Opening Tips // The preseason Missouri Valley and Big West Conference favorites go head-to-head when Wichita State (1-0) hosts Long Beach State (1-0) for a Sunday 7 p.m. tip at Charles Koch Arena, Home of Devlin Court.
TV & Radio // The 7 p.m. CT tip will air statewide on Cox Channel Kansas (Cox HD 2022) and in the Kansas City area on Time Warner SportsChannel, with
Shane Dennis (pbp) and Bob Hull (analyst) on the call. Fans outside of the two viewing areas can catch the game via ESPN3... Mike Kennedy, now in his 37th season as the Voice of the Shockers, will call his 1,174th consecutive game on radio, and Dave Dahl returns for his 36th year as home analyst. Tune in on 103.7 FM KEYN or GoShockers.com/Listen.
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Battle B4 Atlantis // Sunday night's game is considered a fourth, non-bracketed game in the upcoming Battle for Atlantis. Teams are permitted to play up to four games in exempt tournaments without counting against the NCAA maximum.. LBSU will not compete in the Bahamas but is instead scheduled to play two games against Binghamton and Florida Gulf Coast in a special Battle 4 Atlantis Mainland event in Fort Meyers, Fla... The Shockers will play three games in three days in the Bahamas, Nov. 23-24
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Quick Change // WSU faces a quick transition after playing its opener at 8:30 p.m. on Friday. LBSU has an even tougher one. The 49'ers opened at home on Friday night with a 95-59 win over Cal State Los Angeles before making the long trek to Wichita on Saturday.
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Random Knowledge // WSU shoots for its first 2-0 start since 2014-15.. The Shockers have won back-to-back to open the year in five of
Gregg Marshall's first nine seasons... WSU has opened with a win in 15-straight seasons… 10 of the 14 previous Shocker teams went on to reach 2-0… All-time, the Shockers have won 82 openers… Previous 1-0 WSU teams were a combined 41-40 their next time out… The Shockers are 4-0 all-time in games played on Nov. 13, and Friday's win improved them to 93-38 overall in the month of November (.710)... Current members of the Big West have visited the Roundhouse 13 times previously, but are just 1-12 all-time. LBSU claimed the only victory back in 1978...Â
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Home Streak vs. Strangers // WSU 55-1 in home non-conference regular season games since November of 2008... That includes a school-record 38-game non-conference home winning streak that currently ranks second nationally behind Duke.
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The Series with LBSU // The teams meet Sunday for the first time in nearly 35 years. WSU leads 5-4 (4-1 in Wichita) and has won the last two meetings.
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Time Warp // WSU and Long Beach State last met on Dec. 8, 1981, when Cliff Levingston scored 25 points and grabbed 19 rebounds to lead the Shockers to a 94-71 win. In that game, WSU started three future NBA draft picks (Antoine Carr, Levingston, and Aubrey Sherrod) and brought two more off the bench (Greg Dreiling & Xavier McDaniel). (
Click to view a PDF of the original box score)
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Scouting the 49'ers // The 49'ers (20-15, 12-4 Big West in 2015-16) are the preseason favorite in the Big West after finishing a game out of first-place last year… A pair of 49'ers landed on the Big West preseason all-conference team (Justin Bibbins and Gave Levin)… Bibbins, a 5-8 junior guard, was a second team All-Big West selection in 2015-16, and Levin landed honorable mention status… Head coach Dan Monson helped lay the groundwork for Gonzaga's rise to national prominence in nine seasons as an assistant (1988-97) and two as head coach (1997-99). In 1999, he led 10th-seeded Gonzaga to an Elite Eight. He served as head coach at Minnesota for seven years (1999-06) and now enters his 10th year at LBSU (2007-Pr.).
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Epic Road Trip // The 49'ers reached 20 wins for the first time since 2012, despite playing a non-conference schedule that ranked as the nation's 10th-toughest. That type of challenge has been typical in recent years. LBSU's five previous non-conference schedules have combined to produce 15 true road games against AP Top-25 teams…The 2016-17 schedule may be their toughest yet, with a coast-to-coast shuttle run that includes 10 true road games and three neutral site contests… After WSU, the 49'ers will play at # 6 North Carolina (Nov. 15), #13 Louisville (Nov. 17), #16 UCLA (Nov. 20), Washington (Nov. 22), #3 Kansas (Nov. 29) and #21 Texas (Dec. 10).
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Diamond Duo // The Shockers and 49'ers haven't faced off on the hard wood in some 35 years, but the two baseball programs have a long history with 53 meetings.. WSU and LBSU's baseball teams have combined for 48 NCAA Regionals, 11 College World Series, 28 conference titles and 83 Big Leaguers… Brian Flynn (WSU), Dusty Coleman (WSU), Cody Clark (WSU) and Jason Vergas (LBSU) all earned 2015 World Series Rings with the Royals… Former Shocker Conor Gillaspie delivered the game-winner for San Francisco over the New York Mets in this year's NL Wild Card game when his three-run homerun broke a scoreless tie in the ninth inning… Ex-Dirtbags in this year's postseason include Troy Tulowitzki (TOR), Marco Estrada (TOR), Vance Worley (BAL), Danny Espinosa (WAS) and Bryan Shaw (CLE)… WSU hired away LBSU's
Mike Steele over the off-season to serve as pitching coach. Steele spent two seasons with the Dirtbags in the same capacity.
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Next Stop // WSU hosts Tulsa on Wednesday evening for a 7 p.m. CT tip on ESPN3… The Golden Hurricane reached the NCAA First Four last year but must now replace 9 of their 11 lettermen from a season ago… Tulsa dropped its season opener on Friday night to Jacksonville State, 84-73, but now has five days to regroup before facing the Shockers… A season ago, Tulsa handed WSU a 77-67 setback at the Reynolds Center, snapping the Shockers' seven-game series winning streak…  This will be the seventh-consecutive year that the teams have met in non-conference play... Tulsa is seeking its first win in Wichita since 2001. The Shockers have won the last four meetings at Charles Koch Arena.
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