WICHITA STATE (1-1) vs. DAVIDSON (2-0)
Charleston Classic Quarterfinals
Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018 | 6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET)
Charleston, S.C./ TD Arena
TV: ESPN3 w/ Jordan Bernham & Cory Alexander
Shocker Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM w/ Mike Kennedy & Bob Hull
 

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>>> Wichita State plays three games in four days in the 11^th annual Charleston Classic at TD Arena in Charleston, S.C.
 
>>> The Shockers (1-1) will face Davidson (2-0) in quarterfinal action on Thursday, Nov. 15. Tipoff is set for approximately 6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET) on ESPN3.
 
>>> Listen to the game on Shocker Radio (KEYN 103.7 FM and online at GoShockers.com/Listen). Join "The Voice of the Shockers," Mike Kennedy and analyst Bob Hull for the INTRUST Bank Pregame Show beginning at 5 p.m. CT.
 
OPENING TIPS:
***WSU (1-1) notched its first win of the 2018-19 season last Friday, defeating Providence 83-80 on a neutral court at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.  Markis McDuffie set a Veterans Classic record and a new career-high with 32 points on 6-of-9 three-point shooting. Fellow senior Samajae Haynes-Jones added 15 points and a career-high eight assists. The Shockers made 12-of-22 attempts from three (.545).
*** McDuffie was named co-player of the week in the American Athletic Conference. He's averaging a team-high 20.0 points and 2.0 steals.
***The Shockers are in the midst of a rebuilding year after the loss of six seniors, two transfers and one NBA point guard (Landry Shamet – taken No. 26 overall by the 76'ers). Seniors Markis McDuffie (preseason second team All-AAC) and Samajae Haynes-Jones are the only holdovers who played more than 10 games last year. The Shocker roster includes nine scholarship newcomers.
***Davidson (2-0) is picked third in the Atlantic-10 Conference and received a vote in the preseason AP Poll. The Wildcats own home wins over Cleveland State (83-63) and Dartmouth (79-76).
***This will be the third meeting all-time between WSU and Davidson. The two previous matchups were tied to ESPN's Bracket Buster series. The Shockers notched a 91-74 win in Davidson, N.C., on Feb. 18, 2012 and won the return game on Dec. 18, 2013 at Charles Koch Arena by a count of 81-70.
***The Shockers are a combined 7-2 against this field under 12^th-year head coach Gregg Marshall (1-0 vs. Appalachian State, 3-2 vs. Alabama, 2-0 vs. Davidson and 1-0 vs. Virginia Tech), with a pair of postseason wins over Virginia Tech and Alabama during their 2011 NIT Championship run.
***WSU has reached the championship game in four of its last seven regular season tournaments. Only once in that span have the Shockers failed to win their opener. WSU won the 2012 Cancun Challenge (Mexico) and the 2013 CBE Classic (Kansas City) and claimed runner-up finishes at the 2014 Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu) and the 2017 Maui Invitational.
***WSU will face either Purdue or Appalachian State on Friday. A quarterfinal win puts the Shockers in the semifinals at 5:30 p.m. CT (6:30 ET), while a loss moves them to the consolation side of the draw at 3:30 p.m. CT (4:30 ET). Both games air on ESPNU.
***Following an off day, the Shockers will take on one of four possible opponents from the other half of the bracket in Sunday's placement round. Virginia Tech opens the tournament against Ball State, and Alabama meets Northeastern.
 
ABOUT THE CHARLESTON CLASSIC:
***Owned and operated by ESPN Events, the Charleston Classic is in its 11^th year.
***The eight-team bracket plays out over four days. Each school is guaranteed at least three games, regardless of performance.
***Though games are played at College of Charleston's 5,100-seat TD Arena, C-of-C appears only once every four years (2008, 12, 16).
***This is Wichita State's first Charleston Classic appearance.
***An American Athletic Conference team has reached the final in each of the last two years. UCF was runner-up to Villanova in 2016. Temple defeated a trio of eventual 25-win teams in Old Dominion, Auburn and Clemson to claim the 2017 title. Throw in another fifth-place finish from Temple in 2013 and The American is a combined 7-2 in Charleston Classic games since its formation.
***Each of the last eight Charleston Classic champions have gone on to play in either the NCAA Tournament or the NIT. 2016 champion Villanova earned the No. 1 overall seed.
 
THE FIELD:
***Wichita State and Davidson are joined by Alabama, Appalachian State, Ball State, Northeastern, Purdue and Virginia Tech.
***Five of the eight teams appeared in the 2018 NCAA Tournament: WSU (No. 4 seed), Alabama (second round), Davidson, Purdue (No. 2 seed, Sweet 16) and Virginia Tech.
***A possible semifinal matchup between Alabama and Virginia Tech would be rematch of last year's first round when the ninth-seeded Crimson Tide escaped with an 86-83 victory over the eighth-seeded Hokies.
***Several teams are looking to squeeze an extra game out of the Charleston Classic. While bracket calls for only three games per team, NCAA rules allow schools to play up to four without counting against their season caps. That could lead to a couple of rematches during the week. Purdue and Ball State met over the weekend in West Lafayette, as did Alabama and Appalachian State in Tuscaloosa. A third non-bracketed game, Davidson-Northeastern, will place Thanksgiving weekend.
 

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CHARLESTON CLASSIC SCHEDULE:
 
Thursday, Nov. 15 --
10:30 a.m. – Ball State vs. Virginia Tech (ESPN2)
1 p.m. – Alabama vs. Northeastern (ESPNU)
4 p.m. – Purdue vs. Appalachian State (ESPN2)
6 p.m. – Wichita State vs. Davidson (ESPN3)
 
Friday, Nov. 16 –
10 a.m. – Semifinal #1: Game 1 & 2 Winners (ESPN2 or U)
Noon – Consolation #1: Game 1 & 2 Losers (ESPN2 or U)
3:30 p.m. – Semifinal #2: Game 3 & 4 Winners (ESPNU)
5:30 p.m. – Consolation #2: Game 3 & 4 Losers (ESPNU)
 
Sunday, Nov. 18 –
10 a.m. – 7^th Place Game (ESPN3)
12:30 p.m. – 5^th Place Game (ESPNU)
5:00 p.m. – 3^rd Place Game (ESPNU)
7:30 p.m. – Championship (ESPN2)
 

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 MARSHALL'S COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON TIES:
***Gregg Marshall spent eight years as an assistant at College of Charleston under legendary head coach John Kresse (1988-96) when the Cougars made the most successful transition ever from NAIA to NCAA Division I.  The team earned an NCAA at-large bid in 1994 (its first year of postseason eligibility) and earned consecutive NIT bids in 1995 and 1996.
***At C-of-C, Marshall was intrumental in the recruitment of NBA-caliber student-athletes from the state of South Carolina, including 13-year NBA veteran Anthony Johnson, Marion Busby and Thaddeus Dalaney. All three players earned Trans-American Conference Player of the Year honors at some point in their C-of-C careers.
***Marshall's wife, Lynn, earned her undergraduate and masters degrees from College of Charleston.
***Marshall's daughter, Maggie, is a first-year student at C-of-C.
***Marshall's former Winthrop and Wichita State assistant Earl Grant is C-of-C's head coach. In 2018 Grant led the Cougars to a share of the Big South regular season title and won the conference tournament to clinch the school's first NCAA Tournament bid since 1999.
 
OTHER SOUTH CAROLINA TIES:
***Marshall was head coach at Winthrop from 1998-2007 and led the Eagles to seven NCAA Tournament appearances in nine seasons.
***First-year assistant coach Tyson Waterman played on Marshall's first two Winthrop teams and was an all-conference point guard. Prior to joining the WSU staff, he headed up the basketball program at Believe Academy in Rock Hill, S.C.
 
TD ARENA:
***5,100-seat TD Arena opened in 2008.
***Gregg Marshall has never coached in TD Arena (est. 2008). Its court is named for former C-of-C coach John Kresse, one of Marshall's mentors in the profession.
***This will be the 125^th venue in which Marshall has coached. Marshall's 481 wins have come in 83 different venues, most recently Navy's Alumni Hall where the Shockers defeated Providence last week.
***Gregg Marshall is 9-1 all-time in Charleston with six-straight wins (8-1 at Charleston Southern's CSU Fieldhouse and 1-0 at The Citadel's McAlister Fieldhouse).
 
DEBUTANTE BALLERS:
Last week Wichita State played on Maryland soil for the first time in the program's 113-year history. This week's Charleston Classic, likewise, marks the Shockers' first action in South Carolina. Because, of course you want to know, that leaves just eight other states on the checklist: Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Vermont.
 
WSU IN REGULAR SEASON EVENTS:
***WSU is 86-64 all-time with 16 titles. The most recent came in 2016-17 when the Shockers defeated Oklahoma for their third All-College Classic trophy.
***Ten of the 16 titles have come in WSU-hosted tournaments. From 1979-86, WSU ran a four-team tournament called the McDonald's Shocker Classic and won it five times. WSU revived the event from 1993-98 as the Cessna Classic and won it five more times in six years.
***The Shockers' last regular season tournament crown came in the 2013 CBE Classic in Kansas City.
***A Charleston Classic title would be the program's first since 1963 when consensus first team All-American Dave Stallworth powered the University of Wichita to the All-College Classic crown in Oklahoma City (and later that year to the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance).
 
MULTI-TEAM EVENTS IN THE MARSHALL ERA:
***WSU is 22-15 in MTE's under Gregg Marshall (15-15 on-site) with four championship game appearances and two titles.
***Marshall led the Shockers to championships at the 2012 Cancun Challenge in Mexico and the 2013 CBE Classic in Kansas City and runner-up finishes to the 2014 Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu, Hawaii) and the 2017 Maui Invitational (Lahaina, Hawaii).
***Last November, No. 5 WSU defeated California and Marquette to reach the finals of the Maui Invitational. The Shockers led No. 13 Notre Dame by 14 points at halftime but couldn't hang on. The Irish sank two free throws with two seconds on the clock for a 67-66 victory. WSU was one of the few teams that battled Notre Dame at full strength in 2017-18. Injuries to star players subsequently derailed the Irish's season.
***The Shockers have won six of their last seven tournament openers. Minus injured point guard Fred VanVleet, WSU went 0-3 at the 2015 Advocare Invitational.
 
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2019:
***Wichita State is signed on to compete in the Riviera Division of the Cancun Challenge (November, 2019) alongside West Virginia, Northern Iowa and South Carolina. UT-Martin, Gardner Webb and two others (to be named) make up the Mayan Division.
***Teams from the Riviera Division compete in a four-team bracket. In addition, the Shockers will also play up to two preliminary round games in Wichita.
***WSU won the 2012 Cancun Challenge title, defeating DePaul and Iowa.
 
WEEK-ONE NOTABLES:
***A loss to Louisiana Tech dropped Wichita State to 0-1 for the first time since 2001. It was just the fourth time in the last six seasons that the Shockers have lost a game at Charles Koch Arena. They're 72-4 at CKA since the start of the 2013-14 season.
***WSU bounced back by defeating a Providence team that had earned votes in both major preseason polls.
***The two Shocker seniors combined for 15 points on 5-of-24 shooting (1-of-12 from three) in the opener against LA Tech. On Friday night they were 18-of-33 (9-of-12 from deep) for 47 points.
***WSU was one of The American's top free throw shooting teams in 2017-18 at 73.9 percent. This year's Shockers have work to do to live up to that standard. WSU was one of just 15 D-I teams that missed more than half of its free throws in week one (22/45, .489).
 
A TRIP TO REMEMBER:
***The Shockers spent time in Washington D.C. last Wednesday afternoon with stops at the Capitol and the White House -- the latter as a guest of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. A behind-the-scenes tour included a stop in the Oval Office and the opportunity to meet President Donald Trump.
***Players and coaches from WSU, Maryland and Providence toured the U.S. Naval Academy last Thursday in advance of the Veterans Classic doubleheader.
***CBS Sports Network will air a half-hour documentary with behind-the-scenes footage from the Veterans Classic on Thanksgiving Night -- 6:30 p.m. CT.
 
FIGURING THINGS OUT:
***Gregg Marshall used 44 lineup combinations in the first two games.
***Nine of the 12 players who have seen action are new to the active roster. Seven of them are freshmen.
***WSU has had at least one freshman on the court for every second of every game this season.
***WSU had at least four freshmen on the floor for 10 of the 40 minutes against LA Tech.
***The Shockers have had at least three freshmen on the floor for 55 of the 80 minutes this year.
 
LONG, SLOW MARCH TO 100:
*It has to happen at some point, right? Gregg Marshall's next loss will be his 100^th as Shocker head coach. Hardly a milestone to aspire to, but the fact that it's taken him parts of 12 seasons to get there is remarkable.
*The Shockers lost 20 games in Marshall's debut season (2007-08) and 17 more in year No. 2. Since finishing 25-10 in 2009-10, WSU has put together eight-straight seasons with single-digit losses. 
*The Shockers have dropped just 52 games since the start of the 2010-11 campaign.
 
McDUFFIE CLOSING IN ON 1,000-POINTS:
***Senior forward Markis McDuffie needs just 107 more points to become the 47^th member of Wichita State's 1,000-Point Club.
 
TIME TO RECHARGE:
***Shockers players will have a chance to regroup and unpack their suitcases following Sunday's tournament finale – the team's fifth game in 13 days. WSU will play just two more games over the next 20-day stretch (Nov. 25 vs. Rice and Dec. 1 vs. Baylor). Both are at home.
 
30-POINT CLUB
***Markis McDuffie logged just the eighth 30-point performance of the Marshall Era in an 83-80 Veterans Classic win over Providence. He was 6-of-9 from three for 32 points. Five of those treys came in the second half to help the Shockers maintain their lead.
***McDuffie is the sixth different Marshall Era player to touch 30 at least once. Fellow senior Samajae Haynes-Jones did it last year (31 vs. Savannah State), as did Landry Shamet (30 at Oklahoma State).
***Notably, one of those eight 30-point games came at Davidson.
 
30-Point Games in the Marshall Era:
39 – Cleanthony Early – Southern Illinois (Jan. 9, 2013)
32 – Markis McDuffie – vs. Providence (Nov. 9, 2018)
32 – Fred VanVleet – at Evansville (Jan. 31, 2016)
31 – Samajae Haynes-Jones – Savannah State (Nov. 28, 2017)
31 – Cleanthony Early – vs. Kentucky (Mar. 23, 2014)
31 – Joe Ragland – #18 UNLV (Dec. 4, 2011)
30 – Landry Shamet – at Oklahoma State (Dec. 9, 2017)
30 – Joe Ragland – at Davidson (Feb. 18, 2012)
 
THE SERIES vs. DAVIDSON:
***WSU leads the all-time series 2-0, thanks to a Bracket Busters sweep.
***On Feb. 8, 2012, the Shockers rolled to a 91-74 win at Davidson behind 30 points from Joe Ragland. Up 39-38 at halftime, WSU made an incredible 20-of-25 second-half shots (.800) to pull away. It remains the best shooting half by a Shocker team in Marshall's 12 seasons. Ragland, a senior guard, led the charge going 7-for-7 during that stretch.
***The Shockers won the return game on Dec. 29, 2013 by a score of 81-70. All-American forward Cleanthony Early finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Tekele Cotton registered four blocks and 10 points. Ron Baker had 15 points and five assists, and Fred VanVleet chipped in nine points and four steals. The win capped a 13-0 non-conference slate on their way to a 35-0 start.
 
POSSIBLE FRIDAY OPPONENT: APPALACHIAN STATE
***Going back to the 2006-07 season, Appalachian State is one of just five schools that have won a non-conference regular season game at Charles Koch Arena. The Mountaineers claimed a 70-68 Bracket Busters win on Feb. 17, 2007. 
***The following year, the Shockers avenged that defeat with a 62-53 win in Boone, N.C. (Gregg Marshall's first road win as Shocker head coach).
***Appalachian State (1-1) is coming off its most-successful season under fifth-year coach Jim Cox with 15 wins last year. 
***The Mountaineers are the first member of the Sun Belt Conference to play in the Charleston Classic. 
***The Mountaineers ran up gaudy totals in a 125-62 win over Division II Mars Hill in their season opener. They shot just under 63 percent from the field and hit 14-of-28 three-point attempts.
 
POSSIBLE FRIDAY OPPONENT: PURDUE
***Purdue leads the series 4-2 with four-straight wins.
***The teams last met in December, 1989 in Wichita. Current Purdue head coach Matt Painter was a freshman on that Boilermaker team but did not see action.
***WSU swept a home-and-home in December, 1961 and December, 1962 under Ralph Miller.
***Painter is 2-0 against WSU all-time. Both games came during his year as head coach at Southern Illinois.
***Purdue (2-0) owns wins over Fairfield and Ball State.
***The Boilermakers lost four starters but earned a preseason national rankings thanks to the return of third team All-American Carsen Edwards. The 6-foot junior guard was the leading vote-getter in the AP's preseason All-America team.
***Edwards is averaging 26.5 points and has taken almost  a third of the team's shots through two games.
***The Boilermakers were picked fifth out of 14 teams in the Big Ten preseason media poll.
 
POSSIBLE SUNDAY OPPONENT: ALABAMA
***Alabama (2-0) was picked seventh out of 14 SEC teams in the league's preseason media poll.
***The Crimson Tide are one of nine SEC teams that are either ranked or receiving votes in this week's AP Poll.
***A meeting with Alabama would be the sixth in the past eight years. WSU has won three of the last five, including a 66-57 victory in the 2011 NIT Championship.
***Alabama won a semifinal matchup in the 2011 Puerto Rico tipoff.
***The teams played a home-and-home in 2013-14 and 2014-15 and WSU won both games. In the latter, the Shockers trailed by 11 points with 6:00 to play but outscored the Tide 13-1 the rest of the way for a 53-52 victory. It was WSU's 23rd straight home win, establishing a new school record.
***Alabama evened the series in the 2015 Advocare Invitational, defeating the Shockers (minus an injured Fred VanVleet) 64-60 in the consolation semifinals.
 
POSSIBLE SUNDAY OPPONENT: BALL STATE
***WSU and BSU have met just once, in February, 1973. Senior Vince Smith scored a career-high 30 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in a 108-76 Shocker victory at Henry Levitt Arena.
***Ball State (1-1) has won at least 19 games in each of the past three seasons and is picked second in the MAC West Division behind Eastern Michigan.
***The Cardinals downed Indiana State in their season opener (86-69) but lost 84-75 at Purdue on Saturday.
***Fifth-year senior guard Taylor Persons is a preseason all-conference selection.
 
POSSIBLE SUNDAY OPPONENT: NORTHEASTERN
***WSU has never faced Northeastern.
***Northeastern (1-1) is a heavy favorite in the Colonial Athletic Association, garnering 35 of the 40 first-place votes in the league's preseason poll.
***Charleston is normally enemy territory for the Huskies. A year ago, Northeastern and College of Charleston split the league's regular season title. C-of-C won all three meetings, including the CAA Tournament championship game in overtime. That game took place just the down the road at North Charleston Coliseum.
 
POSSIBLE SUNDAY OPPONENT: VIRGINIA TECH
***The series is tied 1-1.
***VA Tech edged the top-seeded Shockers 91-90 in the 1965 All-College Classic in Oklahoma City on pair of John Wetzel free throws with 10 seconds remaining.
***WSU bounced No. 1 seed VA Tech from the 2011 NIT on its way the eventual title. Garrett Stutz had just one basket in the first 40 minutes but was 3-for-3 in overtime to give the Shockers a 79-76 victory in Blacksburg.
***Virginia Tech (1-0) was the field's highest-rated team in the preseason at No. 15 in the AP and No. 17 in the Coaches Poll.
***The Hokies – picked fifth in the ACC race -- return seven of their top-eight scorers, including preseason All-ACC pick, Justin Robinson (14.0 ppg, 5.6 apg).
 
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…  
… improve their record to 2-1.
… move them into Friday's semifinal round (5:30 p.m. CT / 6:30 ET on ESPNU) against the winner of Purdue and Appalachian State.
… give them back-to-back wins and momentum after a disappointing home loss to LA Tech in the season opener.
… put them on the winner's side of an MTE draw for the seventh time in eight years (WSU lost its opener at the 2015 Advocare Invitational).
… give them a 3-0 lead in the all-time series with Davidson.
… make Marshall 10-1 all-time in Charleston, S.C.
… improve Marshall's career mark to 482-182 (.726) in 21 seasons and give him wins in 84 different venues.
… give WSU a 73-16 (.820) record in regular season non-conference games since the start of the 2011-12 season.
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
… lower their record to 1-2.
… drop them into the consolation bracket for a Friday afternoon matchup against the loser of Purdue and Appalachian State (3:30 p.m. CT/ 4:30 ET on ESPNU).
… put them on the consolation side for the first time since 2015 (Advocare Invitational in Orlando) and for only the second time in their eight MTEs.
… narrow their lead in the all-time series with Davidson to 2-1.
… lower Gregg Marshall's career mark to 481-183 (.724) in 21 seasons;
… give Gregg Marshall 100 losses in 12 seasons as Shocker head coach (it took a while, didn't it?) -- 287-100 (.742).
… give WSU a 72-17 (.809) record in regular season non-conference games since the start of the 2011-12 season.
 
UP NEXT: RICE (Nov. 25, 2 p.m. CT/ YurView Kansas)
***Wichita State takes a full week off after the Charleston Classic, returning to the floor on Sunday, Nov. 25 for a home game against Rice. The game will air statewide on YurView Kansas, available to Cox Kansas subscribers on channel 2022, and in all 50 states at YurView.com/Kansas.
***The Owls were picked last in the 14-team Conference USA preseason poll.
***Rice won the only other series meeting – 69 years ago in Houston.