ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- No. 2 seed Wichita State (27-4, 17-1) opens play at the 2017 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament with a 6 p.m. Friday quarterfinal game against the winner of No. 7 Bradley and No. 10 Drake.
 
All Thursday and Friday action will air on the MVC Television Network, including Fox Sports Kansas City in the Wichita area.
 
On Radio, Mike Kennedy -- now in his 37th year as "Voice of the Shockers" -- calls his 1,207th consecutive game for KEYN 103.7 FM in Wichita... Fans in the St. Louis area can tune in to 550 AM KTRS.
 
WSU swept Drake during the regular season, winning by 25 points in Wichita and by eight in Des Moines. The Shockers have won the last 11 series meetings overall. Drake (1,202) ranks No. 1 on the MVC's all-time wins list, but WSU (1,998) is gaining ground.
 
The Shockers'15-straight wins over Bradley ties a school record for longest streak against a Valley rival. On Jan. 1 in Wichita, WSU reached 100 points in league play for the first time in 29 years, but the Braves held them to 64 in the Jan. 29 rematch in Peoria.

 

ARCH MADNESS

No. 2 Wichita State (27-4, 17-1 MVC)  No. 7 Bradley (13-19, 7-11 MVC)

Friday, March 3

6:00 P.M. CT

St. Louis, Mo.

Scottrade Center

Tournament Central

Game Notes: WSU |

COVERAGE

MVC-TV (Wichita: FOX Sports KC)

FOX Sports Go

Mitch Holthus & Kevin Lehman

KEYN 103.7 FM

Live Stats

SOCIAL

@GoShockersLIVE | #watchus

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Go Shockers

SHOCKERS AT ARCH MADNESS

Record in MVC Tournament: 32-34

Record as No. 2 Seed: 10-6

MVC Tournament Titles: 3

AT A GLANCE

Stat Comparison WSU BU DU PPG 82.5 65.8 71.6 FG% .480 .424 .412 3-PT FG% .406 .360 .344 FT% .732 .675 .755 RPG 40.5 35.1 34.7 APG 17.3 11.5 13.0 TPG 11.2 15.1 12.7 SPG 7.0 6.1 6.0

TOURNEY TIDBITS:
*WSU is in search of its fourth MVC Tournament Championship, previously winning titles in 1985, 1987 and 2014.
*The 2014 Shockers are the only WSU team to sweep regular season and tournament crowns in the same year. That group ended a 25-year drought with WSU's first (and only) win of the Arch Madness era (1991-Present).
*WSU has been the No. 1 or 2 seed in eight straight tournaments, going a perfect 7-0 against play-in teams in the quarterfinals.
*A Shocker championship would ensure a sixth-straight NCAA Tournament bid, tying Cincinnati's MVC record (1958-63). It would also push WSU to 30-wins for the fourth time in five years.
 
THE SHOCKS, IN SHORT:
*Last weekend, Wichita State claimed a share of its fourth-consecutive MVC title -- and fifth in the last six years.
*The Shockers are 68-4 (.944) in MVC regular season play over the last four seasons and have posted 17+ wins in three of them.
*WSU is ranked in both the AP (21) and Coaches Polls (22).
*A 12-game winning streak is tied the 4^th-longest in WSU history.
*The Shockers have won 18-of-19, going back to mid-December.
*Despite losing a pair of NBA players in Ron Baker (Knicks) and Fred VanVleet (Raptors), the team's 27 wins have already exceeded last year's total of 26.
*The Shockers still rebound, protect the ball and play excellent defense, but this is by far Marshall's best offensive team. They average 10 points per game more than last year's group (82.5) and are markedly improved marksmen from three (.406, up from .324).
*Four Shockers earned All-MVC honors this week. 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.
 
 
WICHITA STATE IN THE MVC TOURNAMENT:
*WSU is in search of its fourth MVC Tournament title, having won in 1985, 1987 and 2014.
*The Shockers are 32-34 all-time (19-24 since the tournament moved to St. Louis in 1991).
 
MAKING UP FOR LOSS TIME:
*The MVC Tournament moved to St. Louis in 1991, but it took the Shockers until 1998 to earn their first win and until 2010 to reach the finals.
*After going 8-18 in the first 19 years of the Arch Madness Era, Gregg Marshall has led WSU to a 10-6 record over its last seven trips (the most wins and highest winning percentage of any school).
 
SATURDAY STALWARTS:
*Wichita State has played on Saturday in each of the last seven years – tied with Southern Illinois (1989-95) and Tulsa (1981-87) for the longest semifinal streak in tournament history.
*The Shockers are just 3-4 in those semifinals, with runner-up finishes in 2010 and 2013 and a 2014 championship.
 
ONE HORSE SHOE, SEVEN HAND GRENADES:
*Close games rarely seem to go WSU's way in St. Louis. The Shockers are 1-7 at Arch Madness in game's decided by three points or less. They won at an overtime game against UNI in the 1999 play-in round but have lost seven-straight since then. The most recent setback was an overtime loss to UNI in the 2016 semifinals.
 
GREGG MARSHALL IN THE MVC TOURNAMENT:
*Gregg Marshall is 12-8 (.600) and prepares for his 10th trip.
*Marshall's 12 MVC Tournament wins are more than any other coach in Shocker history. Gene Smithson (8-5 in six trips) ranks second.
*Marshall's 12 career wins are also tied for fourth in MVC history with Greg McDermott (12 at UNI and Creighton). The top-3 are Dana Altman (21 at Creighton), Rich Herrin (17 at SIU) and Barry Hinson (17 between MSU and SIU).
*Marshall is looking to become the first coach in Shocker history to win multiple MVC Tournament crowns.
 
2 IS THE NEW 1:
*The Shockers lost a tiebreaker to regular season co-champ Illinois State to draw the two seed.
*WSU is 10-6 in seven previous go-arounds as No. 2.
*The 1987 Shockers won it all from the No. 2 line, earning three-point home victories over Creighton and Illinois State, followed by a championship win at Tulsa in OT.
*For what it's worth, WSU has reached more finals as the second seed (three in seven tries) than its has as the top-seed (two in six trips). 
*In the 40 MVC Tournaments, No. 2 seeds have won just as many titles (15) as No. 1 seeds (15). In St. Louis, the No. 2 seeds have actually won more times (9) than the No. 1's (8).
*A No. 2 seed has reached the final in six-straight years.
*WSU is 2-8 all-time against No. 1 seeds (0-6 in quarterfinals, 0-2 in semifinals and 2-2 in finals).
 
WSU IN THE QUARTERFINAL ROUND:
*The Shockers are 7-1 in MVC quarterfinal games under Marshall and 20-14 all-time in the round-of-eight.
*Since the MVC Tournament expanded to 10 teams in 1997, WSU has never lost to a play-in team (though it didn't get the chance to try until 2005).
*As a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the bracket, WSU is 9-0 against play-in winners.
*Each of the first eight wins came by double-figures, with an average margin of victory of 16.2 points. A 66-58 win over Loyola stopped that streak. WSU trailed by 7 with under 6:00 to play before rallying.
*Only one play-in team has ever advanced to a semifinal. Bradley (seeded seventh) knocked off second-seeded Creighton, 76-68, in 1998. Quarterfinal play-in teams are a combined 1-39.
*No eight/nine play-in winner has ever beaten a No. 1 seed. The closest attempts have been a two-point loss by No. 8 SIU against No. 1 MSU in 2011, and four-point losses by No. 8 WSU to top seed SIU in 1992, and by No. 9 Illinois State to Northern Iowa in 2009.
*Shocker fans traveling to St. Louis (typically a large group) have gotten their money's worth in recent years. WSU has played multiple games in eight-straight trips. The last one-and-done came in Marshall's first season when the ninth-seeded Shockers lost a play-in game to Indiana State, 71-67.
 
WSU IN THE SEMIFINAL ROUND:
*WSU's 20 semifinal appearances is tied for second-most all-time with Creighton. Illinois State has played in a league-best 22 semifinals.
*WSU is 6-14 all-time in semifinal action.
*The Shockers are 3-4 in semifinals under Marshall.
*Four of those 7 semifinal games have come against Illinois State, though this year the teams are on opposite sides of the bracket.
 
WSU IN THE TITLE GAME:
*WSU has reached the title game six times and is 3-3.
 *The Shockers are 1-2 in championship games under Marshall. Their 2010 appearance snapped a 23-year dry spell but ended with a loss to UNI. The 2013 group lost to Creighton but went on to play in a Final Four. The 2014 team became the first since 1987 to take home a title.
*The 2014 team is the only Shocker team to win the MVC Tournament as a No. 1 seed.
 
THE SERIES WITH BRADLEY:
*The programs have met 141 times. WSU has played more games against Bradley than any other opponent, with the exception of Drake (151 games). 
*No team has beaten the Shockers more than the Braves (71 wins all-time).
*WSU's 15-game series winning streak has eaten into Bradley's all-time lead (71-70). This is the closest the count has been since the 1940s when Bradley won each of the first 10 meetings in the series to pull away.
 
MVC Tournament: WSU is 2-2 against Bradley at Arch Madness. The last meeting came in 2011 when the second-seeded Shockers beat the 10th seeded Braves in the quarterfinals.
 
In Peoria: WSU has won its last seven games in Peoria -- two more than its entire win total from 1990 through 2010. Prior to its current seven-game road streak, WSU had managed even back-to-back wins at Bradley on just two  occasions, spanning 61 years (2003/04 and 1976/77).
 
In Wichita: The Shockers are 46-20 against the Braves in Wichita with wins in 13 of the last 15 Charles Koch Arena encounters... Bradley last tasted victory at Charles Koch Arena on Dec. 31, 2008...  WSU's nine-game home streak is its longest ever against Bradley.
 
THE WSU-DRAKE SERIES:
*Wichita State and Drake have met 151 times in a series that has run uninterrupted for 72 years.
*WSU leads the series 104-47 with wins in 10-straight and 17 of the last 19 meetings.
*WSU's last setback against Drake was a 93-86 triple-overtime thriller in Des Moines on Jan. 28, 2012 (one of just two conference losses for the Shockers that year on the way to their first Valley title under Gregg Marshall).
*The teams played non-conference games in December of 1937 and 1938 but didn't meet regularly until 1945-46 when the Shockers joined the MVC. Since then, they've played a home-and-home series in all but two of the last 72 regular seasons. The exceptions came in 1972-73 and 1973-74 when the MVC shifted to an unbalanced schedule.
*WSU has played (and beaten) Drake more than any other rival. Only two other MVC pairs have comparable history: Southern Illinois & Illinois State have played 151 games and Evansville-Indiana State have played 168 times.
*WSU and Drake share the most Valley history with 133 MVC regular season matchups.
 
MVC Tournament (5-1, WSU): WSU is 2-1 against Drake in St. Louis. The only loss came in a 1997 play-in game. The team's last Arch Madness meeting came in the 2005 quarterfinals.
 
In Des Moines (38-34, WSU): The Shockers have won their last five visits to pull ahead ... They are 15-11 all-time at the Knapp Center, which opened in 1991.
 
In Wichita (63-12, WSU):  Including conference tournament games, the Shockers are 41-4 against the Bulldogs in Wichita over the past four decades, last losing on Dec. 29, 2007... WSU has won nine straight home games against Drake – all by at least 15 points.
 
NEXT UP:
A Shocker win would move them into Saturday's semifinal round for an MVC record eight-consecutive year to face the victor of No. 3 seed Northern Iowa and No. 6 Missouri State. That 5 p.m. CT tipoff will air on CBS Sport Network.