WICHITA, Kan. -- With ESPN's College GameDay as a lead-in, the eyes of the nation will watch No. 11 Wichita State (26-3, 16-1 MVC) and No. 10 Northern Iowa (27-2, 16-1 MVC) go head-to-head for the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title, Saturday afternoon on ESPN.
The defending champion Shockers are looking for their ninth MVC title since joining the league in 1946 and their third in the past four seasons.They're seeking back-to-back crowns for the first time since 1964 and 65.
Click here for more information on attending the GameDay taping.
COVERAGE:
Catch ESPN College GameDay - Presented by State Farm - from 9-10 a.m. CT on ESPNU and continuing live from 10-11 a.m. on ESPN from Charles Koch Arena... The game will air on ESPN, with streaming available via WatchESPN... Rich Hollenberg (play-by-play) and Mark Adams (analyst) have the call, along with Seth Greenberg (“Behind the Bench”)... Mike Kennedy - now in his 35th year as Voice of the Shockers and recently named Kansas Sportscaster of the Year - will work his 1,133rd consecutive game on the radio side, joined by Dave Dahl on 103.7 KEYN/goshockers.com.
PROMOTION:
Any day that the Shockers play, fans get 50 percent off online orders at any Wichita area Papa John's. Log on to papajohns.com and use the promo code "Shocker 70" to receive the Shocker discount.
OPENING TIPS:
--- This is the third time in the past five years that the Shockers have played a winner-take all final game for the Valley title but the first in which they've had the benefit of home court advantage. WSU dropped a 69-64 decision at Missouri State in 2011 and fell 91-79 at Creighton in 2013... While neither won a conference championship, those two Shocker squads went on to enjoy two of the longest postseason runs in school history, with an NIT title and Final Four.
--- WSU has only played one other head-to-head title clash in the finale in its history. The 1963-64 Shockers tied with Drake at 10-2, resulting in a one-game playoff in Lawrence, Kan. for the right to compete in the NCAA Tournament. WSU won that game 58-50.
--- WSU locked up a share of its 2012 MVC championship with two games to go and clinched it outright in game 17.. In 2014, the Shockers won the Valley by a full six games over Indiana State...
--- WSU had already clinched a piece of the MVC crown in 2006 but earned the title outright with a final-day win over 4-14 Illinois St...
--- UNI dropped its MVC opener at Evansville but has since won a school-record 16 straight games. The Shockers have won seven in a row in the aftermath of a 70-54 loss at UNI on Jan. 31.
--- The Shockers have won six of the last eight meetings in the series but trail 26-24 all-time... Three straight wins in Wichita have given the Shockers a 15-8 edge at Charles Koch Arena.
--- WSU and UNI both rank in the top 10 nationally in scoring defense. The Shockers (55.7) are ninth, and UNI (53.9) is fourth...Ken Pomeroy pegs UNI as the fourth-slowest paced team in Division I based on possessions per game (58.6). Of the 351 total teams, the Shockers (62.5) rank just outside the top 60.
--- WSU is 8-11 against nationally-ranked foes under Gregg Marshall... The Shockers last faced a top-10 team at home on Jan. 19, 2013 when they defeated Creighton (No. 10, Coaches Poll), 67-64...
Evansville (2012-13) and Missouri State (2010-11) are the only two MVC teams to have swept a regular season series from WSU over the past six seasons.
--- Saturday's matchup features a pair of Oscar Robertson Trophy candidates. WSU's Ron Baker and UNI's Seth Tuttle were both listed among the 14 finalists, Thursday, for the U.S. Basketball Writers Association's national player of the year award.
A HOME RUN:
--- WSU's 31 consecutive home wins is the nation's fourth-longest active streak behind NC Central (32), Arizona (34) and Gonzaga (40) and is tied for the sixth-longest in MVC history with Southern Illinois (2001-03) and Oklahoma State (1936-40)... A win on Feb. 28 vs. UNI would cap a second straight undefeated home season SIU's 33 (2003-06) is the longest by a current member of the Valley. Cincinnati's 86 (1957-64) is the gold standard... The Shockers are 54-8 at home against the MVC since the start of the 2008-09 season and have won 17 straight conference games at Koch Arena.
ROUND NUMBERS:
Gregg Marshall notched his 200th victory as WSU head coach and his 100th MVC win on Wednesday night. He's second only to Ralph Miller (220) on the school's all-time wins list and is only the ninth coach in Valley history to reach triple-digits in conference play.
POLL VAULTING
The Shockers moved up two spots in in both major polls and now rank 11th in each... WSU has been ranked as high as No. 8 (Dec. 1) and as low as No. 16 (Feb. 3) in the AP Poll this year... A school-record run of 36-straight weeks in the rankings began with the 2013-14 preseason poll.
BAKER REACHES 1,000; COTTON & VANVLEET CLOSING IN
Ron Baker became the 43rd member of the Shockers' 1,000 point club on Feb. 8... Tekele Cotton (22 points) and Fred VanVleet (54) could both join him before the year is out.... It would mark the first time in Shocker history that a trio of scorers have all hit that milestone in the same season. WSU has had seven previous duos join the 1,000-point club together.
PEAK OF THE VALLEY
WSU, 147-27 since the start of the 2010-11 season, has the highest winning percentage in Division I over that span (.845)... The Shockers are 37-1 against MVC teams (including conference tournament games) over the last two seasons.
FRED EX DELIVERS
Fred VanVleet moved past Toure' Murry on Feb. 22 to become WSU's all-time assists leader. As tabulated by the Sunflower's James Kellerman, VanVleet's favorite target has been Ron Baker. The duo has teamed up 80 times for Shocker baskets over the past three seasons. Cleanthony Early (75), Tekele Cotton (70) and Darius Carter (61) rank second through fourth on the list.
BAKER THE MAKER
Ron Baker owns the two longest three-point streaks in school history, hitting at least one trey in 27-straight games this year (a streak that ended on Feb. 25 at Indiana State). He also had a 22-gamer last year. No other Shocker has had a string longer than 16... Baker needs 21 more threes to match Sean Ogirri for the single-season record.
BAKER WINS MVC HONOR
For the third time this year and the fifth in his Wichita State career, men's basketball junior Ron Baker was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week. Baker averaged 15.5 points, 11.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists in two Shocker wins last week. He tallied his first career double-double in Sunday's victory over Evansville, putting up 18 points and a career-high 15 boards. The Shockers have won the award fives times this year. VanVleet and Carter have also taken a turn.
NOTABLE:
--- Darius Carter's 19 dunks matches his team-leading total from last year.. The 2013-14 shockers had 71 slams. The current Shockers have 65.
--- Carter and the Shockers have won 17 of their last 19 jump balls overall.
--- The Shocker women (22-4,14-1 MVC) are also out to a successful start and rank No. 2 nationally in scoring defense (49.9 points per game). The men (55.8 pts) rank ninth nationally in that category.
--- WSU's veteran trio of guards (Baker, VanVleet and Cotton) have played a combined 322 games and made 237 starts...
MILESTONE WATCH (Full lists in PDF version)
Steals --- VanVleet has ramped up his production with 14 steals in the last six games. His 157 career thefts are now third on the career list.... Tekele Cotton needs three more to catch Aubrey Sherrod and PJ Couisnard for fifth.
Three-Pointers --- Ron Baker (168 career threes) is fifth all-time and is chasing Jason Perez (196), Terrell Benton (197) and Sean Ogirri (200) for fourth through second. Randy Burns (248) is the all-time leader.
Games Played --- Cotton is tied for 10th on the NCAA's active career games played list (all levels) and is prepping for his 136th contest as a Shocker. That would tie him for fifth on WSU all-time list with Aaron Ellis (2007-11). Each of the top-six on the list have played under Gregg Marshall, led by 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.
UP NEXT:
WSU will compete in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament next weekend in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center. The winner of the WSU-UNI showdown will be the No. 1 seed, and the loser will be the No. 2 seed in the 10-team draw.
