OPENING TIPS:
*Three-time defending Missouri Valley Conference champion, Wichita State (9-3) wraps up its non-conference schedule against the reigning Summit League champs, South Dakota State (7-7), Thursday evening at Charles Koch Arena.
*The 7 p.m. tip can be seen statewide on Cox Channel Kansas (Cox HD 2022) and in the Kansas City area on Time Warner SportsChannel 2, with Shane Dennis and Bob Hull on the call.
*Catch every Shocker game, home and away, on FM 103.7 KEYN and online at goshockers.com/listen. Mike Kennedy -- now in his 37th year as Voice of the Shockers -- will call his 1,185th consecutive game, alongside Dave Dahl.
 

SHOCKERS vs. JACKRABBITS

rv/rv Wichita State (9-3, 0-0 MVC)   South Dakota State (7-7, 0-0 SL)

Thursday, Dec. 22

7:00 P.M. CT

Wichita, Kan.

Charles Koch Arena

Tickets

Game Notes: WSU | SDSU

COVERAGE

Cox Channel Kansas (HD 2022)               TW SportsChannel 2 (KC Area)

WatchESPN (Subject to Blackout)

Shane Dennis & Bob Hull

KEYN 103.7 FM

Listen

Live Stats

SOCIAL

@GoShockersLIVE | #watchus

@goshockers | #watchus

Go Shockers

SERIES HISTORY

All-Time: WSU leads 1-0

In Wichita: WSU leads 1-0

Last Meeting: Dec. 21, 1977 (WSU 104-83)

AT A GLANCE

Stat Comparison SDSU WSU Points/Game 72.5 81.3 Opp. Points/Game 74.3 62.3 Field Goal % .425 .452 3-PT Field Goal % .344 .368 Free Throw % .809 .718 Rebound Margin -0.7 +8.7 Turnover Margin -1.1 +3.6 Assist-TO Ratio 0.9 1.3 Blocks/Game 2.4 3.7

KEEPING THE HOME FIRE BURNING:
*Following Saturday's setback against Oklahoma State -- just the 21st home loss in 10 seasons under Gregg Marshall -- the Shockers will look to regroup against SDSU. WSU hasn't dropped consecutive home games since February, 2011 (Southern Illinois & VCU) and last suffered back-to-back non-conference home losses in December, 2001 (Tulsa & Jacksonville).
*WSU's defense -- ranked ninth nationally in field goal percentage defense (.362) is allowing just 62.3 points per game. However, the Shockers must bounce back after Saturday's Oklahoma State loss, in which the Cowboys shot 52.5% and became the first Shocker opponent to score 90 in Wichita since SIU on Feb. 1, 2002.
*WSU has won 54 of its last 55 regular season non-conference games at Charles Koch Arena (including a current run of 36-straight wins), dating back to November of 2008. The only loss came to Final Four bound VCU in a Feb., 2011 Bracket Busters matchup.
 
NON-CONFERENCE CONFIDENCE:
*Win-or-lose, the Shockers (9-3) will enter MVC play with at least nine victories under their belts for the seventh time in the last eight seasons.
*The Shockers have already clinched a winning record in non-conference play for the 19^th consecutive year.
 
RANDOM KNOWLEDGE:
*Rashard Kelly leads the team in plus/minus. For every 40 minutes of court time, the Shockers are outscoring opponents by an average of 23.0 points. Zach Brown (+10.8), Conner Frankamp (+15.7), Shaquille Morris (+15.5) and Rauno Nurger (+14.7) 
round out the top-5. Darral Willis (-0.4) is the only regular below 0.
*Chemistry takes time to develope. WSU has used 93 different lineup combos through 12 games, though with 16 players on the active roster, that still leaves him another 15,411 potential groupings to explore. So far, the most popular lineup has been his current starting five of Smith-Shamet-Nurger-McDuffie-Willis, which has played 24 minutes and 17 seconds together. Just two other groupings have played more than 10 combined minutes.
 
WHERE THERE'S A WILLIS, THERE'S A WAY:
*Darral Willis Jr. has tallied double-figures in five of the last six games to take over as leading scorer (11.3 per contest). 
*Prior to Willis' 24-point, 13-rebound effort against OSU, the Shockers had gone 53 games without a point-rebound double-double. Darius Carter was the last to do it, some 22 months ago, at Indiana State (Feb. 25, 2015).
*Willis' nine offensive rebounds against OSU on Saturday matched a Marshall Era best, previously achieved by Carl Hall (3/8/13 vs. Missouri State) and Ramon Clemente (3/1/08 at Drake).
*Willis went 14-of-17 at the foul line against OSU, becoming just the 13th Shocker to make 14 free throws in a game. His total was the second-highest by a WSU player in the last 25 seasons, trailing only Fred VanVleet (15-of-15 on Jan. 31, 2016 at Evansville).
 
POSITIVE REINFORCEMENTS:
*Zach Brown lost his starting spot on Nov. 29 but has scored in double figures in four of the five games since moving to the bench (12.8 ppg). 
*Brown has regained his shooting stroke over the past three weeks, hitting 54.3 percent from the field, including 9-of-18 from three, and is 17-of-19 at the foul line.
*Brown has actually averaged more minutes off the bench (19.8) than he did as a starter (19.6).
 
POSITIVE REINFORCEMENTS II:
*Shaquille Morris has also excelled since moving to a reserve role, jumping from 15.6 to 19.4 minutes.
*In five games off the bench, Morris is averaging 9.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks -- up from 6.3 points, 2.7 boards and 0.7 blocks. His shooting has also improved from 47.2% to 61.8% from the field.
 
CONQUERING BEFORE THE DIVIDE:
*WSU have been up by double-figures at halftime in nine-straight Charles Koch Arena games, dating back to Feb. 15 of last season. The average margin in those games is 20.3 points.
*WSU had led at halftime in 26 of its last 27 campus home games, since January of 2015.
 
HOME COOKIN':
*The Shockers are out to a 6-0 start at Charles Koch Arena and are outscoring their on-campus opponents by an average of 34.5 points per game. All six wins are by 27+ points.
*In those six games, WSU trailed 51 seconds to Tulsa and led the other five wire-to-wire.
*WSU is +16.7 on the glass. The team has been outrebounded on Devlin Court just 13 times in 10 seasons under Marshall (149 games).
 
DOUBLE DUTY:
*According to the Toronto Raptors' PR staff, Fred VanVleet (and teammate Bruno Caboclo) became the first players in franchise history to compete in both a D-League and NBA game in the same day.
*On Tuesday, VanVleet played two minutes in the team's 116-104 victory over Brooklyn, hours after collecting 13 points and five rebounds in 31 minutes for Raptors 905 (the club's D-League affiliate, located in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga).
*The rookie point guard has appeared in eight games for the big club. On Dec. 18 he logged a season-high 23 minutes in a 109-79 victory at Orlando.
*VanVleet has also played in eight D-League contests, averaging 15.6 points and 6.5 assists.
 
NEW GUYS MAKING THEIR MARK   
*Newcomers have helped jump-start WSU's offense this year with some impressive shooting numbers.
*As of Tuesday, JUCO point guard Daishon Smith leads the MVC in free throw percentage (27/30, 90%).
*True freshman Austin Reaves is the Valley's second-most deadly three-point shooter (14/27, 51.9%), and Smith (13/30, 43.3%) is also in the top-10.
*JUCO forward Darral Willis (45/82, 54.9% leads the Shockers in field goal percentage).
*Smith, Reaves and redshirt Freshman Landry Shamet (who played just three games last year due to injury) combined for 12 of WSU's 15 treys in a school record-tying performance against Maryland Eastern Shore last month.
*WSU's three-point shooting has improved from last year's .324 clip, up to .368 and overall field goal shooting has inched from .429 to .452.
 
BUILDING BLOCKS:
*Junior Shaquille Morris has seven blocks in his last two games to up his career total to 74. 
 Since the block became an official NCAA statistic in 1985, only eight Shockers have recorded 75 career  blocks (most recently Ron Baker who ended at 76). With his next block, Morris will become the ninth player to do it.
*Morris is on pace to eventually top that list, needing just 35 more to catch Claudius Johnson (109 from 1989-93). Antoine Carr (209 from 1979-83) holds WSU's all-time blocks record.
 
BENCH RULING:
*As of Wednesday, WSU ranks second nationally in bench scoring (46.2 per game from non-starters).
*Reserves were held to a season-low 22 points against OSU in a battle of top-5 scoring benches. 
*The Cowboys upped their average to 40.8 with a 42-point performance on Saturday against the Shockers.
 
POLL WATCH:
*Saturday's home loss to OSU sent WSU tumbling from poll contention.
*A week after sitting at the equivalent of No. 27 in both major polls, WSU failed to earn an AP vote for only the second time this year.
*The Shockers did retain seven of their Coaches Poll votes and are tied for 34th in the pecking order.
*The Shockers have earned a vote in either the AP or Coaches Poll in all but six of the last 105 poll weeks, dating back to Dec. 12, 2011. 
 
PICK-UP GAME:
ESPN announced its first netflex selections of the conference season, picking up WSU's Sunday, Jan. 8 game at Northern Iowa for air on ESPNU. Tip time is 3p.m. 
 
UP AHEAD: Dec. 28 at INDIANA STATE:
*WSU opens its Missouri Valley Conference title defense next Wednesday at Indiana State.
*Make  note -- Terre Haute is in the Eastern Time Zone, so the game will tip at 6 p.m. on Cox Channel Kansas (Cox HD 2022).
*The Shockers have won eight straight over the Sycamores and 17 of the last 19. That includes a program-best eight straight victories at the Hulman Center, where they last tasted defeat in February of 2008.
*The Shockers have won exactly two-thirds of the 87 previous meetings to lead the all-time series 58-29.
*Gregg Marshall is 18-4 against the Sycamores since arriving in Wichita in the spring of 2007 and is 13-2 against Greg Lansing in their six years of battle.
*WSU's recent run of success in Terre Haute has helped get them over the .500 mark there at 21-18 all-time.