WSU Game Notes

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TULSA, Okla. -- Head coach Gregg Marshall goes in search of his 400th career win, Tuesday night at Tulsa (1-0), and No. 9 Wichita State tries to do something no Shocker team has done in over half a century.

WSU (1-0) seeks its fourth-straight win in Tulsa. That would be the Shockers' longest stretch of road success against their former Missouri Valley Conference rival since they captured four-in-a-row between 1956-59.

WSU has won a school-record seven-straight in the series.

Marshall (399-159) is one win away from the 400-mark. He's looking to become just the 12th Division I coach in NCAA history to reach that milestone before the end of his 18th season.

WSU IN THE POLLS
Wichita State gained a spot in both major polls, released Monday, and now sits at No. 9 in the AP and No. 11 in the Coaches... The Shockers extended to the nation's fourth-longest active streak in the Associated Press poll after opening with a Top-10 ranking for the first time in 34 years… The Shockers' current run of 41-straight weeks in the AP rankings is one of the longest in Division I basketball, trailing only Duke (157 weeks), Kansas (125) and Arizona (61)… This is WSU's fourth preseason Top-10 appearance but its first since the 1981-82 campaign when it opened at No. 6 with a roster boasting future NBA standouts Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston… WSU has spent 17 weeks in the Top-10 under head coach Gregg Marshall and 62 overall.
 

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COVERAGE:
 
Telecast---
*On Air: Tuesday night's game will once again air statewide on Cox Channel Kansas (Cox HD 2022), in Kansas City and Lincoln via Time Warner SportsChannel, and on Cox Channel Arkansas and Cox Channel Oklahoma… In addition, Cox Sports Television affiliates across 15 states will carry the game. Click here for a complete list of CST affiliates and channel numbers in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia.
*Online: ESPN3 (subject to blackout in Cox Kansas and KC viewing areas)
*Announcers: Bruce Haertl (PBP) and Bob Hull (Analyst)
 
Radio ---
*FM 103.7 KEYN
*Announcers: Mike Kennedy (PBP), Dave Dahl (Analyst)
 
Social Media ---
*Twitter: @GoShockers, @GoShockersLive
*Facebook: facebook.com/WichitaStateUniversityAthletics
*Instagram: instagram.com/goshockers
*Exposure: goshockers.exposure.co
 

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THE SERIES
WSU leads the all-time series 64-60… WSU's current seven-game winning streak marks a dramatic shift in the power balance. Tulsa had captured 13-straight before WSU's 66-58 home victory on Dec. 20, 2003. The Shockers haven't lost since… This is the 13th meeting between the two teams in the 20 seasons since Tulsa left the MVC. WSU has taken seven of the 12 non-conference games… It's the sixth-consecutive year that the teams have done battle. After the Shockers swept a home-and-home and 2003 and 2004, the series took a six-year break before returning in 2010…. WSU has posted double-figure wins in four-straight meetings with Tulsa. Prior to 2011, they hadn't beaten the Hurricane by 10-or-more points in any game since January of 1983.

Tulsa leads 36-23 on its home floor, but the Shockers have won the last three games at the Reynolds Center… The Shockers haven't won four-straight in Tulsa in over half a century last doing it between 1956-59… Their best stretch of road success in the 85-year series came over a two-decade period surrounding World War II (1931, 46-49).
 
2014-15 MEETING
The Shockers built a 40-22 halftime lead, and Ron Baker sank a career-high six three-pointers to earn WSU a 75-55 victory in the most recent matchup (Nov. 29, 2014 in Wichita)… Fred VanVleet dished out nine assists and a game-high 21 points… WSU used a 22-4 run beginning at the 13:18 mark of the first half to bust the game open.

ACTIVE SHOCKERS vs. TULSA
Baker, VanVleet and Wessel are both 3-0 against Tulsa. No other Shocker has faced them more than once… That trio, plus walk-ons John Robert Simon and Zach Bush are the only Shockers who have played a game at Tulsa…. Baker has saved some of his best three-point shooting for the Hurricanes. He hit six in the game last year and five in the 2013 trip to Tulsa. He's 13-of-23 overall (.565) from three-point range in three meetings… VanVleet (17.0 points per game in three meetings with Tulsa) sports a 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio (20 assists, 4 turnovers). He dished out nine helpers without a turnover in last year's contest.

ROAD WARRIORS
.757  - WSU's national-best road winning percentage over the last six years. Since the start of the 2009-10 season, the Shockers are 53-17 in hostile territory.

Team    W-L    Pct.
1. Wichita State - 53-17 (.757)
2. Gonzaga - 46-17 (.730)
3. Murray State - 59-23 (.720)
4. Kansas - 43-20 (.683)

SCOUTING TULSA
Tulsa returns all five starters and nine lettermen from a team that closed strong for a top-50 RPI, a runner-up finish in the American Athletic Conference standings, an NIT bid, and the program's first postseason win since 2009... Guards Shaquille Harrison and James Woodard were both all-conference performers a year ago… In its regular season opener, Tulsa shot 59 percent and had six players score in double-figure in a 98-81 win over Central Arkansas… Woodard and Harrison each finished with four steals.
 
NOV. 29, 2014 (WICHITA) --  #9 WSU 75, Tulsa 55
The Shockers built a 40-22 halftime lead, and Ron Baker sank a career-high six three-pointers to earn WSU a 75-55 victory in the most recent matchup (Nov. 29, 2014 in Wichita)… Fred VanVleet dished out nine assists and a game-high 21 points… WSU used a 22-4 run beginning at the 13:18 mark of the first half to bust the game open.

SEASON OPENER (Nov. 13) --  WSU 88, CHARLESTON SO. 63
Playing most of the night without All-American Fred VanVleet, who suffered a mild ankle sprain in the opening minutes, WSU's young guards stepped up to deliver a 25-point win. Veteran Ron Baker handled point guard duties effectively, dishing out three assists without a turnover, while scoring a game-high 15 points… Freshmen guards Landry Shamet and Ty Taylor II tallied 13 and 10 points respectively… 15 Shockers saw action, and 13 of them scored… The game featured 66 fouls, 39 of them from Charleston Southern, and WSU capitalized by hitting 31-of-41 free throw attempts… WSU's 41 free throw opportunities matched the Gregg Marshall era high, previously set in the 2013 NCAA Tournament against Pitt, and the 39 Buccaneer fouls bested the previous Marshall era high of 30 (Indiana State, 2011-12 in 3OT)… The Shocker bench churned out 51 points.

NEWCOMERS IMPRESSIVE
WSU had impressive contributions out of its new roster additions. Four of the five double-figure scorers were newcomers. From the Mike Kennedy research machine: The five WSU newcomers combined for 50 points in the opener, which ties the 1979-80 class for the best group debut in school history.  Shocker fans have some fond memories of the latter group, which was led by a couple of future NBA first-rounders in Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston.

2015-16 Newcomers: 50 points
Eric Hamilton, Fr. - 13
Landry Shamet, Fr. - 13
Anton Grady, Sr. - 12
Ty Taylor II, Fr. - 10
Markis McDuffie, Fr. - 2

1979-80 Newcomers: 50 points
Antoine Carr, Fr. - 19
Randy Smithson, Jr. - 10
Cliff Levingston, Fr. - 9
Mike Jones, So. - 8
Ozell Jones, Fr. – 4

CHASING 400
Head coach Gregg Marshall (398-159, 18th season) is one win shy of the 400 mark… He'd be only the 12th Division I coach in history to hit that milestone within his first 18 seasons… Marshall entered the year 17th among active Division I head coaches in career winning percentage (.715) and 49th in total victories… Marshall's 205-76 (.730) mark at WSU is 15 wins shy of all-time wins leader Ralph Miller (220-133).

BULL IN A CHINA SHOP
Gregg Marshall calls talented freshman forward Eric Hamilton a "bull in a china shop." The 6-foot-8 Hamilton did damage to Charleston Southern in the opener, finishing with 13 points, seven rebounds and a block in just 15 minutes of action (32.5 pts, 17.5 reb per 40 minutes). Hamilton missed just one shot on the night, connecting on 3-of-4 from the field, including his only three-point attempt, and he knocked down all six free throw tries.

SIMON SURPRISES
Walk-on junior point guard John Robert Simon gave the Shockers a much-needed lift in the first half of Friday's game. With VanVleet on the bench and WSU's young guards struggling to find cohesion, Marshall turned to Simon for a five-minute stretch in the first half. He immediately forced a steal and converted a layup and later zipped a no-look pass to a cutting Baker for two more points. Simon finished the night with four points and set new career-highs for assists (3) and minutes (8).

NOVEMBERS TO REMEMBER
WSU is in search of its 21st consecutive November win (last losing at Tennessee on Dec. 13, 2012).

On this Date: WSU is 3-1 (.750) all-time on Nov. 17, most recently beating Howard, 69-50, in a Cancun Challenge preliminary matchup. Each of the four previous games were in some way tied to an exempt tournament, including a 67-58 win over Colorado in the first round of the Puerto Rico Tipoff (2011). The Shockers fell to Monmouth in the U.S. Virgin Island (2007) and took down Radford in the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks (2001).
 
NON-CONFERENCE CONFIDENCE
WSU is 46-5 (.902) against regular season non-conference opponents since the start of the 2010-11 season. With Illinois' home loss to North Florida over the weekend, WSU now has the nation's third-longest non-conference home winning streak (32 games), trailing only Minnesota (45) and Duke (118).
 
A SHOCKER VICTORY WOULD…
… give head coach, Gregg Marshall 400 for his career.
… improve Marshall's career record against Tulsa to 6-0.
… be their eighth-straight against Tulsa, extending their school record.
… give them four-straight in Tulsa for the first time since 1959.
… expand their lead in the all-time series to 65-60.
… give them 21-consecutive November wins, dating back to 2012.
… up their record against non-conference opponents to 47-5 (.904) since the start of the 2010-11 season.
... be WSU's fifth-consecutive road win and improve the Shockers national-best road winning percentage to .746 (54-17) since the start of the 2009-10 season.
 
NEXT UP
The Shockers return home to face Emporia State at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21 on Cox Channel Kansas. WSU leads the all-time series 41-28 (21-12 in Wichita), with the bulk of the action taking place in the first half of the 20th century. The Shockers defeated the Division II Hornets 93-50 in the 2013-14 regular season opener. The teams also squared off in exhibition games in 2008 and 2011. This is the fourth regular season game in five years for WSU against an in-state Division II foe.