BAYLOR (5-2) at WICHITA STATE (3-3)
Wichita, Kan. / Charles Koch Arena (10,506)
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM
 

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>>> Wichita State (3-3) hosts Baylor (5-2) at 7 p.m. Saturday evening inside Charles Koch Arena.
>>> Tickets are still available for purchase at 978-FANS or online at GoShockers.com/Tickets.
>>> Watch the game on CBS Sports Network with Rich Waltz and Dan Dickau.
>>> Listen on KEYN 103.7 FM and online at GoShockers.com/Listen. Join Mike Kennedy, now in his 39th season as "Voice of the Shockers," and Dave Dahl for the INTRUST Bank Pregame Show, beginning at 6 p.m. CT.
>>> Catch the Gregg Marshall Radio Show LIVE from 6-7 p.m. every Monday at AJ's Sports Grill at The Alley, or listen to the show on KFH (98.7 FM / 1330 AM).  The show is rebroadcast in a television format Mondays at 9 p.m. on YurView Kansas (Cox 2022).
 

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OPENING TIPS:
***Members of the Shockers' 1965 Final Four team will attend. WSU will unveil a statue outside the arena honoring the late Dave Stallworth at 11 a.m. on Saturday. The group, along with Stallworth's wife, Gloria, will also take part in a halftime ceremony.
***A win would put the Shockers over the .500-mark for the first time this year. WSU defeated Rice, 90-61, on Sunday to even its record at 3-3. Freshman Erik Stevenson scored 21 points -- WSU's first 20-point game by a true freshman in nearly a decade. The Shockers forced 10-straight turnovers to key a 16-0 run in the early minutes and led by 25 at halftime.
***Saturday's matchup is a return game in a home-and-home series that began last year in Waco. On Dec. 2, 2017, No. 8 WSU downed No. 16 Baylor, 69-62. The Shockers hit 10-of-16 from three.
***The Shockers lead the all-time series 3-2. This is Baylor's first visit to Wichita since 1951. It's the first by Big 12 team to Charles Koch Arena since Nebraska in the first round of the 2011 NIT (WSU won 76-49 on its way to the championship). It's the first regular season visit by a Big 12 team since Dec. 19, 2009 when the Shockers upset No. 16 Texas Tech, 85-83.
***WSU is 6-4 against Big 12 foes under Gregg Marshall with wins in six of the last eight encounters. In 2017-18, the Shockers won road games at Baylor and Oklahoma State but lost to Oklahoma at downtown INTRUST Bank Arena. Next Saturday, WSU faces Oklahoma at Oklahoma City's Chesapeake Energy Arena.
***Markis McDuffie needs just 25 points to join WSU's 1,000-point club. The senior is the American Athletic Conference's leading scorer at 20.3 points and ranks in the top-50 nationally. McDuffie posted the highest November scoring average in 12 seasons under Marshall, besting Ron Baker's 18.5-per-game in 2014. Saturday marks his 99th career game. He'll look to join Baker and Cleanthony Early as the only Marshall Era Shockers to reach 1,000 prior to his 100th contest.
***Jaime Echenique has blocked at least one shot in each of his first six games. He's looking to become the first Shocker since Cliff Levingston (1980-81) to block a shot in each of the team's first seven contests.
***WSU's Samajae Haynes-Jones and Baylor's Devonte Bandoo were teammates on Hutchinson Community College's 2017 NJCAA National Championship team. Haynes-Jones was a second team All-American that year. Bandoo averaged 13.1 points per game off the bench.
***The Shockers are 73-4 at CKA over the last six seasons.
 
THE SERIES WITH BAYLOR:
***Wichita State is 3-2 all-time against Baylor (1-1 under Gregg Marshall). The Bears won a quarterfinal matchup in the 2007 Paradise Jam -- Marshall's second game as head coach.
***The Shockers defeated Baylor in the championship game of the 1960 All-College Classic in Oklahoma City. WSU makes its 10th appearance in that event next weekend.
***Baylor's last trip to Wichita came Dec. 4, 1951 at the old Henrion Gymnasium. Freshman Cleo Littleton and the Shockers rolled to a 93-59 victory.
 
LAST TIME vs. BAYLOR:
Dec. 2, 2017 | Waco, Texas | No. 8 Wichita State 69, No. 16 Baylor 62
***No. 8 Wichita State snapped No. 16 Baylor's 46-game non-conference home winning streak which dated back nearly five years. The Bears' streak was the second-longest in Division I behind Duke (136).
***Conner Frankamp scored a team-high 17 points on 5-of-8 three-point shooting. Landry Shamet finished with 11 points, seven assists and just one turnover in 36 minutes. He was 3-of-4 from deep. Shaquille Morris added 15 points and Darral Willis Jr. tacked on 11 points and six rebounds.
***WSU extended its own road winning streak to seven games and claimed its first top-25 road win since February 11, 2012 (89-68 at No. 12 Creighton).
***WSU outrebounded Baylor 38-36 and hit 10-of-16 threes (.625). Baylor shot just 37.3% from the field.
 
SCOUTING BAYLOR:
***Rebuilding Baylor lost its top-four scorers and is picked ninth out of 10 teams in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll.
***The Bears finished 19-15 last year and tied for sixth in the Big 12 race (8-10). One of the last four teams left off the NCAA Tournament bubble, the Bears fell to Mississippi State in the second round of the NIT.
***Prior to 2018, Baylor had appeared in a school record four-straight NCAA Tournaments.
***Leading scorer Makai Mason (14.3) is the first graduate transfer in Baylor history after graduating from Yale.
***King McClure (14.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg) and Tristan Clark (13.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.0 bpg) are returning starters.
***Mark Vital is the only other 2017-18 holdover on this year's active roster. He's averaging 5.3 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds.
 
MATCHUP MASHUP: 
***Under Gregg Marshall (289 wins in 12 seasons at WSU) and Scott Drew (301 wins in 16 seasons at Baylor) the Bears and Shockers have been two of the nation's best rebounding programs. Going back to the start of the decade, WSU's average rebounding margin (+7.79) ranks second nationally. Baylor is 10th (+6.31). Both teams have been uncharacteristically average this year. The Shockers are +0.7 on the glass. Baylor is +3.7. Neither rank in the top-100.
***Both sides are rebuilding. WSU returned just 11.2 percent of its minutes from last year. Baylor returned 33 percent.  Samajae Haynes-Jones is the only Shocker who saw time in last year's win at Baylor. He went scoreless in seven minutes. Markis McDuffie (injury) and Asbjørn Midtgaard (coach's decision) did not see action.
***Likewise, just three of the eight Bears are back from last year's game. Tristan Clark (six points, nine rebounds in 29 minutes) and King McClure (12 points in 29 minutes) both started. Mark Vital added eight points and seven rebounds in 19 minutes. A fourth Bear, Jake Lindsey, is redshirting this year. He scored three points in 24 minutes off the bench against WSU.
***WSU is in the top-50 nationally in KenPom for fewest shots blocked. Baylor ranks No. 4 nationally in blocks/game (7.0) and No. 1 on KenPom's block percentage chart. The Bears have blocked just over 12 percent of opponent shots. Clark is a big reason why, averaging 3.0 blocks on his own (seventh nationally). As of Wednesday, he also ranked No. 2 on the national field goal percentage chart (.780).
***Baylor is 28-3 in December games since 2013. It's only losses came against at No. 24 Texas A&M (2015), at home against No. 8 Wichita State (2017) and at No. 22 Texas Tech (2017).
 
TRENDING:
***WSU ranks No. 14 in KenPom steal percentage (opponents steal the ball just 5.8 times per-100 possessions).
***The Shockers' three primary ball-handlers have a combined 2.27 assist-to-turnover ratio: Ricky Torres (12 assists) technically has no ratio because he has yet to turn the ball over in 95 minutes of action. Samajae Haynes-Jones (25:11) leads the team in assists at 4.2 per game and Jamarius Burton (20:11) ranks second at 3.3 per contest.
***Erik Stevenson has a team-high nine steals. WSU is averaging 6.7 steals-per-game – slightly above average in Division I – but a big improvement over last year's 4.7-per-game (331st out of 351 teams).
***Four of WSU's six contests have all been one-possession games within the final 60 seconds. The Shockers are 2-2 on such occasions.
***Gregg Marshall used 73 different lineup combinations in the first five games... 10 of the 15 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... The Shockers have played an average of 33 minutes-per-contest with at least two rookies on the floor and 18 minutes with at least three in the lineup.
 

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A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…  
… move them over the .500-mark for the first time this year (4-3).
… give them consecutive wins for the first time this season.
… up their lead in the all-time series with Baylor to 4-2.
… make Gregg Marshall 7-4 against the Big 12 with wins in seven of the last nine encounters.
… improve Marshall's career mark to 484-184 (.725) in 21 seasons -- 16 wins shy of 500.
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD… 
… lower their record to 3-4.
… give them consecutive regular season losses for just the fourth time in the last six seasons.
… be just the fifth WSU loss at Charles Koch Arena in the last six seasons (73-5).
… tie the all-time series with Baylor at 3-3.
… be less good than a win.
 
UP NEXT:
***Shockers travel to Oklahoma City to face Oklahoma at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The 11 a.m. CT tip airs nationally on ESPNU.
***WSU and Oklahoma meet for the third consecutive year. The 2016 meeting ended a 41-year series hiatus.
***The teams have split the last two meetings. WSU won at CEA in December, 2016. Oklahoma upset the third-ranked Shockers last December at INTRUST Bank Arena.
***The All-College Classic is the world's oldest and most-prestigious basketball event, outdating the NCAA Tournament, NIT, NAIA Tournament and the NBA. This is the 80th installment. WSU makes its 10th appearance. The 2016 win over Oklahoma marked the Shockers' third title.