CHICAGO -- No. 15 Wichita State (13-2, 3-0 MVC) travels to face surprising Loyola (12-3, 2-1 MVC) Sunday afternoon a 4:00 p.m. CT at the Gentile Center.
WSU is tied with Indiana State for the MVC lead at 3-0. Loyola – picked last in the MVC preseason poll - enters the weekend in a three-way for third at 2-1 with an RPI of 46.
LAST TIME OUT:
The Shockers trailed Bradley 32-31 midway through the second half Wednesday but outscored the Braves 32-11 over the final 12:23 to stay unbeaten at home.
Loyola is coming off an impressive 71-70 win at Evansville. The Ramblers, who finished 4-14 last year in their inaugural MVC season, won their first-ever Valley road game.
THE MATCHUP:
WSU swept both games from Loyola during the 2013-14 season. The teams share only one common opponent, to date. Loyola opened MVC play with a 64-49 home win over Bradley.
WSU's 21 consecutive MVC wins, dating back to the start of the 2013-14 conference season, is tied with Oklahoma (1927-28) and Missouri (1919-20) for the sixth-longest streak in Valley history. Southern Illinois' 22 straight (Feb. 2003 to March, 2004) are the most by a current member.
The Shockers were 7-1 against Loyola's Porter Moster during his time as Illinois State head coach from 2003-07 (with the only loss coming in Normal during Moser's final season). They're 2-0 against him at Loyola.
COVERAGE:
The game can be seen on ESPNU with online streaming available on the WatchESPN app or online at WatchESPN.com. Mitch Holthus (Play-By-Play) and Mark Adams (Analyst) have the call... Mike Kennedy - now in his 35th year as Voice of the Shockers - was named Kansas Sportscaster of the Year by the NSSA earlier this week. He'll call his 1,119th consecutive game on the radio side, joined by analyst Bob Hull.
ABOUT THE SHOCKERS:
• The Shockers are 31-6 on the Valley road since the start of the 2010-11 season, and their .838 MVC road winning percentage over that stretch leads the conference.
• Fred VanVleet leads the MVC in assists per game at 5.5 per game and ranks 33rd nationally. He also sports Division I's 14th-highest assist-to-turnover ratio (3.42-to-1) and is on pace to become WSU's all-time assists leader before the year is out. He's a big part of the reason WSU has the nation's 17th highest team assist-to-turnover ratio (1.42). Only six other teams across the country average fewer turnovers than the Shockers (10.1 per contest).
• WSU ranks among the national statistical leaders in several other categories, entering the weekend ranked 28th in scoring margin (+13.7), 17th in turnover margin (+4.1), 48th in offensive rebounds (12.93), 66th in three-pointers (7.5) and 64th in three-point percentage (.374).
• Baker (878) is on pace to reach 1,000 career points on Feb. 4 at Bradley, while Cotton (850) - at his current rate - would hit the mark in the first game of the MVC Tournament.
(CLOSE TO) HOMECOMING FOR VANVLEET:
Fred VanVleet's hometown of Rockford is roughly a two-hour drive from Chicago's north shore, turning any WSU trip to Loyola into a pseudo homecoming. Another large group of Rockford supporters is expected Sunday. VanVleet handled that added pressure well during last year's trip to the Gentile Center, going 6-for-6 from the field and 10-for-10 at the foul line. He also grabbed eight rebounds and handed out six assists with just one turnover. How much does Rockford love VanVleet? His alma mater, Auburn HS, brought him back to deliver the commencement address at last spring's graduation.
AT THE FOUR FRONT:
The Shockers are looking to reach 4-0 in MVC play for the third straight year and for the fourth time in the last five years.... WSU recorded just six starts of 4-0 or better in the 62 years prior to Marshall's arrival.... Each of the nine previous WSU teams to start 4-0 in the MVC went on to finish second-place or better in the final standings. Five of them won conference regular season titles.
MORRIS EMERGES:
Marshall sent forward Shaquille Morris a strong message, leaving his redshirt freshman center home during WSU's trip to Des Moines because of poor practice habits. Morris appears to have taken that message to heart. He sparked the Shockers during his first game back on Jan. 4, recording nine points and three blocks in 10 minutes off the bench to help WSU close out Illinois State. His court time increased twofold in Wednesday victory over Bradley, and Morris responded again with career highs in points (10), rebounds (7) and minutes (20).
TRENDING:
• VanVleet has posted five or more assists in eight of the last nine contests and is averaging 6.1 assists over that stretch (beginning with WSU's Dec. 9 win over Seton Hall).
• Three Shockers rank in the top 10 in the Valley in minutes played. Baker is third (33.1), Cotton ninth (31.2) and VanVleet (31.0) 10th.
ACCESS DENIED:
WSU's three Valley opponents combined to shoot just 34.9 percent (52-of-149) from the field... It helps that 20 of those 149 field goal attempts never made it to the rim... The Shockers have regained some of their shot-blocking mojo from the past two years when they posted the two highest team totals in school history. Last year's 184 was a single-season school record, but WSU had dipped from 5.1 blocks per game a year ago to 2.6 at the end of non-conference play... 20 blocks in the past three contests (6.7 per game) has them back up to 3.4.
MARSHALL JOINS INFINITI COACHES CHALLENGE:
Gregg Marshall is participating for the second straight year in the Infiniti Coaches Challenge. Fans are invited to go online to espn.com/infiniti to vote for their favorite coaches, who are each competing to raise money for a charity of their choice. First round voting opened Jan. 5 and will run through midnight Eastern Time on Jan. 25. The top 24 vote getters from the pool of 48 coaches will advance to the second round. Marshall reached to the Final Four in 2014 and is once again competing on behalf of the Wichita Children's Home. As of Friday Marshall ranked third out of the 48 coaches in Round One voting.
MILESTONE WATCH:
Steals
Fred VanVleet and Tekele Cotton continue to climb WSU's all-time steals list... VanVleet (134 career steals) is in sixth place and needs just 14 more to catch both Aubrey Sherrod and P.J. Couisnard for fourth... Cotton (129) passed up Cheese Johnson for seventh and is three behind VanVleet.
Three-Pointers
With three treys during Wednesday night's win over Bradley, Ron Baker (136 career threes) passed Toure Murry (currently with the Utah Jazz) for ninth on WSU's all-time three-pointers list and needs just four more to draw even with Ryan Herrs (1992-96) for eighth.
Assists
With nine assists against Bradley, VanVleet (364 career assists) moved to within 19 of Paul Guffrovich (1987-91) for seventh. He needs just 67 more to surpass Murry as WSU' s career leader. At his present pace of 5.5 assists per game, VanVleet (just a junior) is on pace to reach that mark in late February.
Games Played
When he checks into Sunday's game, Cotton (who is preparing for his 122nd contest in a Shocker uniform) will be alone in 11th place on WSU's all-time games played list and will be just two games behind Jamar Howard (2001-05) and Randy Burns (2001-05) for ninth... Demetric Williams, a senior on WSU's 2013 Final Four team, holds the current record with 140. Cotton would need to play in all of the remaining regular season games, plus five postseason contests (including the MVC Tournament) to set the record.
Wins
The Dec. 13 win at Detroit made Cotton the second-winningest Shocker of all-time. A Dec. 16 victory over Alabama was the 100th of his WSU career. He currently has 105. Williams (111 wins) has the highest career total.
UP NEXT:
WSU returns to Wichita to face Southern Illinois on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. CT. The game can be seen on Cox Channel Kansas (Cox Cable channel 22, HD 2022).
