more victories to catch Ralph Miller atop the school's all-time wins list. Marshall is 371-154 overall in 17 seasons....

• Frank Haith is in his first season at Tulsa, following stops at Miami (129-101, 7 yrs) and Missouri (76-28, 3 yrs)... He's 208-131, overall, in 10 years as a head coach with eight postseason trips, including three NCAA tournament bids. His 2011-12 team at Mizzou won the Big 12 Tournament title.

• Head to Head: This is the first time that Marshall and Haith have crossed paths as head coaches and Haith's first encounter with WSU... Marshall is 4-0 all-time vs. Tulsa, with all four coming during his tenure at WSU.

RUST OR REST?

WSU and Tulsa have had remarkably different weeks, from a scheduling standpoint. The Shockers dismantled Division II Newman last Sunday, 105-57, then took three days off completely for Thanksgiving. Many of the players traveled home. Tulsa, meanwhile, packed in tournament games on Monday and Wednesday in Las Vegas. The Hurricane turned in a strong defensive effort in a 53-35 semifinal win over Auburn before falling 73-58 to Oklahoma State in the championship game.

BAKER NAMED MVC PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Junior guard Ron Baker was named MVC Player of the Week on Nov. 24 for his efforts in wins over Memphis and Newman... Baker averaged 19.5 points, 4.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals, while shooting 50-percent from three-point range (6-of-12). He also went 9-of-11 from the foul line...It's the third time in two years that Baker has been named conference player of the week. Shocker players received the award a total of five times during the 2013-14 season... Baker becomes only the fourth Shocker in recorded history to be named MVC Player of the Week three or more times, joining Xavier McDaniel (4), Jason Perez (4) and Lynbert “Cheese” Johnson (3).

COTTON RETURNS

WSU guard Tekele Cotton is excpted to be back in the lineup after missing the Newman contest, due to a badly jammed middle finger on his right hand. It was just the second missed game of Cotton's Shocker career and ended the team's longest active starting streak at 53 games. Marshall has opted to hold his senior defensive stopper out of practice, as well, and is hoping 10 days of rest is sufficient time  to get Cotton back to full strength.

FRESH FACES

In Cotton's absence, redshirt freshman Shaquille Morris made his first career start. Morris became only the seventh freshman starter of the Marshall era, joining Ron Baker (15 starts), Toure Murry (34), Garrett Stutz (12), Aaron Ellis (4), Graham Hatch (3) and Demetric Williams (1)... Each of the three Shockers who made double-digit starts as freshmen went on to earn All-MVC honors at least once in their WSU career.

FRONT MEN

The Shockers have trailed for a total of one minute, 41 seconds through the first three games. Memphis (1:19) led 2-0, while Newman (0:22) briefly held a 7-6 lead... The Shockers' latest deficit in any game came at the 17:20 mark of the first half against Memphis, and they've held the lead in every game from the 16:56-mark on.

ALL A-BOARD

WSU outrebounded Newman 57-27 (33-12 in the second half). The Shockers' +30 rebounding margin was their largest since Jan. 7, 2003 when they whipped Indiana State on the glass, 49-19, on their way to a 71-55 victory at the Kansas Coliseum... The current school record for rebounding margin is 37 (vs. Oklahoma City), set in 1962.

SPEAKING OF REBOUNDING

The Shockers' success under Gregg Marshall stems from their ability to limit the opponent's second-chance opportunities. Since Marshall's arrival in 2007, WSU has never ranked lower than 11th nationally in defensive rebounding percentage.

OTHER NOTABLE NOTES

• WSU's veteran core of guards has made life miserable for the opposition. Shocker foes are averaging an ugly 19.7 turnovers per game for an unsightly assist-to-turnover ratio of 23-to-58.

• With Tekele Cotton missing last week's game, Ron Baker is now WSU's active leader with 44 consecutive starts. Fred VanVleet ranks second at 39 in-a-row.

• After an 0-for-17 start to the year, WSU is 14-of-33 from three-point range over its last 60 minutes of basketball, raising the season percentage of .280.

• Through two games, WSU's Big-Four of Baker/Carter/Cotton/VanVleet had taken 76 percent of the team's shots. Cotton's absence from the lineup and some extended time for WSU's reserves during the Newman game has swung some of the balance on the stat sheet, dropping that shot percentage to 64.6 percent.

STEALY RESOLVE:

Fred VanVleet (who entered the weekend tied for third nationally with 4.0 steals per game) and Tekele Cotton have both moved into the top 10 on the WSU's career steals list... VanVleet tied a single-game school record with seven steals in WSU's season opener against New Mexico State (joining a club that includes teammate Cotton and three others). He added four more against Memphis last Tuesday and another vs. Newman... VanVleet's 69 steals last year were the second-highest total in school history, behind his former mentor Malcom Armstead, who recorded 76 during the 2012-13 campaign... VanVleet's effort against Memphis helped him leap both Xavier McDaniel and Paul Guffrovich for seventh on the all-time steals list.


WINNING STREAK WATCH:

With home losses by Florida (69-67 to Miami) and Stephen F. Austin (79-77 in OT to Northern Iowa) this week, the Shockers now have the nation's  seventh-longest active home winning streak (18)...WSU has won 24 straight games in which it has scored at least 80 points, dating back to a 93-86, 3 OT loss at Drake in January of 2012.

Regular season - 34 (National Best)
Home - 19 (7th)
True road - 12
Charles Koch Arena, Home of Devlin Court - 18
Home, Non-Conference - 27 (9th)
November - 18
Home, November - 18
Missouri Valley Conference - 18 (MVC Best)
Non-Conference, Regular Season - 18