WICHITA, Kan. – No. 17/16 Wichita State (15-4, 5-2) looks to return to its winning ways against UCF (13-6, 4-3) Thursday night at Charles Koch Arena. The 8 p.m. CT tip airs nationally on ESPN2.
After dropping just two games in a two-month span to begin the year, Wichita State suffered back-to-back losses last week.
The Shockers' 27-game Charles Koch Arena and an 11-game true road winning streaks were both snapped. In the former, SMU shot 63.8% from the field and nailed 10-of-20 threes for an 83-78 victory. In Saturday's 73-59 setback at Houston, WSU shot a season-low 32% and finished 25 points below its season scoring average.
WSU and Houston (both 5-2) are tied for second place. Neither has faced first-place Cincinnati (7-0).
THE STARTING FIVE:
1 --- BOUNCING BACK:
WSU is coming off consecutive conference losses for the first time since the 2012-13 season. The 2013 Shockers dropped three-straight from Jan. 29 - Feb. 5 and ended the regular season with losses to Evansville and Creighton. Notably, that group bounced back nicely in March with a run to the Final Four… The Shockers will try to avoid consecutive home losses for the first time since February, 2011 (SIU & VCU) and its first three-game losing skid since November, 2015. Minus Fred VanVleet, the Shockers went 0-3 at the AdvoCare Invitational.
2 --- NICE TO MEET YOU:
UCF is one of four American foes that WSU is facing for the first time ever this year (others: USF, ECU & Tulane).Shocker assistant
Donnie Jones was head coach at UCF from 2010-16 and led the Knights to three 20-wins seasons and a pair of postseason appearances (the program's first at-large bids of any kind).
3 --- POINTS-COUNTER POINTS:
UCF ranks third nationally in scoring defense (59.1) and fifth in field goal percentage defense (.378) but will play the remainder of the year without reigning American Defensive Player of the Year, Tacko Fall, who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury last week... Just two UCF opponents have scored more than 70 points this year, and only West Virginia (83) has broken 80. The Shockers average a league-high 83.2 points and have scored 78+ in all 10 home games this year.
4 --- MILESTONES:
Shaquille Morris (130 career blocks) needs just two more to match Robert Elmore for second on WSU's all-time list. A win would also make him the seventh player in school history to participate in 100 victories. He's 99-21 in four seasons. Teammate
Rashard Kelly reached the century mark earlier this month.
5 --- SECOND CHANCES:
Through 19 games,
Rashard Kelly has 64 offensive rebounds -- equaling his junior year total (64 in 36 GP)... Kelly has grabbed 5+ offensive boards on seven occasions this year, most recently at Houston (6)... WSU began officially tracking offensive rebounds in 1985-86. Kelly (3.37 per game) is flirting with the school's single-season records (total AND per-game). Steve Grayer set both standards in 1988-89 (103 and 3.43).
###
LOUD NOISES:
WSU has won 67 of its last 69 games at Charles Koch Arena over the last five seasons. The only losses came against UNI (Feb. 13, 2016) and SMU (Jan. 17, 2018)... 66 of the 69 games in that stretch have come in front of capacity crowds (10,506)… Charles Koch Arena has played host to 206-consecutive regular season crowds of 10,000+, dating back to December of 2004… WSU has sold out its last 16 home games, dating back to last year (15 at Koch Arena and one at 15,004-seat INTRUST Bank Arena.
THE SERIES WITH UCF :
This is the first men's basketball meeting between the Shockers and Knights… UCF is one of four American foes that WSU is facing for the first time this year (USF, ECU & Tulane are the others)... WSU plays at UCF's CFE Arena on March 1, then returns to Orlando a week later for the American Athletic Conference Tournament at the Amway Center… The Shockers are 2-7 all-time in the Sunshine State (1-5 in Orlando).
Gregg Marshall teams made appearances in the Advocare Invitational in 2008 and 2015.
MATCHUP MASHUP:
Gregg Marshall faced UCF twice at Winthrop, going 1-1. On Dec. 2, 1998 (in just his fifth game as a head coach), Marshall's Eagles fell 79-57 in Orlando. A year later -- Nov. 23, 1999 -- he defeated UCF, 78-54, in a return game at Winthrop Coliseum.. Marshall lost his only head-to-head meeting with Johnny Dawkins in March, 2009. Dawkins' Stanford team defeated the Shockers, 70-56, in the CBI Quarterfinals, ending WSU's first postseason bid under Marshall. Dawkins' 14-point win is the most lopsided victory by a road team in Marshall's 11 seasons at Wichita State.
SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS:
*UCF (24-12 last year and an NIT seminalist) was picked third in the league's preseason poll.
The Knights have taken a hard bite from the injury bug with three key contributors missing extensive time. Michigan transfer Aubrey Dawkins -- son of head coach Johnny Dawkins -- suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in late October. Two weeks later, guard B.J. Taylor (a preseason first team all-conference selection) was diagnosed with a foot injury and missed the next 16 games. Taylor returned on Jan. 16, but four days later UCF announced that 7-foot-6 center Tacko Fall will miss the remainder of the year due to a shoulder injury. Fall was shooting .767 from the field and averaging 11.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game.
*Minus Fall, UCF staged a second-half comeback at USF on Saturday. Taylor scored 25 points and handed out five assists in 31 minutes in a 71-69 victory.
*A.J. Davis is The American's second-leading rebounder (8.4). His five double-doubles also ranks second on the league leader board.
TRENDING:
*Over the last two seasons, WSU is 43-1 when outshooting its opponent (and 3-8 when outshot).
*
Austin Reaves has 20 assists with just three turnovers in six January games (6.7 ratio).
*
Shaquille Morris is averaging a team-high 12.7 points in January on 59% shooting.
*
Landry Shamet has logged 30+ minutes on 27 occasions over the last two seasons (12x this year). Saturday at Houston (7 points in 36 minutes) marked only the second time that he's failed to score in double-figures when playing 30+. (He had three points in 32 minutes in last year's MVC Semifinal victory over Missouri State).
*The Shockers' four primary guards have shot just 28% from three in their four losses this year, compared to 48.5% in their 15 victories.
RPI 100!
As of Tuesday, 9 of the 12 American schools are in the RPI's top-100: Cincinnati (24), Wichita State (29), Temple (46), Houston (48), SMU (54), UCF (57), Tulane (88) UConn (90) and Memphis (97)… WSU plays 12 of its last 13 regular season games against teams currently ranked in the RPI top-100. That stretch began last week against SMU and Houston. The only "break" is Sunday's game against No. 118 Tulsa… A year ago, the Shockers played just 6 of their 31 regular season games against top-100 RPI teams.
BLOOM WHERE YOU'RE PLANTED:
Gregg Marshall is one of 60 active Division I coaches who have kept the same job for 10+ years… Marshall (276-94, .746 in 11 seasons at WSU) has a higher winning percentage than all but four coaches on that list.
Coaches w/ 10+ Years at Current School (by winning percentage)
1. Bill Self (Kansas) – Since 2003 -- .826
2. Mark Few (Gonzaga) – Since 1999 -- .816
3. Mike Krzyzewski (Duke) – Since 1980 -- .788
4. Roy Williams (UNC) – Since 2003 -- .777
5.
Gregg Marshall (Wichita State) – Since 2007 -- .746
6. Jim Boeheim (Syracuse) – Since 1976 -- .737
7. Dave Rose (BYU) – Since 2005 -- .737
8. Tom Izzo (Michigan St.) – Since 1995 -- .716
9. Jay Wright (Villanova) – Since 2001 -- .714
10. Randy Bennett (Saint Mary's) – Since 2001 -- .707
SHOOTING STAR:
Landry Shamet is one of just three Division I players who are shooting 50 percent or better from three while averaging at least 2.5 makes per game... In the past decade (2007-08 to 2016-17), only five players have hit that standard over a full season.
ON THE LEADERBOARD (as of 1/23):
Wichita State leads the American in scoring offense (83.2), field goal percentage (.485), rebound margin (+10.6), assists (18.8), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.5), defensive rebound percentage (.778) and three-pointers per game (9.5)...
Landry Shamet leads the league in assists (5.2), assist-to-turnover ratio (2.5) and threes-per-game (2.7). He's second in three-point percentage (.500), seventh in scoring (15.6)…
Rashard Kelly leads the conference in offensive rebounds per game (3.4) and ranks third in total rebounds per game (7.4)… No player in The American has blocked more shots than
Shaquille Morris (34).
POLL NOTES:
WSU dropped 10 spots to No. 17 in the latest AP Poll (their lowest ranking this year) after consecutive losses last week to SMU and Houston. The Shockers spent 10 of the first 11 weeks ranked in the top-10… WSU is down 12 spots to No. 16 in the Coaches Poll… WSU's No. 3 AP ranking on Dec. 11 was its highest since finishing the 2013-14 regular season with four-consecutive weeks at No. 2… WSU opened at No. 7 in the AP preseason rankings and No. 8 in the Coaches' -- its highest starting point since the '81-82 campaign…. Going back to Dec. 12, 2012 -- a span of five years -- WSU has been ranked or received AP and/or Coaches votes in 119 of the 129 poll weeks.
OTHER TRENDS:
*The Shockers have hit double-digit threes in 11 of their 19 games this year. A year ago they did it a school-record 13 times in 36 contests.
*
Conner Frankamp has tallied just two turnovers in his last 12 games (spanning 307 minutes) since WSU's return from the Maui Invitational and only six for the year.
*Frankamp has hit a three-pointer in 39-straight games (a school record.
Landry Shamet has a three in 43 of his last 44 contests.
*Frankamp has made all 18 of his free throw attempts this year and 19-straight going back to last season.
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…
… snap a two-game losing streak.
… makes them 68-2 at Charles Koch Arena over the last five seasons (9-1 in 2017-18).
… give WSU a 1-0 lead in the all-time series with UCF.
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
… drop their record to 15-5 (5-3 American).
… give them three-consecutive losses for the first time since November, 2015.
… give them three-consecutive conference losses for the first time since January/February 2013.
… give them consecutive home losses for the first time since February, 2011 (SIU & VCU).
… be just their third Charles Koch Arena loss in the last five seasons (67-3).
… be less good than a win.
UP NEXT:
WSU goes for a sweep against Tulsa Sunday (5 p.m. CT, CBSSN) at the Roundhouse. The Shockers won 72-69 in Tulsa on Jan. 10.
