WICHITA, Kan. -- No. 11/11 Wichita State (8-1) hosts Arkansas State (4-7) to kick off the final week of non-conference play.
The 7 p.m. CT tip airs on YurView Kansas (Cox HD 2022) with Shane Dennis and Bob Hull. Streaming is available for those beyond the Kansas borders on ESPN3.
The Voice of the Shockers, Mike Kennedy, describes the action on Shocker Radio (KEYN 103.7 FM in Wichita and online at GoShockers.com/Listen, alongside analyst Dave Dahl. Pregame begins at 6 p.m. CT.
The Shockers are coming off a 91-83 loss to Oklahoma at INTRUST Bank Arena, which dropped them eight spots in the latest polls. Both WSU losses this year have come against nationally-ranked teams
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LONG TIME, NO SEE:
Wichita State and Arkansas State meet for the first time in 46 years. The teams split a home-and-home series in the early '70s with WSU winning 73-68 in Wichita (Jan. 9, 1971). ASU returned the favor on Jan. 12, 1972 with an 84-74 victory in Jonesboro.
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BUILDING SUCCESS
Wichita State has won 23-straight at the Roundhouse – the second longest streak in the building's 63-year history. The Shockers have won 43-straight non-conference games at Koch Arena, last losing in February, 2011 to Final Four bound VCU in a Bracket Busters matchup.
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GOOD AT BOUNCING BACK
WSU last dropped consecutive games on Nov. 23 and 24 of last year at the Battle 4 Atlantis to No. 10 Louisville and No. 24 Michigan State... WSU hasn't lost consecutive home games since February, 2011 when Southern Illinois and VCU beat them back-to-back.
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SCOREBOARD & 40 YEARS AGO
86.5 points per game is the highest scoring average by a WSU team in nearly four decades. The 1978-79 Shockers – led by Cheese Johnson – put up a school record 88.8 points per contest.
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FAMILY TIES
Austin Reaves' parents both played collegiately at Arkansas State: Brian Reaves was a three-year starter from 1989-93. Like his son, he also wore jersey No. 12. As a sophomore, he helped lead the team to a 23-9 record, the America South Conference title and a trip to the NIT Quarterfinals… Reaves' 398 career assists are tied for third all-time. He also owns a piece of the school's single-game free throw percentage mark, knocking down 14-of-14 in a 1992 game against Jacksonville... Reaves' mother, Nicole Wilkett, was an all-conference forward and averaged over 20 points per game in her final season.
SCOUTING ARKANSAS STATE
*Arkansas State was picked seventh (out of 12 teams) in the Sun Belt Conference preseason poll.
*The Redwolves won 20-games in 2016-17 and tied for third in Sun Belt standings at 11-7. They finished with an RPI of 113 and a KenPom rating of 124.
*First-yer head coach Mike Balado – is the second former Rick Pitino assistant that the Shockers have encountered on this year's non-conference schedule. Arkansas State – much like Kareem Richardson at UMKC – has adopted Louisville's aggressive defensive style. The Red Wolves press, play aggressive defense and excel in transition. Balado spent the past four seasons at Louisville, which defeated the Shockers last November in the Battle 4 Atlantis semifinals.
*ASU head coach Mike Balado is the third first-time D-I head coach that the Shockers have faced during the non-conference (there are 23 this year overall among the 351 programs). WSU previously knocked off Cal (Wyking Jones) and Oklahoma State (Mike Boynton). They also defeated ORU (Paul Mills) in a closed door scrimmage.
*The Redwolves return three starters in Tamas Bruce, Rashad Foster and C.J. Lindsey.
*Last year's sixth man, Deven Simms (16.8 points, 6.2 rebounds) is the team's leading scorer and rebounder. He and JUCO transfer Ty Cockfield (14.9) account for over 43 percent of the Redwolves' points.
*Four ASU players are averaging a steal or more per game.
MATCHUP MASHUP
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Isaac Brown was associate head coach at ASU in 2010-11 under John Brady and helped the Red Wolves to a 17-15 record.
*WSU and ASU share a couple of common opponents. The Redwolves defeated Henderson State on Dec. 9, 90-76. Minus
Landry Shamet, WSU won an exhibition game against the Reddies, 90-53. ASU dropped a 72-61 decision at USF (one of WSU's new American rivals). The Bulls come to Charles Koch Arena on Jan. 7 in what will be the only regular season meeting between the two teams.
NON-CON NOTABLES
*Since 2011-12, the Shockers are 69-15 (.821) in regular season non-conference games.
*WSU's win over SDSU on Dec. 5 clinched a winning non-conference record for the 20
th consecutive season.
*Shocker teams have put up double-digit non-conference victory totals in four of the last five years.
*WSU is 74-7 in home non-conference games in 11 seasons under
Gregg Marshall.
*The Shockers have won 43-straight non-conference games at Koch Arena, last losing in February, 2011 to Final Four bound VCU in a Bracket Busters matchup.
*In the Marshall Era, the Shockers are 65-3 in regular season non-conference games at Charles Koch Arena, with one-point losses to UT-Arlington (Dec. 7, 2007) and VCU (Feb. 18, 2011). The most lopsided defeat was a 66-63 setback against UMKC (Nov. 19, 2008).
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
*Wichita State leads the nation in rebound margin ( 13.1), just ahead of defending national champion North Carolina ( 13.9). A year ago, UNC ( 12.3) edged out the Shockers ( 9.0) for the national lead in that category.
LONG RANGERS
A rough shooting night against Oklahoma ended a school-record tying streak of four-consecutive games with double-digit three-pointers.
Landry Shamet and
Conner Frankamp were a combined 25-of-48 during the streak but finished just 2-of-11 against OU. Overall, the Shockers were 6-of-24 from beyond the arc (.250) -- their worst percentage since a 6-of-25 (.240) effort against Cal in the Maui Invitational.
WORST. NOTE. EVER.
*No team from the state of Arkansas has ever won a game at the Roundhouse.
*The Shockers are 5-0 in regular season games against the natural state, defeating Arkansas, Arkansas State, Arkansas-Little Rock, Arkansas-Monticello and Arkansas-Pine Bluff once-each.
*WSU is also 2-0 in exhibitions, knocking off Arkansas Tech and Henderson State under
Gregg Marshall.
*To be fair, WSU has also never won a game in Arkansas, going 0-2 in games against Arkansas (1956) and Arkansas State (1972).
KENPOM SAYS
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Darral Willis Jr. ranks in the top-20 nationally in fouls drawn (7.9 per 40 minutes) per KenPom.com.
*KenPom ranks
Conner Frankamp seventh nationally in turnover percentage (4.5). Frankamp has gone five games without a turnover, spanning 142 minutes.
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Rashard Kelly ranks fourth nationally in offensive rebound percentage, snagging 17.5 percent of all Shocker misses while he's in the game.
BIGGEST PIECE OF THE PIE
Landry Shamet averaged 16.8 points per game. No Marshall Era Shocker has averaged more over a full season. Cleanthony Early put up 16.4 during WSU's 2013-14 unbeaten run.
RANDOM KNOWLEDGE
*Prior to Saturday's OU game, WSU had won 44-straight games when outshooting its opponent dating back to the 2015-16 season.
*It also marked the first time since a 93-86 overtime loss at Drake on Jan. 28, 2012 that a Shocker team had lost when scoring 80 points. WSU has won 64-straight when scoring 80. Under Marshall they're now 87-2 when reaching that threshold.
*Oklahoma became just the second Marshall Era visitor to score 90 against the Shockers in Wichita. The Sooners – who rank third nationally in scoring offense (93.0) – actually finished two points below their season average in that game.
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Gregg Marshall is a notorius timeout hoarder. Last season the Shockers used just 37 timeouts in 36 games. This year they've been even more stingy with the stoppages, using only eight through the first 10 games.
*The Shockers 9.1 three-pointers per game leads the American Athletic Conference and is ahead of their pace from a year ago when they averaged a school-record 8.8 threes per contest.
ON A POLL ROLL
WSU has been ranked in each of the last
11 Associated Press polls, dating back to last February. That's the third-longest AP poll streak in school history.
BOMBS IN BUNCHES
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Conner Frankamp broke teammate LandryShamet's school record for consecutive games with a three-pointer. He connected with 40 seconds to play in the second half against Oklahoma to extend the streak to 32.
*Prior to that, Frankamp had hit multiple threes in six-straight games. He's 11-of-23 in four December games.
THREES COMPANY
Conner Frankamp's 130 three-pointers are tied for 11
th on WSU's career list. He needs 5 more to crack the top-10.
UP NEXT
The Shockers finish up non-conference play at home on Friday against Florida Gulf Coast (6 p.m. CT, CBSSN).
