SOUTHERN MISS (7-2) at WICHITA STATE (5-4)
Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018  |  4:30 p.m. CT
Wichita, Kan. / INTRUST Bank Arena (15,004)
TV: CBSSN
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM / goshockers.com/Listen

>>> Wichita State (5-4) faces Southern Miss (7-2) Saturday in its annual downtown game at INTRUST Bank Arena. The 4:30 p.m. CT tip airs on CBS Sports Network.
>>> Seats are still available for purchase at 855-755-SEAT, online at selectaseat.com or by visiting the Select-A-Seat Box Office at INTRUST Bank Arena.
>>> Watch the game on CBS Sports Network with Rich Waltz and Bob Wenzel. Streaming is available to CBSSN subscribers at cbssports.com/cbs-sports-network.
>>>  Listen on KEYN 103.7 FM and online at GoShockers.com/Listen. Join Mike Kennedy, now in his 39^th season as "Voice of the Shockers," and Dave Dahl for the INTRUST Bank Pregame Show, beginning at 3:30 p.m.
 

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OPENING TIPS:
***This is the second meeting all-time between WSU and USM and a rematch of the classic 2012 downtown game that saw WSU's eventual Final Four team overcome a 12-point second-half deficit to defeat a 27-win Golden Eagle squad.
***WSU is 6-2 all-time at INTRUST Bank Arena but has lost back-to-back to Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.
***At halftime, WSU will induct legendary baseball coach Gene Stephenson into the Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame. The three-time NCAA Coach of the Year led the Shockers to seven College World Series appearances during his 36-year career, including the 1989 national championship.
***Winners of three-staight, Southern Miss leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.89) and also ranks in the top-25 in assists (9^th, 19.1) and turnover margin (22^nd, 4.7).
***Winners of three of their last four, the Shockers are coming off a 69-65 win over Jacksonville State on Wednesday night. Samajae Haynes-Jones scored a game-high 17 points. He was joined in double-figures by Markis McDuffie (11 points, nine rebounds) and Jaime Echenique (12 points, seven rebounds). Freshman Morris Udeze chipped in eight points and a career-high eight rebounds off the bench. WSU outscored JSU 42-18 and held the visitors to 38.1% from the field.
*** WSU played six of its first nine games against 2018 postseason qualifiers, going 3-3.
***McDuffie became the 47^th member of WSU's 1,000-point club last Saturday. His streak of eight consecutive double-figure scoring games is a career-best, and he enters the weekend ranked fourth on the AAC scoring chart at 18.6 points per game.
***Echenique (team-high 6.1 rebounds) has blocked a shot in each of his first nine games. It's tied for the fourth-longest Shocker streak since 1986 (when the block became an official NCAA statistic). It's also WSU's longest block streak to begin a season since 1980 when Cliff Levingston swatted shots in each of the first 10.
***What a difference a year makes for Haynes-Jones. The Hutchinson CC product saw limited action in 2017-18  behind the NBA-bound Landry Shamet, appearing in just one game after Feb. 10. This year Haynes-Jones (12.3 ppg) is averaging 31.4 minutes per contest -- tied with McDuffie for the team lead.
 
Consecutive Games with a Block (Since 1986):
12 – Shaquille Morris (2017-18)
11 – Claudius Johnson (1990-91)
10 – Ehimen Orukpe (2012-13)
9 – Jaime Echenique (2018-19)
9 – Darius Carter (2014-15)
9 – Cleanthony Early (2013-14)
9 – Carl Hall (2012-13)
 
FRESH STARTS:
***Under Marshall, only eight Shockers have started multiple games during their true freshman seasons. Three of them are on this year's team: Dexter Dennis (6), Jamarius Burton (5) and Erik Stevenson (2).
 
True Freshman Starts (Marshall Era):
34 – Toure' Murry (2008-09)
12 – Garrett Stutz (2008-09)
6 – Dexter Dennis (2018-19)
5 – Jamarius Burton (2018-19)
4 – Aaron Ellis (2007-08)
4 – Rashard Kelly (2014-15)
3 – Graham Hatch (2007-08)
2 – Erik Stevenson (2018-19)
1 – Demetric Williams (2009-10)
1 – Landry Shamet (2015-16)
1 – Markis McDuffie (2015-16)
 
TORRES BUSTS SLUMP:
***Ricky Torres' miserable shooting start is behind him. The junior missed his first 18 three-point attempts to begin the season. Attempt No. 19 (in the final seconds of the first half against Jacksonville State) swished the net, but officials ruled that Torres' release came a split-second after the halftime buzzer. Torres shook it off and made the next one count. His first three-pointer of the year stretched the WSU lead to eight with just under 10:00 to play. Torres finished with a season-high seven points.
***A first-team JUCO All-American last year, Torres averaged better than two triples-per-game on 43 percent shooting for Missouri St.-West Plains JC.
***Torres has found other ways to help the team when not scoring. He didn't commit a turnover until seven games into the season and currently has a 20:5 assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
TRENDING:    
***WSU is 3-1 at home this year (all on campus).
***The Shockers' starting-five against JSU on Wednesday was their fifth unique lineup in nine games this year.
***Freshman guard Erik Stevenson made his second start of the season in place of Dexter Dennis.
***The Shockers have shot a combined 45.9 percent in their five victories this year, compared to 34.6 percent in four losses.
***Over the last three seasons, the Shockers are 55-2 (5-0 in 2018-19) when outshooting their opponent, compared to 6-14 (0-4 in 2018-19) when outshot.
***Jaime Echenique is 7-1 on opening tipoffs.
***McDuffie is 2-of-19 from three in four home games (compared to 17-of-32 in the five road/neutral tilts).
***Erik Stevenson is 12-of-25 (.480) from three-point range in WSU's three home games this year but 5-of-29 (.172) outside of Charles Koch Arena. He's averaging a team-best 16.0 points at home.
 
HOME SWEET HOME
***Wichita State is 108-8 (.931) in Wichita since the start of the 2011-12 campaign. That includes a 6-2 mark at INTRUST Bank Arena.
***WSU ranked 34^th nationally in attendance last year (10,787) and was one of just nine schools that sold out every home date.
 
1,000 FOR McDUFFIE (AND COUNTING)
***Senior forward Markis McDuffie is the 47^th member of WSU's 1,000-point club. He reached the mark in his 100^th game (Dec. 8, 2018 at Oklahoma).
***If McDuffie maintains his 2018-19 scoring pace, he'll finish the regular season with 1,410 points -- which would rank 16^th all-time.
***Nine members of the 1,000-point club -- including McDufie -- played their entire careers under Gregg Marshall. McDuffie is just the fourth from that group to reach 1,000 in 100 games or less. Each of the other three went on to play in the NBA: Toure' Murry (90), Cleanthony Early (67) & Ron Baker (78).
 
WSU-JACKSONVILLE STATE LEFTOVERS:
***Down 60-59 with 5:47 to play, WSU held JSU scoreless for a five-minute stretch to key an 8-0 run.
***Dexter Dennis grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked out to Samajae Haynes-Jones (game-high 17 points) for a crucial three-pointer and a 64-60 lead with 1:40 to play.
***Markis McDuffie finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.
***The game pitted one of college basketball's least-experienced teams (WSU) against its polar opposite. Six of the nine JSU players that saw action were seniors. Two more were juniors. Six of the 10 Shockers were freshmen.
***WSU's size made all the difference. The Shockers were +11 on the boards, outscored JSU 42-18 in the paint and secured 14 offensive rebounds.
***Jaime Echenique (12 points, seven rebounds) scored 10 of the first 12 Shocker points to begin the game – the last at the 13:42-mark of the first half -- before succumbing to foul trouble.
***Morris Udeze picked up the slack with eight points and eight rebounds off the bench. The pair were a combined 10-of-13 from the field.
 
LAST MEETING WITH SOUTHERN MISS:
WSU 59, USM 51
Dec. 22, 2012  Wichita, Kan. | INTRUST Bank Arena
***The teams have met just one other time -- Dec. 22, 2012. That game was also played downtown. WSU scored the final 10 points of the game to defeat Southern Miss, 59-51.
***Demetric Williams (17 points), Nick Wiggins (12) and Cleanthony Early (10) led the Shocker scoring.
***Jerrold Brooks led Southern Miss with 18 points. Dwayne Davis added 13 and Neil Watson had 12.
***WSU trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half but held the Golden Eagles to just four points over the final eight minutes.
***After USM took a 51-49 lead on Watson's 3-pointer with 3:22 remaining, Wiggins scored on a layup and a dunk to give WSU the lead for good with 2:03 left. Four free throws and a layup by Williams finished the scoring for the Shockers, who improved to 11-1.
***WSU redshirt freshman Ron Baker was out with a foot injury). Freshman point guard Fred VanVleet ended with two points and five turnovers in 14 minutes.
 
SCOUTING SOUTHERN MISS:
***Southern Miss was picked seventh out of 14 teams in the Conference USA preseason poll. The Golden Eagles are coming off a 16-18 season (7-11 CUSA). KenPom rates USM 145^th nationally -- up from 206^th at the end of last year and 325 at the close of the 2016-17 season.
***Leading scorer Cortez Edwards (14.1 ppg) joined USM's 1,000-point club last month. As a junior he set the school's single-season steals record (71). Tyree  Griffin (31^st, 2.33) and Edwards (45^th, 2.22) each rank among the top-50 nationally in steals per game. Both players are also among the nation's top-100 in assist-to-turnover ratio. Griffin ranks 20^th nationally in assists (6.7). Leonard Harper-Baker averages a team-best 2.0 blocks per game
***USM plays at a plodding pace -- 318^th (of 353) in KenPom's adjusted tempo rankings. The Eagles have done an excellent job of maximizing limited possessions. They enter the weekend with the NCAA's 10^th-lowest turnover percentage (14.7 per 100 possessions). Defensively, their steal percentage ranks No. 11 nationally (12.6 per 100).
***According to KenPom, USM opponents have scored over 45% of their points this year on three-point field goals. That percentage leads the nation. Foes are sinking 9.0 threes-per-game but shooting just 32.0% from deep.
 
MATCHUP MASHUP
***WSU and Marshall are 1-0 against USM coach Doc Sadler. The Shockers defeated Sadler's Nebraska team, 76-49, at Charles Koch Arena in the first round of the 2011 NIT.
***WSU head women's coach Keitha Adams held the same position at UTEP from 2001-17 and is still the program's career wins leader (284). Sadler was on the men's staff for three of those years – 2003-04 as an assistant and 2004-06 as head coach.
***USM's signature win, to date, came Nov. 11 at SMU -- one of WSU's new American Athletic Conference rivals. It was SMU's first non-conference home loss since 2015.
***Southern Miss is the third Conference USA opponent that the Shockers have faced this year. WSU dropped its opener to Louisiana Tech (picked 6^th) on Nov. 6 and defeated Rice (picked 14^th) on Nov. 25. All three games are at home.
***The Voice of the Shockers, Mike Kennedy, will call his 1,199^th consecutive men's basketball game on Saturday (excluding exhibitions). Kennedy is in his 39^th season as the school's radio voice, dating back to the 1980-81 season. John Cox is in his 41^st season as Southern Miss' radio voice. Just five other D-I announcers have been at their current posts longer than Cox. Kennedy's tenure is tied for the eighth-longest.
 
STEALING GLANCES:
***Ball-hawking defenses are the theme this week and next. Games against Jacksonville State and USM will provide good preparation for next week when the Shockers take on VCU and its Havoc press.
***Jacksonville State, which came into Wednesday ranked 13^th nationally at 9.6 steals per game, finished with seven steals against the Shockers.
 USM ranks No. 32 on the same list (8.7 steals/game).
***According to KenPom, WSU's offense has the nation's 30^th best steal percentage. Opponents take the ball away on just 6.7 of every 100 possessions.
 

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 A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…   
… make them 6-4 on the year with wins in four of their last five games.
… make them 2-0 all-time against USM.
… give them four-straight home wins and make them 82-6 in Wichita over the last six seasons.
… up their INTRUST Bank Arena record to 7-2 all-time and stop a two-game slide.
… move Gregg Marshall to within 14 wins of 500 for his career (486-185) and within eight victories of 300 as Shocker head coach (292-102).
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…  
… drop them back to the .500-mark at 5-5.
… be just their seventh in Wichita in the last six years.
… make them 6-3 all-time at INTRUST Bank Arena with three-consecutive losses.
… tie the all-time series with USM at 1-1.
… be less good than a win.
 
UP NEXT:
The Shockers return to Charles Koch Arena for a Wednesday night matchup against Oral Roberts (3-9). The 7 p.m. CT tip airs on YurView Kansas, available statewide on Cox HD 2022 and in all 50 states at YurView.com/Kansas.