CHICAGO -- Wichita State (22-4, 12-1 MVC) continues its quest for a fourth consecutive regular season title when it travels to Gentile Arena to face Loyola (16-10, 6-7 MVC).
 
The Shockers defeated the Ramblers on Jan. 11 in Wichita, 87-75, behind a career-high 26 points from Markis McDuffie.
 
Mitch Holthus and Mark Adams have the action on ESPNU, with tipoff set for 3:01 p.m. CT. Listen to every Shocker game, home and away, on FM 103.7 KEYN and online at goshockers.com/listen. Mike Kennedy -- now in his 37th year -- will call his 1,202nd consecutive game, alongside Bob Hull.

 

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAY

Wichita State (22-4, 12-1 MVC)  Loyola (16-10, 6-7 MVC)

Sunday, Feb. 12

3:00 P.M. CT

Chicago, Ill.

Gentile Arena

Game Notes: WSU | LUC

COVERAGE

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SERIES HISTORY

All-Time: WSU leads 26-9

In Chicago: WSU leads 10-5

Last Meeting: Jan. 11, 2017 (WSU 87-75)

MVC STANDINGS

Team MVC OVR Wichita State 12-1 22-4 Illinois State 12-1 20-5 Southern Illinois 7-6 14-12 Northern Iowa 7-6 12-12 Loyola 6-7 16-10 Missouri State 6-7 15-11 Drake 5-8 7-18 Bradley 4-9 9-17 Evansville 3-10 12-14 Indiana State 3-10 9-16

STARTING FIVE:
 
A Race for First-Place: WSU enters the weekend in a first-place tie with Illinois State with five regular season games remaining. The Shockers and Redbirds split their home-and-home series, but ISU has a leg-up on the No. 1 seed at Arch Madness (RPI). WSU and ISU are a perfect 22-0 against the other eight Valley schools.
 
A Refreshing Seven-Up: WSU has won seven-straight games by an average of 24 points. Over that stretch, Shaquille Morris has led the scoring and rebounding at 12.4 points and 7.6 boards, and Conner Frankamp (11.6 pts) is shooting over 59% from three (19-of-32). Morris was the Jan. 23 MVC Player of the Week. Frankamp won it last week.
 
Series Snapshot: The Shockers have won 10-consecutive meetings with Ramblers, including all eight encounters since Loyola's 2013-14 MVC debut.
 
A Shoot Out: The nation's fifth-best field goal percentage defense will look to slow the nation's sixth-best shooting attack. The Ramblers are hitting more than half of their shots this year (50.1%), while the Shockers are limiting foes to just 37.8%. The two sides met in the middle in Wichita, when Loyola shot 45%. Converting scoring opportunities is key for WSU opponents, since they rarely get second chances. The Shockers lead the Valley and rank ninth nationally in defensive rebound percentage (.716). Loyola's offensive rebound rate is 339th out of 351 (.215).
 
Road Work: Wichita State is 7-1 this year in true road games. The Shockers are 38-6 (.864) on the road since the start of the 2010-11 season and are 64-14 (.821) going back to 2010-11. Both marks lead the nation... Over the last seven years, WSU's MVC road winning percentage (51-8, .864) is higher than any other Valley schools' HOME percentage. They've dropped just three conference road contests in the last four seasons (twice at ILS, once at UNI).
 
 
ALL-TIME SERIES:
*The Shockers lead 26-9 all-time in a series that stretches back to the early 1960s. This is the 36th meeting overall.
*WSU is 8-0 against the Ramblers since Loyola's MVC debut in 2013-14. The Shockers have swept the last three regular season series.
*WSU is 15-1 all-time against Loyola's Porter Moser, winning seven of the eight meetings during his four-year tenure at Illinois State (2003-07).
 
>> In Chicago (10-5, WSU)
*WSU has won two-thirds of its trips to Chicago, with a perfect 3-0 at Gentile Arena.
*All three wins have come by 14+ points, though they haven't necessarily been easy. In January, 2015 the Shockers trailed 28-23 at halftime but shot a blistering 71% in the second half (15-of-21).
*Rockford, Ill. native Fred VanVleet saved some of his best performances for Chicago. He was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field and 10-for-10 at the foul line in a February, 2014 victory that nudged the Shockers' record to 28-0. In 2015, he went 5-for-5 and dished out 10 assists.
 
>> In Wichita (13-4, WSU)
*Loyola's last win at the Roundhouse came in 1974. Granted, the teams hadn't met in Wichita for nearly 40 years prior to Loyola joining the MVC.
 
>> Neutral Sites (3-0, WSU)
*WSU won the first Arch Madness matchup between the programs last spring in the MVC quarterfinals.
 
SERIES HISTORY:
*In the first ever meeting in March of 1963, WSU -- led by one of its all-time greats, Dave Stallworth -- defeated Loyola on its home court, 73-72. That Loyola team would go on to finish 29-2 and win the NCAA title.
*That game marked the beginning of a regular two-game home-and home series between the two programs. Between1963-64 and 1975-76, the teams played a total of 25 times before the series tapered off.
*WSU defeated third-ranked Loyola at then-Levitt Arena, 92-84 on Feb. 8, 1966, snapping the Ramblers' 14-game win streak. Warren Armstrong's 25 points and 18 rebounds led the way, as did Kelly Pete's 19 points and 10 boards.
*A chance meeting in the finals of the 1989 Hoosier Classic in Indianapolis (a 75-59 WSU victory) was the only game between 1976 and 2014.
 
LAST YEAR (2015-16):
WSU swept all three meetings in 2015-16. After leading wire-to-wire in two regular season wins, the top-seeded Shockers needed a late comeback to survive eighth-seeded Loyola's upset bid in the Arch Madness quarterfinals. Ron Baker scored 13 of his game-high 25 points over the final 5:34 to rescue the Shockers from a 52-45 hole. Shaquille Morris tallied 10 blocks in three games (six of them in St. Louis to set a WSU record for blocks in an MVC Tournament contest).
 
LAST MEETING: Jan. 11 in Wichita (87-75, WSU)    
*Markis McDuffie scored a career-high 26 points. The sophomore hits his first four attempts from three and finished 8-of-11 overall from the field.
*WSU led comfortably near the midway point of the second-half, but Loyola trimmed a 20-point margin down to four points. The Ramblers trailed 75-71 near the 4:00-mark before the Shocker defense clamped down.
*A 12-point win was the Shockers' closest call at Charles Koch Arena this year. They're 14-0 on campus, and their average margin of victory in the building is a national-best 30.5 points... The 13 other victories have all come by 18-or-more points.
*Zach Brown, who had missed 16 of his last 17 three-point attempts, picked an opportune time to break through. His triple with 3:58 to go turned the tide.
*Loyola had the ball, trailing 81-75 at the 1:29-mark, but Austin Reaves blocked a Milton Doyle layup and secured possession for the Shockers by diving on the loose ball.
*The Shockers were 12-for-27 from three-point range and shot 53.8 percent overall.
*Doyle paced the Ramblers with a near-triple-double (23 points, eight assists and seven rebounds). Aundre Jackson added 18, Donte Ingram had 14, and Clayton Custer chipped in 10.
*Loyola sizzled early, sinking 8 of its first 10 shots, but slumped over the final 10 minutes of the first half. The Ramblers took a hit when Custer picked up his third foul with 7:30 still remaining in the period.
 
SWEEPING UP :
*WSU already has multiple wins in the bank against Drake, Bradley and Indiana State this year.
*A victory against Loyola would give the Shockers a total of 48 Valley sweeps since 2010-11. In that time, they've split 20 home-and-homes while being swept on just two occasions: Missouri State (2011) and Evansville (2013).
 
BOARDING SCHOOLED:
*Loyola went +5 on the glass in Wichita. On Sunday the Ramblers will try to become just the fourth team in seven seasons to outrebound the Shockers twice in the same year. SIU was the last to do it in 2014-15.
 
MATCHUP MASHUP:
*WSU special assistant Chris Jans worked three seasons under Moser in Normal. When Moser moved to Loyola in 2007, Jans joined Gregg Marshall's newly formed staff at Wichita State.
*WSU's Director of Basketball Operations, Dominic Okon played two seasons at Loyola (1996-98) under Ken Burmeister. He was a junior on the 1996-97 team that opened up the Gentile Center. A November, 1996 Chicago Tribune article referred to Okon as a "muscular , defensive whiz."
*A couple of Ramblers have Kansas City ties. Clayton Custer and Ben Richardson played together at Blue Valley Northwest in Overland Park. Custer was one of five 2014 finalists for the DiRenna Award, given to the KC Metro Player of the Year, along with former Shocker, Ty Taylor II of Grandview. WSU redshirt freshman Landry Shamet  (from Park Hill High was a 2015 DiRenna Award finalist).
*Loyola junior transfer Aundre Jackson has been one of the MVC's top additions this year. He and Shocker walk-on sophomore Kaelen Malone were teammates last season at McLennan (Texas) Junior College and helped the school to a 27-5 finish, a No. 9 national ranking, and its first NJCAA National Tournament appearance in 18 years.
*WSU's .379 field goal percentage defense is one of the best in Valley history. It would be even better were it not for Jackson's field goal field day last month in Wichita. Jackson -- the Valley's runaway leader in shooting percentage (.687) -- was a perfect 7-for-7 in the Jan. 11 game at Charles Koch Arena. Throw out that performance and the Shockers' season number drops a full three-tenths of a percentage point (.376).
*WSU (81.7) and Loyola (75.3) are the Valley's highest-scoring teams.
*WSU's defense ranks 13th nationally (62.9 points allowed) but struggled in the first go-around against Loyola. The Ramblers matched its average with 75 points. In WSU's six other MVC home games, opponents averaged just 56.8 points and none scored more than 66.
*Loyola has three of the MVC's top-10 scorers, with the trio of Milton Doyle (3rd, 15.8 points), Jackson (14.1) and Donte Ingram (14.0). WSU's leader, Markis McDuffie (11.8) ranks 18th, but nine Shockers average better than 5.0 points per game.
*Doyle is the Ramblers' last holdover from their days in their Horizon League (he redshirted in 2012-13) and is also the only remaining player from Loyola's inaugural MVC team in '13-14.
*The Ramblers lead the league in field goal percentage (.501) and three-point percentage (.400). WSU ranks second in both categories.
*The Shockers lead the league in assists (17.2),  assist-to-turnover ratio (1.5) and turnover margin (+3.5). The Ramblers are second in all three categories.
*Five of the MVC's three-best three-point shooters (by percentage) will share the floor Sunday, including each of the top-3. WSU freshman Austin Reaves (.531) has the third-best season mark in Valley history. Loyola's Ingram (.495) and Custer (.446) rank second and third on this year's leaderboard. Recent surges from Landry Shamet (.417) and Conner Frankamp (.416) have moved the duo to ninth and 10th.
*No Valley teams has hit more threes than the Shockers (8.7 per game). They made 12-of-27 in the first meeting with Loyola, including 7-of-14 in the first half.
*The aforementioned Frankamp, Shamet and Reaves were just 5-of-13 in that game. Instead, McDuffie (4-of-5) and Rashard Kelly (2-for-2) led the charge.
 
POP 'N FRESHMAN:
*The typical freshman is far more comfortable at home than in hostile environments. Then again, WSU's Landry Shamet is far from the typical freshman.
*In his first tour through the Valley, Shamet is averaging a team-high 15.3 points in conference road games.
*Shamet has been the Shockers' leading scorer in four of the team's six conference road games this year. He's shooting almost 55% from three-point range (17-of-31) and just shy of 90% at the foul line (17-of-19).
*On the road, WSU's deep rotation still spreads out the playing time (10 guys average 12+ minutes), but the versatile Shamet rarely seems to leave the floor. He's averaging 34.3 minutes in six MVC road contests, compared to 9.0 points in 22.6 minutes in the Shockers' seven Valley home games.
 
ROAD HOGS:
*Wichita State is 30-3 in MVC road games over the last four seasons.
*Since 2013-14, the Shockers have more double-figure road wins (22) in conference play than any other school has total road wins. UNI (16) and Illinois State (16) are the closest.
*The Shockers have outrebounded all six of their MVC road opponents.
*Home teams are shooting an even 40.0% against the Shockers.
 
SHAMET CHASING 2 FRESHMAN RECORDS:
*If Landry Shamet connects on a three-pointer Sunday, he'll tie a Shocker freshman record for consecutive games with a triple. Randy Burns connected in 16-straight in his rookie season (2001-02) and still holds the school's career three-point record (248).
*Shamet (48 three-pointers) is also well on his way to setting WSU's freshman volume record. He needs just 11 more to catch Chad Elstun (59 in 1992-93).
 
WORST. GAME NOTE. EVER:
*Every Shocker game this year has been played in either an "Arena" or "Center" of some sort. 
*In fact, you have to go back to November, 2015 to find the last exception. Games at the AdvoCare Invitational in Orlando were played at HP Field House.
*Loyola is one of two MVC schools that play in both an "arena" and a "center" at the same time. Gentile Arena is located in the Gentile Center. Bradley's Carver Arena is part of the Peoria Civic Center.
 
MORE THAN JUST A SCORER:
*Markis McDuffie has scored in double-figures just once in the past four games, but he's making his presence felt in other areas.
*He grabbed 28 rebounds (14 at Jan. 29 Bradley and 14 more Feb. 1 at Drake) -- the best two-game rebounding stretch by a Shocker in over eight years and the best in MVC play since the 1998 season.
*He nearly finished with an assist-rebound double-double at Drake, pairing eight assists with 14 boards.
*McDuffie had a team-high five assists in Thursday's home win over Missouri State, despite scoring just one point. In three February games, he's averaging 4.7 assists and has totaled just three turnovers.
*McDuffie's tag-team defense with Zach Brown also helped slow the Bears' pick-and-roll attack.
 
VALLEY STREAKS:
 *WSU is riding a seven-game MVC winning streak.
*A win on Sunday would give them one of the 10 longest conference winning streaks in school history (with six of those coming under Marshall).
 
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...
... improve their overall record to 23-4.
...up their winning streak to a season-high eight games.
... give them 13 MVC wins for the fourth straight year and for the sixth time in seven years.
... Improve their overall MVC mark to 64-4 since the start of the 2013-14 season.
... maintain their hold on first-place with four regular season games remaining.
... increase their lead in the all-time series with Loyola to 27-9 (11-5 in Chicago and 4-0 at Gentile Arena).
... be their 11th-consecutive win over the Ramblers  and make them 9-0 in Loyola's MVC era.
... improve their road record to 8-1 (6-1 in MVC play).
... make them 31-3 on the MVC road over the last four seasons.
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...
... Drop their overall record to 22-5.
... Snap a seven-game winning streak.
... Sink them to 12-2 in league play.
... End a 10-game winning streak against Loyola.
... Be the Ramblers' first victory over WSU since joining the MVC in 2013-14 and first of any kind over the Shockers since 1974.
... Close the gap in the all-time series to 26-10, WSU.
... End a three-game road winning streak and drop WSU's overall record record to 7-2.
... Be just the fifth Valley loss by a Shocker team in the last four conference regular seasons.
... Be less good than a win.
 
NEXT:
The Shockers return to the Valley road Wednesday evening at Southern Illinois (14-12, 7-6 MVC). The 6 p.m. CT tip will air on Cox Channel Kansas.