Opening Tip // Third-place in the Battle 4 Atlantis pecking order is on the line when Wichita State (5-1) and No. 24 Michigan State (3-3) face off on Friday afternoon. It's also an opportunity for both sides to bounce back from disappointing Thursday performances. WSU struggled to get its offense on track in the first half of a 62-52 loss to No. 10 Louisville. In the other semifinal, MSU led at the break but was outscored 43-25 in the second half of a 73-58 setback against No. 20 Baylor.
 

BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS

24/20 Michigan State (3-3, 0-0 Big Ten)   rv/rv Wichita State (5-1, 0-0 MVC)

Friday, Nov. 25

12:00 P.M. CT

Paradise Island, Bahamas

Imperial Arena

Bracket

Tournament Central

Game Notes: WSU | Michigan State

COVERAGE

ESPN2

WatchESPN

KEYN 103.7 FM

GoShockers.com

Live Stats

SOCIAL

@GoShockersLIVE | #watchus

@goshockers | #watchus

Go Shockers

SERIES HISTORY

Overall: Michigan State leads 5-3

At Neutral Site: Michigan State leads 1-0

Last Meeting: 2008 Old Spice Classic in Orlando (65-57, MSU)

On Air // The game will air nationally on ESPN2 with Dave O'Brien and Dan Dakich on the call. Streaming is also available for ESPN subscribers at WatchESPN.com or on the ESPN App... Mike Kennedy and Bob Hull will call the action on Shocker Radio over KEYN 103.7 FM in Wichita and online at GoShockers.com/Listen.

Back-to-back Cracks at Nationally Ranked Teams // WSU last played back-to-back regular season games against AP Top-25 opponents in December of 1991 when they fell at No. 5 Oklahoma State (82-54) and at home to No. 18 Utah (58-36) on consecutive Saturdays... This is only the second time in history that WSU has faced ranked teams on back-to-back days. The other came Dec. 29-30, 1981 when WSU (ranked No. 2 in the AP Poll) fell to No. 20 NC State (60-48) and No. 6 San Francisco at the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu.

Worth Noting // Over the last 10 seasons (coinciding with Gregg Marshall's arrival at WSU), the Shockers rank fourth nationally in average rebound margin (+6.3). Michigan State is second on that list at (+7.3)... Conner Frankamp has an 8:0 assist-to-turnover ratio in two Battle 4 Atlantis games and is at 19:3 for the year... Frankamp is 5-of-9 from three at B4A play... Going back to Sunday's Maryland Eastern Shore game when he went 4-for-4, Daishon Smith has knocked down five straight triples... Markis McDuffie (12.5 points) has been WSU's leading scorer in the Bahamas... Ten Shockers are averaging between 13-25 minutes and 5-12 points... Ken Pomeroy ranks WSU No. 3 in defensive efficiency.

Worth Nothing // WSU has called just six timeouts through six games, and all have come in the first half. Five of the six have been to save possession... Jump ball winning percentage is not a real statistic, but it absolutely should be. WSU's Shaquille Morris is 5-1 this year on opening tips and is 30-6 (.833) for his career... The Shockers will wear their black jerseys for the first time this year after using the home whites in each of their first six contests.

 
WICHITA STATE vs. Michigan State             
Series: Michigan State leads 5-3 (1-0 on neutral courts)
Last Meeting: 2008 Old Spice Classic (No. 5 MSU 65, WSU 57)
 
Series Notes: WSU faces Michigan State for the ninth time since 1962... MSU has never won in Wichita (0-3), and WSU has never won in Michigan (0-4)... The most recent meeting came in November, 2008 when then-No. 5 MSU handed the Shockers a 65-57 loss in the fifth place game of the Old Spice Classicin Orlando....The Shockers's eventual Sweet 16 team in 2006 lost a neutral court game to the Spartans in Detroit, 83-64... The Shockers lost a first round NIT game at MSU in 1989 in the final year of the Eddie Fogler era, 79-67... WSU's last win in the series came on Dec. 14, 1979 in Wichita (55-54) with the help of the bookend freshmen duo of Xavier McDaniel and Antoine Carr.


WSU in MTEs // The Shockers have played well on the tournament circuit under Marshall, winning the 2012 Cancun Challenge (Mexico) and the 2013 CBE Classic (Kansas City, Mo.). In 2014, the Shockers claimed a runner-up finish in Honolulu, Hawaii at the Diamond Head Classic. The only recent exception came a year ago when a banged up Shocker team limped into the AdvoCare Invitational in Orlando without point guard Fred VanVleet and lost three-consecutive games to USC, Alabama and Iowa.
 
2017 Tournament Scene // Wichita State has signed on to participate in the 2017 Maui Jim Maui Invitational in Hawaii, alongside California, LSU, Marquette, Michigan, Notre Dame, VCU and host Chaminade, Nov. 20-22, 2017. The Shockers finished 2-1 at the 2010 Maui Invitational,  collecting wins over Chaminade and Virginia after a heart-breaking quarterfinal loss to eventual national champion UConn.         
 
Lindsted Links // Second-year WSU assistant Kyle Lindsted built Sunrise Christian Academy into a national power by finding and fostering top international talent. He considers the Bahamas a second home… Lindsted brought 2016 NCAA Player of the Year, Buddy Hield (from Freeport, Bahamas) to the U.S. as a high school junior and coached him for two seasons… Another Lindsted success story from the Bahamas is Michigan State's Lourawls "Tum Tum" Nairn who played three seasons for Lindsted at Sunrise… St. John's forward Marvin Clark spent two years at Sunrise. He and Nairn were teammates on Michigan State's 2015 Final Four team before Clark landed at St. John's... WSU's roster includes five players who attended Sunrise for high school or prep school (Zach Brown, C.J. Keyser, Rauno Nurger, Brett Barney and Eric Hamilton).
 
Other Bahama Ties // As a freshman, WSU's Conner Frankamp helped Kansas to a third-place finish at the 2013 Battle 4 Atlantis. Frankamp appeared in all three games, scoring four points in KU's quarterfinal win over Wake Forest… WSU's 2013-14 team that went unbeaten in the regular season included Bahamian Kadeem Coleby in its core rotation. Originally from Nassau,  the 6-foot-9 Coleby played one season for the Shockers after transferring from Louisiana Lafayette. He started 19 games as a senior with a team-high 45 blocks.