Game Notes: Wichita State (PDF) | Evansville (PDF)

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#22/25 WICHITA STATE (15-5, 9-0 MVC) at EVANSVILLE (18-4, 7-2 MVC)
Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016  | 3:01 p.m. CT
Evansville, Ind. / Ford Center

Telecast --
On Air: ESPNU
Streaming*: WatchESPN (Link)
Announcers: Mitch Holthus & Mark Adams
* - ESPNU subscribers only

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
 

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OPENING TIPS

• No. 22/25 Wichita State (15-5, 9-0 MVC) kicks off the second-half of its Missouri Valley Conference schedule with a much-anticipated rematch of Evansville (17-4, 6-2), Sunday afternoon on ESPNU.
 
• A win would tie head coach Gregg Marshall (219 wins in nine seasons at WSU) with basketball hall of famer Ralph Miller (220 wins, 1951-64) atop the program's career wins list.
 
• The Shockers defeated UE earlier this month in Wichita (67-64) in by far their toughest conference test to date. Each of WSU's eight other MVC wins have come by 16-or-more points.
 
• WSU has won 10-straight games for only the ninth time in school history and for just the second time since 1983. Wednesday night's win over Loyola (80-54) also ran the Shockers' MVC winning streak to 17.
 
• UE's overtime win Thursday at SIU left those teams in a tie for second place at 7-2 in league play. WSU now faces each of its top-two challengers back-to-back (with SIU due into Wichita on Wednesday). Beating both would give WSU no worse than a three-game cushion in the standings with seven to play and tiebreakers in hand over each.
 
• A sweep will be no easy task. Evansville is undefeated at home this year (11-0) and has won 14-straight at the Ford Center.
 
• SIU's 8-0 road record presents a potentially interesting storyline for Wednesday with the nation's longest home and road winning streaks colliding. If the Salukis can get by UNI on Sunday, they'd bring a nine-game road streak to Wichita, where WSU has won 42-in-a-row. Arizona fell at home to Oregon, Thursday, officially ceding the mantle to WSU.
 
 • A year ago, to the day (Jan. 31, 2015) UNI ended WSU's modern conference record 13-game MVC road streak. WSU has built up another eight-gamer since then - tied for the third-longest since 1950.
 
WSU is 9-0 in MVC play for the third-straight year. A win would put them at 10-0 for just the second time in school history (joining the 18-0, 2013-14 Shockers). SIU (17-0 in 2003-04) and Drake (13-0 in 2007-08) are the only other Valley schools to start 10-0 or better in the last 20 years.
 
• Evansville swept the Shockers in 2012-13, costing them a share of the MVC title. Since then, WSU has won six-straight by an average of 15.7 pts.
 
 
ALL FOR ONE OR ONE FOR ALL?
 
Evansville has the nation's leading rebounder in Egidijus Mockevicius, while WSU has just one player inside the MVC's top-20: Anton Grady (4.8), who ranks 15^th on the MVC chart and 621^st nationally heading into the weekend.
 
Yet sometimes the sum is greater than the parts.  Six Shocker regulars average between 3.0 and 5.0 rebounds and nine of them average 2.0-or-more. That rebound-by-committee approach is working well:
 
• WSU leads the Valley in rebounds per game and – perhaps more importantly – rebound margin (⁺5.4 per game), ahead of Evansville (⁺4.3). The teams finished dead even on the glass in their first meeting on Jan. 6 (31-31).
 
• The Shockers have out-boarded six-straight opponents – five of them by double-digits margins (⁺15 @ SIU; ⁺20 @ MSU, ⁺3 vs. INS; ⁺10 @ UNI, ⁺15 vs. BRAD, +10 vs. LOYOLA).
 
• WSU's +8.9 rebound margin during MVC play would be the highest a Valley school in at least 20 years, besting the Shockers' own ⁺8.1 average from the 2010-11 season.
 
• Marshall teams have led their conference in rebound margin (all games) in 11-straight seasons heading into this year.
 
• 9 different Shockers have taken a turn as leading rebounder. Fred VanVleet (12) owns the highest single-game total, and fellow guard Ron Baker has taken the lead in four-straight contests.
 
RALPH MILLER'S SHOCKER LEGACY
 
Ralph Miller coached over 1,000 games and retired as one of the winningest coaches in college basketball, with a 674-370 (.646) career mark at Wichita State (then Wichita University, 1951-64), Iowa (1964-70) and Oregon State (1970-89).
 
A two-time national coach of the year (1981 and 1982) and seven-time conference coach of the year (including twice in the Missouri Valley Conference in 1954 and 1964). He's a member of the Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame, Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, and the James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, among many others.
 
A successful collegiate basketball player at Kansas and a state championship coach  during a three-year run at Wichita's East High School, Miller was given his first opportunity at the collegiate level on April 21, 1951 when he was announced as head coach at Wichita University. The Shocker had joined the MVC  six years prior but were struggling to make the leap from small college hoops to the "big time."
 
Miller's star player at East High, Cleo Littleton, followed him to WU and became the school's first modern era All-American and the first player west of the Mississippi River to reach 2,000 career points. He remains the Shockers' all-time leading scorer.
 
Littleton and a talented cast of Miller recruits energized the city, with an exciting mix of fast-breaks and full court pressure, helping pave the way for funding and construction of the Roundhouse - now known as Charles Koch Arena - in the mid-1950s.
 
In 1953-54, Miller's team earned a bid to the National Invitational Tournament - the first postseason trip for the team since reaching major-college status. An upset win at Oklahoma A&M is still one of the biggest in school history.
 
Miller landed another program-changing recruit in the early 1960s named Dave Stallworth, who helped propel the Shockers to NIT bids in 1962 and 63. In 1964, Stallworth - a two time consensus All-American - and a talented supporting cast, booked a trip to the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Midwest Regional Final.
 
Miller left at the end of the year for Iowa, but the nucleus that he recruited went on to reach the Final Four in 1965.
 
In his 13 years at WU, Miller won 220 games – the most of any Shocker coach – despite coaching in what was arguably the  era's toughest college basketball conference (ruled by national powers such as Cincinnati, Saint Louis and Bradley, earning it the nickname "the Valley of Death").
 
Littleton and Stallworth's numbers are both retired (an an honor bestowed to just three other Shockers), and a banner saluting Miller's achievements hangs from the rafters. Most importantly, his tradition of basketball excellence endures.
 
SERIES NOTES
 
• This is the 45th meeting between WSU and Evansville in a series that dates back to 1994. The Shockers lead 28-16 with six-straight wins.
• The Shockers have captured 11 of the last 13 overall in the series, with a three-game sweep in 2013-14 during the undefeated run and a two-game sweep in 2014-15.
• WSU defended Evansville well in 2014-15, holding the Aces to their two lowest points totals of the season (41 and 43). Evansville scored 52-or-more points against every other opponent.
• WSU has won 14 of the last 15 in Wichita and 17-of-22 total. Evansville is 1-12 in Wichita since the renovation and rededication of Charles Koch Arena in the Fall of 2003.
• The Shockers are 10-10 in Evansville with a 3-1 mark at the Ford Center.
 
SCOUTING THE ACES
 
• Evansville finished 24-12 last year and captured the CIT title with wins over IPFW, Eastern Illinois, Louisiana-Lafayette, UT-Martin and Northern Arizona. With almost the entire cast returning, they were picked second in the MVC preseason poll.
• With 18 total wins on the year, UE is tied for the national lead.
• Egidijus Mockevicius leads the nation in rebounds (14.2) and already has over 300 rebounds for the year. The four-time MVC Player of the Week ranks third nationally with 17 double-doubles. In early January, he joined the 1,000-point, 1,000-rebound club.
• D.J. Balentine (2,235 career points) is third on Evansville's all-time scoring list and needs just 44 more to break the record. He's the MVC's leading scorer at 21.3 points per game.
• The Aces have the MVC's top scoring offense (78.2), while WSU has its top scoring defense (61.5). The Shockers and Aces are the league two best teams on the boards at +5.4 and +4.3 respectively.
• WSU held Evansville to an average of 42.0 points on 30.6 percent shooting in two meetings last year. In those games, the Aces were a combined 3-of-20 (.150) from three-point range. The Shockers limited Balentine to 24 total points on 27 shots (8/27 FG, 1/6 3pt).
• The Aces were much better in the first 2016 meeting, hitting 47.8 percent. Balentine (6-of-15 struggled) but the rest of the team was a combined 16-of-29 ( .552).
 
DID YOU KNOW..?
 
Freshman Markis McDuffie ranks as the MVC's 4th-most efficient scorer, according to KenPom.com, among players who have appeared in at least 20 percent of their team's possessions. VanVleet (2nd) and Baker (3rd) rank just ahead of him.
 
THE STAKES
 
A Shocker Win Would...
... tie head coach Gregg Marshall with Ralph Miller for first place on WSU's all-time wins list (220).
... give them a 11-game winning streak - tied for the fifth-longest in school history.
... extend their MVC road winning streak to nine-games (tied for the second-longest by a Valley school since 1950.
...be the Shockers' seventh-straight against Evansville.
... improve them to 10-0 in MVC play for the second time in three years.
 
A Shocker Loss Would...
...snap a 10-game winning streak
... end a four-game road winning streak
... end an eight-game MVC road winning streak
...be just their second loss in the last three MVC seasons.
...snap a six-game winning streak vs. Evansville
... be less good than a win.
 
UP NEXT
 
WSU continues an important two-game stretch against Southern Illinois (7-2 in MVC play heading into Sunday). The Salukis are 8-0 on the road. WSU is 10-0 at home. SIU will try for its first win in Wichita since 2011. Gametime is set for 8 p.m. CT on Cox Channel Kansas, with simulcast on Time Warner Sports Channel 2 in Kansas City. Fans beyond the Kansas border and outside of the Kansas City metro area can catch the game on  MVC-TV affiliates, including Fox Sports Midwest.