INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Missouri Valley Conference champion Wichita State (30-4, 17-1) meets Atlantic-10 champ Dayton (24-7, 15-3), Friday evening in First Round South Regional action at 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.
 
Tipoff from Indianapolis, Ind. is scheduled for 6:10 p.m. CT (7:10 p.m. ET) on CBS, with the crew of Jim Nanz, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson. Fans can watch live streaming through March Madness Live at NCAA.com.
 
On radio, Mike Kennedy – now in 37th year as Voice of the Shockers – calls his 1,210th consecutive game on KEYN 103.7 FM in Wichita. He's joined by analysts Dave Dahl and Bob Hull.
 
Chris Carrino & Jim Jackson describe the action at all six First and Second Round games from Indianapolis for Westwood One Radio on Sirius channel 134, XM channel 201, with online stream available at March Madness Live or westwoodonesports.com/Indianapolis.


 

MARCH MADNESS - SOUTH REGION

No. 7 Dayton (24-7, 15-3 A-10)  No. 10 Wichita State (30-4, 17-1 MVC)

Friday, March 17

6:10 P.M. CT

Indianapolis, Ind.

Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Tournament Central

Game Notes: WSU | UD

COVERAGE

CBS

Jim Nantz, Grant Hill & Bill Raftery

March Madness Live

KEYN 103.7 FM

Westwood One (Sirius 134, XM 201)

Listen

Live Stats

SOCIAL

@GoShockersLIVE | #watchus

@goshockers | #watchus

Go Shockers

SHOCKERS IN NCAA TOURNAMENT

NCAA Tournament Appearances: 14

Record in NCAA Tournament: 17-14

Record as No. 10 Seed: First Time

Series vs. Dayton: Dayton Leads 2-0

AT A GLANCE

Stat Comparison WSU UD PPG 82.1 76.5 FG% .473 .470 3-PT FG% .408 .387 FT% .734 .689 RPG 40.8 34.5 APG 16.6 15.8 TPG 11.1 11.9 SPG 6.9 7.8

TOURNEY TIDBITS:
*Wichita State is making its sixth-consecutive NCAA trip and 14th overall.
*Head coach Gregg Marshall is dancing for the 13th time (6 at WSU, 7 at Winthrop) and is one of just nine coaches in history to lead two different schools to 6+ NCAA bids...
*Wichita State is one of just five schools that has won a game in each of the last four NCAA Tournaments, going 9-4.
 
THE SHOCKS, IN SHORT:
 Despite graduating two NBA guards in Ron Baker (Knicks) and Fred VanVleet (Raptors), Wichita State's "rebuilding year" has far exceeded expectations. The Shockers...
... Reached 30-wins for the fourth time in five seasons.
... Claimed their fourth-consecutive MVC regular season title.
... Won the MVC Tournament for only the second time since 1987.
... Clinched their sixth-straight NCAA Tournament bid.
 
ON A ROLL:
*WSU's current 15-game winning streak is the second-longest in school history, trailing only the 2013-14 team, which opened 35-0 before falling to Kentucky in the NCAA Round of 32.
*All but one of the 15 wins in the streak have come by 15+ points.
*The Shockers' last defeat came over two months ago – Jan. 14 at Illinois State. They've won 21-of-22 going back to mid-December.
 
NEW TRICK:
*Gregg Marshall teams traditionally defend, rebound, protect the basketball and play with great intensity, but the 2017 version can score it, too. This is, by far, Marshall's best offensive team, averaging 10 points per game more than last year's group (82.1).
*Last year's Achilles' heel has become a strength. The Shockers rank fourth nationally in 3-point percentage (.408, up from .324 a year ago). They've topped 80-points a school-record 23 times.
*WSU also ranks in the top-10 nationally in scoring margin (2nd, 19.6), field goal percentage defense (5th, .378), rebound margin (5th, 8.9) and assist-to-turnover ratio (10th, 1.49).
 
ATTA BOYS:
*Four Shockers earned all-conference honors. Redshirt freshman, point guard Landry Shamet and sophomore forward Markis McDuffie landed on the First Team. Shaquille Morris and Conner Frankamp were Third Team choices.
*Shamet -- the MVC Freshman of the Year -- joined junior forward Darral Willis Jr. on the All-Newcomer Team, and Zach Brown was named to the All-Defensive squad.
 
DANCE DANCE REVELATION 
*Wichita State is one of just five schools that have won a game in each of the last four NCAA Tournaments (others: North Carolina, Kansas, Oregon, Gonzaga).
*WSU has nine NCAA Tournament victories in the last four years, tied for the fourth-most in college hoops.
 
Most NCAA Tournament Wins (2013-16)
1. Louisville – 11
1. Duke – 11
1. Wisconsin – 11
4. Wichita State – 9
4. Syracuse – 9
4. North Carolina – 9
4. Michigan State – 9
8. Villanova – 8
8. Arizona – 8
 
WICHITA STATE TOURNEY TIDBITS  
*Wichita State's 14th NCAA Tournament appearance ties Creighton's Missouri Valley Conference record.
*WSU's six-consecutive bids are also tied for the most in MVC history with Southern Illinois (2002-07) and Cincinnati (1958-63).
*Prior to 2012, the Shockers had only managed back-to-back appearances on two other occasions (1964/65 and 1987/88).
*The Shockers are 17-14 all-time in NCAA Tournament play play, with six Regional Semifinals (1964, 65, 81, 06, 13, 15), four Regional Finals (1964, 65, 81, 13) and two Final Fours (1965, 2013).
*This is the 27th overall postseason appearance for Wichita State (14 NCAAs, 12 NIT's, 1 CBI), which won the 2011 NIT to kick off its current run of postseason success.
*Wichita State is prepping for its 32nd NCAA Tournament game. Notably, 15 of those contests have come within the past six years.
 
FIRST ROUND FOCUS:
*WSU has come away with at least one win in 8 of its 13 NCAA appearances.
*The Shockers are 6-4 in the Round of 64 with four consecutive wins.
*Wichita State has never been a No. 10 seed, though the Shockers have had some success from the 7-10 track. As a No. 7, they're 2-0 against No. 2 seed, bouncing Tennessee (2006) and Kansas (2015).
 
WSU-DAYTON SERIES:
*This is just the third meeting between Wichita State and Dayton and the first in over half-a-century.
*In March of 1962, Wichita University fell 79-71 to Dayton in the first round of the 1962 NIT in New York. The Flyers went on to post three more victories and win the NIT title.
*The 1961-62 Shockers were coached by Hall of Famer Ralph Miller and featured one of the program's all-time greats, Dave Stallworth (then a sophomore). Two years later (1964), Stallworth led the Shockers to their first-ever NCAA Tournament bid.
*The series' only other encounter came Dec. 17, 1941 in Dayton when the Shockers absorbed a 42-19 loss during a December tour through Missouri, Kentucky and Ohio.
 
WSU-DAYTON MATCHUP MASHUP:
*A year ago, the NCAA Selection Committee sent the Shockers to Dayton. This year, Dayton comes to the Shockers – or something like that. WSU defeated Vanderbilt, 70-50 in last year's First Four at University of Dayton Arena.
*Both WSU and Dayton participated in last year's AdvoCare Invitational in Orlando but didn't meet. The Flyers were runner-up. The Shockers – playing without Fred VanVleet – ended up on the consolation side.
*Dayton sophomore Josh Cunningham spent his freshman season (2014-15) at Bradley, which competes alongside WSU in the Missouri Valley Conference. He earned MVC All-Freshman status after averaging 7.9 points and was the league's second-leading rebounder.
*Dayton coach Archie Miller is the younger brother of Arizona coach Sean Miller. The Shockers eliminated the elder Miller and Arizona in last year's Round of 64.
*WSU assistant Isaac Brown and Dayton assistant Tom Ostrom worked together for five years on John Pelphrey's staffs at South Alabama and Arkansas.
*Wichita and Dayton share a number of similarities, including a rich aviation history. Dayton is the birthplace of Orville Wright, the younger half of the famous Wright Brothers – inventors of powered flight. During the 20th Century, Wichita spawned a number of aircraft manufacturing companies, including Beechcraft and Cessna, earning it the nickname 'Air Capital of the World.'
*Shocker and Flyer fans are both among the most passionate in college basketball. WSU played in front of capacity crowds at 14 of its 17 home games in 2016-17, following a three-year sellout streak. Dayton averaged just over 13,000 fans at UD Arena.
*The teams share a common opponent this year in St. Louis. WSU held the Billikens to just nine first half points en route to a 30-point win at Charles Koch Arena. Dayton swept a home-and-home from SLU, winning by 22 in St. Louis and by 21 at home.
 
BANKERS LIFE FIELDHOUSE:
*Completed in November, 1999, Bankers Life Fieldhouse (formerly Conseco Fieldhouse) seats just under 18,000 for basketball and serves as home of the NBA's Indiana Pacers and the WNBA's Indiana Fever.
*Bankers Life Fieldhouse has played host to the NBA Finals (2000), WNBA Finals (2009, 12, 15), the NCAA Women's Final Four (2011, 16) and several other top flight neutral court college games. It's also annual host of the IHSAA boys and girls state finals.
*This is the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament's 11th time in Indianapolis but its first at BLF. Previous sites in Indianapolis included Market Square Arena, the RCA Dome and Lucas Oil Stadium.
 
SHOCKERS IN THE HOOSIER STATE:
*Shockers teams are 35-32 all-time in Indiana.
*As a No. 12 seed in South Bend, Ind., WSU lost to DePaul in the first round of the 1988 NCAA Tournament.
*WSU has never played at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, but did make a December, 1989 appearance at its predecessor, Market Square Arena. The Shockers split two games at the Hoosier Classic, falling 75-54 to No. 10 Indiana before claiming a 75-59 victory over Loyola Chicago).
*Under Eddie Fogler, WSU lost twice at Purdue in December, 1986 and December, 1988.
*WSU makes annual trips to Indiana to face conference foes Evansville and Indiana State. The Shockers are 22-18 all-time in Terre Haute and 12-10 in Evansville. They've won nine-straight in the Hoosier state (last losing in 2013 at UE) and 13-of-14.
 
GREGG MARSHALL IN THE TOURNAMENT:
*This is coach Gregg Marshall's 13th NCAA Tournament. He's 10-12 with two Sweet 16's (2013, 2015) and a Final Four (2013).
*Thursday marks the tenth anniversary of Marshall's first NCAA Tournament win. On March 16, 2007 in Spokane, Wash., Marshall's 11th-seeded Winthrop Eagles upset sixth-seeded Notre Dame, 74-64, in the First Round. Prior to that win, Marshall take taken Winthrop to six previous tournaments as a No. 14 seed or lower and gone 0-6.
*Marshall is 16-14 overall in postseason play. This is his 16th postseason bid in 19 seasons as a head coach. In addition to is 13 NCAA trips, he took WSU to a CBI in his second year (2009) and followed with back-to-back NITs (2010 and 2011).
*Since 2011, Marshall is 10-4 in postseason games against team from the "power conferences," defeating Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Washington State. The only losses came to Kentucky, Louisville, Miami and Notre Dame.
 
NOT FAR FROM THE MARSHALL TREE:
*East Tennessee State head coach, Steve Forbes is the first member of the growing Gregg Marshall coaching tree to guide his own team to an NCAA Tournament.
*Forbes spent two seasons as an assistant at WSU, helping guide the 2013-14 team to a 35-1 finish and the 2014-15 group to a 30-5 record and an NCAA Sweet 16.
*Forbes is 51-19 in two seasons at ETSU.
 
2018 NCAA TOURNAMENT COMES TO WICHITA:
*Wichita State will serve as co-host for First and Second Round action in next year's NCAA Men's Basketball Championship at downtown INTRUST Bank Arena.
*It's the men's tournament's first stop in Wichita since 1994. Headliners that year at the old Kansas Coliseum included Michigan's Fab Five (minus Chris Webber) and John Calipari-led UMass. The second-seeded Minutemen fell to No. 10 seed Maryland in the second round.
 
WuSHOCK: A TRUE ORIGINAL:
Legend has it that the name "Shockers" first appeared in 1904 on a poster advertising a football game between Wichita State-then Fairmount College-and the Chilocco Indians. The team's manager chose the name because many of the players earned money during the off season harvesting (or "shocking") wheat in the surrounding fields... When it came time to bring the name to life, students created WuShock – a big, bad, muscle-bound bundle of wheat – whose name was derived from a period in time when the university was simply known as Wichita University or WU.
 
PLAYING ANGRY:
Head coach Gregg Marshall has developed a unique appreciation for WSU basketball history, even as he continues to write new chapters. Since his arrival, the eighth year Shocker coach has made it a point to reach out to WSU basketball alums, such as NBA stars Xavier McDaniel, Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston, who helped form the backbone of some of WSU's greatest teams in the early 1980s. While addressing the team midway through the 2012-13 season, Carr challenged Marshall's Shockers to "Play Angry." That message sank in, and the slogan gained national attention during the team's run to the Final Four later in the year.
 
FILLING BIG SHOES:
*Ron Baker (Knicks) and Fred VanVleet (Raptors) finished as the program's career leaders in NCAA Tournament games (26 combined), minutes (812) and points (320). Most importantly, they teamed up for 9 wins.
*But WSU isn't short on postseason experience. Eight returning Shockers have logged NCAA Tournament minutes. Juniors Zach Brown, Rashard Kelly and Shaquille Morris have appeared in a six games each. Conner Frankamp has five games under his belt (three at WSU and two as a freshman at Kansas in 2014).
 
REST vs. RUST:
The Shockers ended the regular season with a grind of six games in 17 days, then played three times in less than 48 hours at the MVC Tournament. However, by the time the ball is tipped Friday, 12 days will have passedsince March 5, when they hoisted the Arch Madness trophy.
 
CONQUERING ARCH MADNESS:
*On March 5, Wichita State won just its second Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title in three decades, defeating regular season co-champion Illinois State, 71-51, at Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
*It was a fitting final between two 17-1 teams. Each suffered its only conference loss on the other's home floor. Illinois State won by 14 in Normal on Jan. 14. Three weeks later, WSU flipped the score with a 41-point trouncing in Wichita.
*Conner Frankamp averaged 15.3 points in the Shockers' three Arch Madness wins, hitting 11-of-22 from three, to earn Most Outstanding Player honors. He hit six threes against Missouri State in the semifinal and put up a career-high 19 points points in the final.
 
TRENDING:
*The Shockers' 15-game winning streak is the second-longest in school history, trailing only the famous 35-0 team from 2013-14.
*Wichita State owns the nation's third-longest active winning streak, behind fellow NCAA Tournament qualifiers Princeton (19) & Vermont (21).
 
15 GAMES OF FAME:
Four Shockers have averaged in double-figures during the team's 15-game winning streak:
• Conner Frankamp (12.6 points) is shooting 55.3% from deep over that stretch (42-of-76) while averaging almost three triples per game.
• Landry Shamet (11.8 points) has been almost as deadly, hitting 54.8% from three (34-of-62).
• Shaquille Morris (12.3 points) is averaging a team-high 6.8 rebounds during the streak.
• Markis McDuffie (11.0 points) has a team-high 21 steals over the last 15 games.
 
A HIGH FIVE:
*Going back to their Final Four season in 2012-13, the Shockers' 151 wins and .844 winning percentage are second only to Gonzaga (156 wins, .876).
*Wichita State's four 30-win seasons over that five-year stretch is the most of any team in college hoops -- In fact, it's an accomplishment matched just five other times in NCAA history!
*The others are Kentucky (1947, 48, 49, 51), Duke (1998, 99, 2001, 02), North Carolina (2005, 07, 08, 09), Duke (2009, 10, 11, 13) and Kansas (2010-13).
 
MARGIN IN CHARGE:
*WSU is outscoring its opponents by 19.6 points per game this year, second only to Gonzaga (+23.4).
*In the last 15 years, just three other teams have finished a full season with a +19.0-or-better scoring margin. Kansas (2008) went +19.0 and won the national championship, 2014 Louisville (+19.9) lost to Kentucky in the Sweet 16, while 2015 Kentucky (+21.2) opened 38-0 but lost in the Final Four.
*WSU's average margin (+19.6) is the highest by a Missouri Valley Conference squad since Oscar Robertson's Cincinnati team steamrolled opponents by 22.0 points per game during his 1959-60 senior season.
*The Shockers are ahead of the 35-1 2014 team's school-record pace (+15.7).
*The Shockers have recorded at least 20 double-figure victories in each of the last seven seasons. They have 27 this year and a total of 162 since the start of the 2010-11 campaign.
*The Shockers have won 17 times by 20-or-more points this season, breaking the school record set by last year's team (16).
*WSU's nine 30-point wins are a school record.
 
LEADER OF THE LEADERS OF THE PACK      
*Since the start of the 2013-14 season, Wichita State has been the nation's most dominant team in conference play.  WSU's .944 Missouri Valley Conference winning percentage (68-4) ranks just ahead of Stephen F. Austin (65-7, .903 in Southland play).
 
DEFENSIVE TRADITION CONTINUES:
*The Shockers rank 14th nationally in scoring defense (62.4). A year ago they led the nation in that category last year (59.0).
*Since Jan. 1, just three teams have scored more than 70 points against WSU.
*In MVC play, WSU's .388 field goal percentage defense was one of the league's six-best marks since 1980 (when the Valley began tracking that statistic)... The 2015-16 Shockers held Valley foes to a record .359 in conference play.
 
POINTS WITH A BULLET:
*The Shockers averaged 82.1 points during the regular season.
*This is Wichita State's highest-scoring team since 1983, when future NBA standouts Antoine Carr and Xavier McDaniel headlined an offense that put up 82.3 points per outing.
*WSU is the first Missouri Valley Conference school in over two decades to average north of 80 points. Tulsa was the last (83.4 in 1994).
*The Shockers topped 80 points in 23 of their 34 regular season games – a new school record.
*Wichita State's 2,790 points is one of the five highest single-season totals in Missouri Valley Conference history. If WSU hits its average Friday, it would squeeze past Hersey Hawkins' 1987 Bradley Braves (2,868) for second-place on the list, trailing only Larry Bird and the 1979 Indiana State Sycamores (2,952).
 
GLASS HALF PULL:
6 --- Number of times WSU has been outrebounded in 34 games this year.
81.5% --- Percentage of games in which the Shockers have finished even or better on the boards over the last five seasons (145 of 178).
+8.9 --- WSU's rebound margin. The Shockers are on track to finish in the nation's top-10 in thast category for the fourth time in seven years.
10 --- Consecutive seasons that the Shockers have led the MVC in rebound margin.
 
SPOILER ALERT:
*Wichita State is 29-0 when it outshoots its opponents and 1-4 when outshot.
 
THE BOMB DIGGITY:
*The Shockers have already set a new single-season school record for three-point field goals (296). Just four Valley schools  have ever reached 300 in a year.
*The 1998-99 team owns WSU's per-game record at 7.35. At least for now. The current Shockers (8.7 per game) could play six tournament games without making a three and still break the record.
*WSU finished with 163 threes in 18 MVC games. That total is also a school record and is the fifth-highest in Valley history.
*The team's .408 three-point percentage ranks fourth nationally and is the program's best mark since 1989 (.421).
 
SHOOTING STARS:
*Redshirt Freshman Landry Shamet has hit a three-pointer in 23 consecutive games, and teammate Conner Frankamp has connected in each of the last 20.
*Those are the third and fourth-longest streaks in school history.
*Ron Baker had a 25-game streak as a sophomore and broke his own record a year later with a 27-gamer.
 
POP'N FRESHMAN:
*Landry Shamet (69 three-pointers) broke Chad Elstun's freshman three-point record (59 in 1992-93).
*Shamet also ranks in the top-10 on the Valley's all-time freshman chart with a good chance to climb into the top-3.
*Shamet is in line to start his 35th game on Friday. He would be the first in program history to make 35 starts as a freshman. Toure' Murry set the previous standard when he started all 34 games for the 2008-09 Shockers.
 
BLOCK PARTY:
*Junior center Shaquille Morris moved into ninth place on WSU's career block list in Sunday's MVC championship game victory.
*His 92 blocks are two shy of Ehimen Orukpe, a seven-footer who started on the Shockers' 2013 Final Four team.
 
TURN UP THE RATIO:
*Growing pains were expected after Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet moved on to the NBA, but their replacements -- freshman Landry Shamet and junior Conner Frankamp -- have actually outperformed their predecessors in a few key areas. The duo's 3.60 assist-to-turnover ratio trumps Baker and VanVleet's 2.64 ratio from last season.
 
CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENT:
16 -- Players on Wichita State's roster
261 -- Unique lineup combinations used by Marshall
15,243 -- Potential combos still left to explore
9 -- Shockers who have started at least five games
1 -- Shockers who've started all 34 (Landry Shamet)
10 -- Players averaging at least 12 minutes
 
FRANKAMP CHASING VANVLEET'S RECORD:
*Conner Frankamp (4.23 assist-to-turnover ratio) needs another nine assists to qualify for the national lists, but would otherwise rank second nationally in that category. Players need a minimum of 3.0 assists per game to be listed. Frankamp averages 2.7.
*Frankamp's 4.23 ratio is on track to break Fred VanVleet's Shocker record, set during his All-American sophomore season in 2014.
 
A FIRST ROUND WIN WOULD...
... Give Wichita State 31 wins on the year -- the second highest season total in program history (the 2013-14 Shockers finished up at 35-1).
... Extend the Shocker winning streak to 16-games (also the second longest in school history behind... yeah, those guys).
... Advance WSU to Sunday's second round for a matchup with either No. 2 seed Kentucky or No. 15 Northern Kentucky.
... Give the Shockers a first round victory for the fifth consecutive year and improve their NCAA Tournament record over that span to 10-5.
... Improve WSU's all-time NCAA Tournament record to 18-14 in 14 trips.
... Be Wichita State's 1,202nd victory as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference -- tied with Drake atop the league's all-time wins list.
... At long last, avenge Dave Stallworth and the 1962 Shockers' first round NIT loss and improve WSU to 1-2 against Dayton all-time.
 
A FIRST ROUND LOSS WOULD...
... End Wichita State's season at 30-5.
... Be the program's first one-and-done in the NCAA Tournament since 2012 when they fell to No. 12 seed VCU in the Round of 64.
... Snap a 15-game winning streak.
... Make Gregg Marshall 9-6 in six NCAA Tournaments at WSU and 10-13 overall in 13 trips.
... Be less good than a win.