Game Notes: Wichita State | USC   Tournament Central

---

#20 Wichita State (2-1) vs. Southern California (4-0)
AdvoCare Invitational Quarterfinals
Nov. 26 | 1:00 p.m. CT
Orlando, Fla. | Disney Wide World of Sports Complex | HP Field House

Telecast --
On Air: ESPN2
Online: WatchESPN
Announcers: Dave O'Brien & Miles Simon

Radio --
On Air: KEYN 103.7 FM
Online: goshockers.com/watch
Announcers: Mike Kennedy & Bob Hull

Social Media ---
Twitter: @GoShockers, @GoShockersLive
Facebook: facebook.com/WichitaStateUniversityAthletics
Instagram: instagram.com/goshockers
Exposure: goshockers.exposure.co
 

---

OPENING TIPS
• No. 20/20 Wichita State travels to the Sunshine State for three games in four days in the 2015 AdvoCare Invitational at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Fla.
• The Shockers (2-1) take on Southern California (4-0) in Thursday's quarterfinal round (2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT on ESPN2).
• The winner meets the survivor of a quarterfinal matchup between Alabama and Xavier in Friday's semifinals (2:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. CT on ESPNU), while the losers square off in a Noon consolation bracket matchup (11 a.m. CT/ ESPN3).

WSU ON THE TOURNAMENT CIRCUIT
• Wichita State's entry into the AdvoCare Invitational marks the 11th-straight year that the Shockers have participated in an exempt regular season tournament.
• WSU is 10-1 (4-0 in preliminary round games and 6-1 on-site) over the last three years with three-straight championship game appearances.
• The Shockers won the 2012 Cancun Challenge and the 2013 CBE Classic (Kansas City, Mo.), then claimed a runner-up finish at the 2014 Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu, Hawaii).
• Since a heartbreaking quarterfinal loss to eventual national champion UConn in the 2011 Maui Invitational, the Shockers have won four-straight tournament openers.
• WSU is making its second appearance in this particular tournament, last competing seven years ago. The Shockers finished sixth place with a 1-2 record in the 2008 Old Spice Classic (its former name) with losses to No. 21 Georgetown (58-50) and No. 5 Michigan State (65-57) and a win over Siena (72-70).
• WSU is the fifth MVC team to compete in the tournament since its inception in 2006. The Valley is a combined 5-7 in four previous appearances with its best finish coming in 2011 when Indiana State defeated Texas Tech and Fairfield to claim third.
• WSU is slated to appear in the 2017 Maui Jim Maui Invitational alongside California, LSU, Marquette, Michigan, Notre Dame, VCU and host Chaminade, Nov. 20-22, 2017 on the island of Maui. Its 2016 destination has not been formally announced.

ABOUT WSU
Two-time defending MVC Champion Wichita State is led by preseason All-Americans and two-time All-Valley selections Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet. The ninth-ranked Shockers are in search of their fifth-straight NCAA Tournament trip in 2016 and are coming off back-to-back-to-back 30-win seasons. WSU returns three starters and nine total lettermen from a team that finished 30-5 and advanced to the Sweet 16.

HITTING 400
Head coach Gregg Marshall (400-160, 18th season) earned his 400th career win on Saturday against Emporia State. He becomes just the 12th Division I coach in history to reach that milestone before the end of his 18th season… Marshall (206-77) needs to just 14 more wins to match Naismith Hall of Famer, Ralph Miller (220-133) atop WSU's all-time wins list.

A SHOCKER VICTORY WOULD…
… give WSU a 3-1 lead in the all-time series with USC.
… improve WSU to 3-2 against the PAC-12 under Marshall.
… give Marshall 401 career wins
… give Marshall 206 wins at WSU and move him to within 13 victories of the school's all-time leader, Ralph Miller.
… up their record against non-conference opponents to 48-6 (.889) since the start of the 2010-11 season.
. . . give WSU a first round win in an exempt tourney for the fifth year in a row.

THE SERIES WITH USC & THE PAC-12
This is just the fourth meeting all-time between WSU and USC. The Shockers carried a No. 8 national ranking into the most recent matchup on December 23, 2006, following road wins over half of the 2005 Final Four (LSU and George Mason) and an additional road victory at nationally-ranked Syracuse, but they had rough time at the Las Vegas Classic, falling to New Mexico in the semifinals and to USC in the third-place game (60-56)… WSU won the two previous meetings in 1958 and 1935, both in Wichita… The Shockers are 28-32 all-time against current members of the PAC-12… This is Gregg Marshall's first encounter with USC and just his fifth with a PAC-12 school since arriving at WSU in 2007. The Shockers are 2-2 vs. the PAC-12 under Marshall,  blitzing Washington State in the 2011 NIT semifinals (75-44) and defeating Colorado the following year in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Puerto Rico Tipoff. They fell at home to Stanford in the 2008 CBI quarterfinals and, last December, dropped an overtime thriller at No. 25 Utah to end their 35-game regular season winning streak.

WSU IN THE POLLS
No. 20 Wichita State extended the nation's fourth-longest active streak in the Associated Press poll to 42-straight weeks, trailing only Duke (158), Kansas (126) and Arizona (62)... A loss at Tulsa dropped the Shockers to No, 20 in both polls. It's the first time they've dipped below No. 17 in either set of rankings since the start of the 2013-14 campaign... WSU tumbled 11 spots in the AP poll and nine slots in the Coaches rankings... The Shockers' preseason No. 10 ranking in the AP marked their fourth preseason Top-10 appearance but their first since the 1981-82 campaign when they 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.

LAST TIME OUT: WSU 76, EMPORIA STATE 54
Ron Baker scored 23 points for the second-straight game, and WSU trounced Division II Emporia State 76-54… At halftime, ESU nearly had more turnovers (12) than points (13) against the Shocker defense… The Hornets' 13 point first-half tied for the lowest scoring half by a Shocker opponent in the nine-year Gregg Marshall era... WSU took control early with a 16-0 run to go up 20-4 midway through the first half and took a 38-13 lead into the break… Bush Wamukota grabbed a career-high seven rebounds and scored six points... WSU extended the nation's third-longest home winning streak to 34 games and recorded its 33rd-straight sellout at Charles Koch Arena. Both streaks extend back to the tail end of the 2012-13 season.

VANVLEET QUESTIONABLE
Senior All-American Fred VanVleet started but played just three minutes in the opener (Nov. 13) after twisting his ankle. He played 30 minutes at Tulsa (Nov. 17) but was limited by a sore hamstring. VanVleet reluctantly took the day off on Saturday in hopes of speeding his recovery. It marked the first time in his four-year career that VanVleet had missed a game and snapped streaks of 73-consecutive starts and 112-consecutive games played… Ron Baker – who projects as a point guard at the NBA level - has taken on some of those duties in VanVleet's absence.

SHAMET OUT
Marshall announced at his Monday press conference that, pending an MRI, freshman guard Landry Shamet has experienced a likely stress fracture and will be out for several weeks. Shamet averaged 8.7 points and 2.7 rebounds in 19.7 minutes through the first three contests. His five steals are tied with Baker for the team lead.

FOLLOWING IN BAKER'S FOOTSTEPS
Shamet has drawn comparisons to Ron Baker since the moment he  arrived on campus. Both are versatile, 6-foot-4 combo guards. Like the freshman version of Baker, teammates and coaches were immediately impressed with Shamet's poise, court awareness and work ethic. Baker was an immediate starter as a redshirt freshman. Shamet earned his first start in just his third collegiate game... Unfortunately, the similarities aren't all good. Baker suffered a stress fracture and missed 21 games (Dec. 20-early March) during that redshirt freshman season (2012-13)... Shamet also appears destined to miss multiple weeks in his freshman year with the same injury... Of course, Baker famously returned for the start of the conference tournament and was a crucial spark for the Shockers in their run to the 2013 Final Four.

DON'T FORGET FRANKAMP
WSU will have a much different look by January as VanVleet and Shamet return to form and sophomore transfer Conner Frankamp makes his debut. Frankamp - a Wichita high school standout who broke Perry Ellis' City League career scoring record with 2,275 points- is eligible to compete beginning Dec. 12 when the Shockers host Utah. The Kansas transfer broke out with 22 points in two NCAA Tournaments games for the Jayhawks in 2013.

BAKER OFF TO A SIZZLING START
Baker has been strong out of the gate leading the team in scoring in each of the first three contests. He's averaging 20.3 points per game, up from 14.7 as a junior and 13.1 as a sophomore... Baker moved into the top-25 on WSU's all-time scoring list on Saturday, passing 1970's era Shockers Cal Bruton and Robert Elmore. His 1,206 career points now rank 24th, and he's on pace to move into the top-10 by the end of the year.

A+ GRADY
Cleveland State transfer Anton Grady has been a key addition in the post. He ranks second in scoring (11.3 points) and is the team's leading rebounder at 5.7 per game… Grady was a force down the stretch against Tulsa, with 14 second-half points on 4-of-6 shooting (5-of-6 at the foul line).

QUICK HITS
•  WSU's reserves produced big numbers in wins over Charleston Southern (51 bench points) and Emporia State (31) but struggled in the loss at Tulsa (8).
• The Shockers have had a different leading rebounder in each of the first three games (Hamilton, 7 vs. CSU; Grady, 9 at Tulsa; Wamukota, 7 vs. ESU).