WICHITA STATE (7-4) at VCU (7-4)
Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018 | 3 p.m. CT (4 p.m. ET)
Richmond, Va. | Siegel Center
TV: ESPN2 // WatchESPN
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM // GoShockers.com/Listen
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>>> Wichita State (7-4) wraps up non-conference play Saturday afternoon with a trip Richmond, Va. to face VCU (7-4).
>>> Watch the game on ESPN2 with Rich Hollenberg and Mark Adams. Streaming is available to ESPN subscribers via WatchESPN and the ESPN app.
>>> 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 Bob Hull for the INTRUST Bank Pregame Show, beginning at 2:00 p.m.
>>> 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:
***It's the start of a two-year home-and-home series between the two programs. VCU comes to Charles Koch Arena on Dec. 21, 2019.
***WSU is 2-2 all-time against VCU (1-0 in Richmond). Spurred on by ESPN's Bracket Busters series and later the NCAA Selection Committee, the two emerging powers played three memorable matchups over a 21-month stretch between Feb. 2011 and Nov. 2012. All three games came down to the final possession. The Shockers won the last one -- played Nov. 13, 2012 at Siegel Center -- by a score of 53-51 on a Malcolm Armstead jumper with 3.6 seconds to play.
***VCU has been idle since last Saturday when it suffered its first home loss of the year against a College of Charleston team led by former
Gregg Marshall protege and Shocker assistant Earl Grant.
***The Rams are 5-1 this year on their home floor. They've hosted 123-consecutive sellouts, dating back to January, 2011.
***The Shockers are on a season-best three-game winning streak and have won five of their last six overall. WSU downed Oral Roberts on Wednesday night, 84-63, behind 25 points from
Markis McDuffie. He was joined in double-figures by
Jaime Echenique (19),
Ricky Torres (13) and
Samajae Haynes-Jones (13).
***McDuffie enters the weekend as the American Athletic Conference's leading scorer (19.0 points per game). He's reached double-figures in 10-straight games and has topped 20 points on four occasions this year.
***Since the start of the 2013-14 season, the Shockers own the most road wins (49-9) and highest percentage (.845) in Division I. Three of the nine losses in that span came in OT. WSU has also been the decade's best road team at 75-17 (.815) since the 2010-11 campaign.
***Going back to 2011-12, the Shockers are 78-19 (.804) in regular season non-conference games. Wednesday night's win guaranteed a winning non-conference record for the 21st consecutive season.
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SHOCKS IN SHORT:
***The Shockers (25-8, 14-4 AAC last year) tied for second-place in their inaugural season in The American and advanced to their seventh-consecutive NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed. They now face a significant rebuilding project after the loss of six seniors, two transfers, and one early entry to the NBA Draft (
Landry Shamet; 26th overall by the 76'ers). This year's squad ranked among the bottom-five nationally in minutes returning (11.2%) and was picked eighth (of 12) in the AAC preseason poll.
***Three scholarship players are back from last year's active roster: seniors
Markis McDuffie and
Samajae Haynes-Jones and sophomore
Asbjørn Midtgaard.
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ALWAYS FRESH:
***
Gregg Marshall used 104 different lineup combinations in the first 11 games.
***WSU has used seven freshmen and 10 total newcomers this year.
***Freshman have acounted for over 46.8% of total minutes.
***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 32 minutes-per-contest with at least two rookies on the floor and 16 minutes with at least three in the lineup.
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TRENDING:
***WSU was outrebounded by 19 in the Dec. 8 loss at Oklahoma -- its worst margin in 20 years -- but has bounced back nicely in the two weeks since. The Shockers have outrebounded each of their last three opponents by double-digits: +11 vs. Jacksonville St., +17 vs. Southern Miss and +10 vs. Oral Roberts.
***In 11 games, six different Shockers have taken a turn as leading rebounder. Guards
Jamarius Burton and
Erik Stevenson each cleared eight on Wednesday against ORU.
***The Shockers have used five different starting-fives through 10 games. The grouping of Torres-HaynesJones-Stevenson-McDuffie-Echenique has opened each of the last three games and is 3-0.
***What a difference a year makes for
Samajae Haynes-Jones. The Hutchinson Community College product saw limited action in 2017-18Â behind the NBA-bound
Landry Shamet, appearing in just one game after Feb. 10. This year Haynes-Jones (12.3 ppg) is averaging a team-high 31.4 minutes per contest.
***
Ricky Torres ha sposted back-to-back games with six assists. He's one dime shy of qualifying for the national leaderboards. His 2.91 assist-to-turnover ratio would otherwise rank among the top-50 in Division I.
***Torres is averaging 6.0 points and 4.0 assists on 53.8% shooting in five December games
***
Markis McDuffie (team-high 14 steals) has posted at least one steal in 10 of the 11 games this year, including an active run of seven-straight.
***The ORU game was Danish 7-footer
Asbjørn Midtgaard's ninth of the year, matching his entire freshman year total.
***Echenique has dunked seven times over the past three games (after logging just two slams in the team's first eighth contests). That includes a game-winning alley-oop against Southern Miss last Saturday.
***
Jamarius Burton (career-high eight rebounds vs. ORU) has snagged 14 over the last two games.
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ORAL ROBERTS LEFTOVERS:
***The Shockers outscored an opponent in the second half for the first time since Nov. 25 (vs. Rice) and for just the third time this season. Through 10 games, opponents had outscored them by an average of 5.5 points after halftime.
***After finishing the first half even on the glass, WSU out-rebounded ORU 24-14 over the final 20 minutes. The Shockers had almost as many offensive rebounds in the half (10) and ORU had defensive boards (12).
***
Jaime Echenique failed to block a shot for the first time this year. His streak of 10-straight games with a block was tied for WSU's third-longest since 1986 (when the block became an official NCAA statistic. He was the first Shocker since Cliff Levingston to block a shot in each of the first 10 games of a season.
***
Markis McDuffie went 3-of-7 from three on Wednesday. He had been just 2-for-19 up that point in the team's first five games at Charles Koch Arena.
***McDuffie's 10-for-10 free throw performance against ORU was the most by a WSU player without a miss since McDuffie's own 11-for-11 effort against Illinois State in the 2017 MVC Tournament championship.
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A COLD DECEMBER:
***The Shockers haven't shot the ball particularly well over the last month. Wednesday's 43.5% effort was -- in fact -- their best in five December games. During that span, they've shot a combined 38.0% from the field (28.9% from three).
***An 8-for-19 three-point performance against ORU marked the first time since Nov. 16 that WSU has shot better than 40% from deep.
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LEARNING TO WIN UGLY:
***While Marshall would like to see his team shoot well, it's important that the Shockers find other ways to win when jump shots aren't falling. Against ORU, the Shockers were outshot 49.0% to 43.5% but finished +6 in turnovers, +10 on the glass and grabbed a season-best 17 offensive rebounds. They logged a season-high 69 field goal attempts -- 20 more than ORU -- and went to the line 22 times (compared to the visitors' 12).
***Wednesday's win broke a season-long trend. It marked the first time WSU has won a game this year when finishing with a lower field goal percentage than the opposition. Over the last three seasons, the Shockers are 56-2 (6-0 in '18-19) when outshooting their opponent, compared to 7-14 (1-4 in '18-19) when outshot.
***WSU is undefeated this year when making even 30% of its three-point attempts. Unfortunately, that's happened just four times in 11 games.
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A PLUS-SIGN MODEL:
***
Jaime Echenique was a remarkable +34 in the win over ORU. Last week he was +10 in a four-point win over JSU and +15 in a three-point victory against USM.
***For the season, the Shockers have outscored opponents by 95 total points with Echenique on the floor. When he's off, opponents have outscored the Shockers by 74 points.
***On a per-40-minute basis, Echenique leads the team in plus/minus (+18.6) ahead of
Erik Stevenson (+4.82),
Markis McDuffie (+2.91), and
Samajae Haynes-Jones (+1.18).
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NBA SHOCKERS:
***The New York Knicks released former Shocker Ron Baker last Thursday. On Wednesday, reports surfaced that Baker signed a new deal with the Washington Wizards. In between, the third-year pro spent time in Wichita and stopped by Koch Arena to watch the current Shockers practice.
***Baker was in the second season of a two-year, $8.9 million contract with the Knicks. In parts of three seasons, he appeared in 92 games with 14 starts.
***Wednesday was a good night for former Shockers in the NBA. Fred VanVleet hit the game-winning shot in Toronto's win over Indiana, and rookie
Landry Shamet avenged his former teammate by scoring a career-high 17 points in the 76'ers win over the Knicks.
***Shamet and VanVleet go head-to-head Saturday night in Philadelphia.
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1,000 FOR McDUFFIE (AND COUNTING):
***Senior forward
Markis McDuffie is the 47th member of WSU's 1,000-point club. He reached the mark in his 100th game (Dec. 8, 2018 at Oklahoma).
***If McDuffie maintains his 2018-19 scoring pace, he'll finish the regular season with 1,423 points -- which would rank 16th all-time.
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WSU Career Scoring List:
32. Al Tate (1957-60) – 1,139
33. Cleanthony Early (2012-14) – 1,135
34. Kyle Wilson (2004-07) – 1,133
35. Terrell Benton (1998-02) – 1,129
36. Bob Hodgson (1953-56) – 1,122
37. Lanny Van Eman (1958-62) – 1,119
38. Garrett Stutz (2008-12) – 1,106
39. Markis McDuffie (2015-Pr.) – 1,062
40. Ernie Moore (1960-64) – 1,055
41. Tekele Cotton (2011-15) – 1,047
42. Jamie Arnold (1993-97) – 1,046
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100 THREES FOR McDUFFIE:
***
Markis McDuffie hit three triples on Wednesday to reach the 100-mark for his career. He's the 26th Shocker to do it.
***McDuffie's current season pace has him on track to crack the top-10 on WSU's all-time list.
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WSU All-Time Three-Point Field Goal List:
19. P.J. Couisnard (2004-08) -- 114
20. Cleanthony Early (2012-14) -- 113
21. Kyle Wilson (2003-07) -- 108
21. Tekele Cotton (2011-15) -- 108
23. Aaron Hogg (2002-04) -- 103
24. John Cooper (1987-91) -- 101
25. Markis McDuffie (2015-Pr.) -- 100
25.
Zach Brown (2014-18) -- 100
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THE SERIES WITH VCU:
***The teams have split four previous meetings. WSU is 1-0 in Richmond.
 ***VCU's 2011 Final Four team might have missed the field entirely were it not for a pair of last-second Joey Rodriguez free throws and a 68-67 victory in Wichita on Feb. 18, 2011. The Shockers have since won 45-consecutive non-conference games at Charles Koch Arena.
***Early in the 2012-13 campaign, WSU's own Final Four squad returned the favor with a 53-51 win in Richmond. Darius Theus' three tied the game at 51 with 26 seconds to play. WSU's Malcolm Armstead answered with a game-winning jumper with 3.6 seconds left.
***In between, the teams met in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament when 12th-seeded VCU scored a 62-59 upset over the fifth-seeded Shockers in Portland.
***In Dec. 1996, the Shockers hosted -- and won -- a four-team tournament called the Cessna Classic. WSU rolled to a 30-point win in the title game against VCU, which had upset Billy Tubbs-led TCU the evening prior.
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SCOUTING VCU:
***VCU spent 2017-18 in rebuilding mode, finishing 18-15 (9-9 A-10, t-5th).
***Three starters and eight total lettermen are back for year No. 2 of the Paul Rhoades era. A former VCU assistant under Shaka Smart, Rhoades returned last year as head coach following Will Wade's departure to LSU.
***The Rams are picked seventh (out of 14 teams) in the Atlantic-10 preseason poll.
 6-5 junior De'Riante Jenkins (11.0 ppg, team-high 24 three-pointers) was a third-team preseason all-conference pick... 6-2 junior guard Marcus Evans played for Rhoades at Rice where he averaged 19.0 points as a sophomore in 2016-17. When Rhoades left for VCU, Evans followed. In his first season of eligibility, he leads VCU in both points (12.9) and steals (21)... Corey Douglas ranks second in the A-10 and 35th nationally in blocks per game (2.18)... Marcos Santos-Silva is averaging a team-high 7.9 rebounds. Nearly half of those have come on the offensive end. His 3.45 offensive boards per game, ranks No. 22 nationally.
***The Rams rank among the national leaders in three-point field goal percentage defense (4th, .252) but are hitting just 27.9% percent, themselves (333rd, .279).
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MATCHUP MASHUP:
***A young VCU team finished 18-15 last year and missed out on the postseason for the first time since 2006. Prior to that, the Rams had posted eight straight 25-win seasons and qualified for seven consecutive NCAA Tournaments... The 2018-19 Shockers are in the midst of a similar youth movement. They've been to seven-straight NCAAs and posted nine-straight 25-win seasons.
***WSU and VCU have been two of the decade's most successful programs. Since the start of the 2010-11 season, the Shockers' 240 wins are fifth-most nationally. Only Kansas, Gonzaga, Kentucky and Duke have more. VCU ranks 19th on the list with 212 victories in that span.
***The youthful Shockers have played the nation's 50th toughest non-conference schedule, per the NCAA's NET Rankings. VCU -- which has played away games at Virginia, Texas, Old Dominion and St. John's -- has played the nation's sixth-toughest schedule, according to NET.
***Mike Rhoades faced the Shockers three times as a VCU assistant under Shaka Smart. His Director of Player Development, Darius Theus, was a key player on those teams.
***Rhoades' first coaching job was at Randolph Macon College (1996-99 as an assistant and 1999-2009 as head coach).
Gregg Marshall played at RMC from 1981-85 and continued two more years as an assistant ('85-87).
***Marshall is 1-0 against Rhoades. On Jan. 15, 2002, Marshall's Winthrop University team defeated Rhodes' Randolph Macon squad, 75-69 in Rock Hill, S.C.
***Nine D-I schools sold out every home date in 2017-18. VCU and WSU are both on that list. E.J. Wade Arena at Stuart C. Siegel Center has played host to 123-consecutive sellouts. The Shockers have maxed out 73 of their last 80 games at the 10,506-seat Charles Koch Arena. Attendance has topped the 10,000-mark at 217-consecutive regular season dates.
***On Nov. 19, VCU handed WSU's AAC rival Temple one of only two losses this year at the at the Legends Classic in Brooklyn (57-51). The Shockers host Temple on Jan. 6.
***WSU dropped a close game to VCU's A-10 rival Davidson in last month's Charleston Classic. The Shockers led by 10 points with 15:28 to play but couldn't hang on.
***WSU is 7-2 against A-10 opponents since the start of the 2012-13 season. That run -- which began with WSU's win in Richmond -- includes a four-game series sweep against Saint Louis and NCAA Tournament victories over LaSalle (2013) and Dayton (2017). George Washington upset the Shockers in the 2014 Diamond Head Classic championship game... WSU has finished even-or-better on the boards in all nine games in that span, with an average rebounding margin of +11.3.
***Both WSU and VCU rank among the bottom-50 nationally in field goal percentage. WSU is 308th (.410) and VCU 333rd (.389) out of 353 Division I teams.
***VCU is winning with defense, holding opponents to 63.1 points per game. Eight of the Rams' 11 foes have shot less than 40% from the field. The Shockers are 5-1 this year when they top the 40%-mark but just 2-3 when they don't.
***WSU offense had the nation's 13th lowest steal percentage, per KenPom. Opponents steal the ball on just 6.5 of every 100 possessions. That skill might just come in handy Saturday. Using a similar formula, KenPom ranks VCU's defense No. 37. The Rams force steals on 11.3% of opponent possessions.
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A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…
… make them 8-4 heading into conference play.
… extend their winning streak to a season-high four games and give them victories in six of their last seven.
… finish out a 5-1 December.
… give them a 3-2 lead in the all-time series with VCU (2-0 in Richmond).
… be their 50th true road win in the past six seasons (50-9) and make them 76-17 this decade.
… move Marshall to within 12 wins of 500 for his career (488-185) and within six victories of 300 as Shocker head coach (294-102).
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A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
… drop them to 7-5 heading into conference play.
… make them 0-2 this year in true road games after a remarkable 49-8 run over the five previous seasons.
… finish out a 4-2 December.
… give VCU a 3-2 lead in the all-time series.
… be less good than a win.
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UP NEXT:
***WSU takes a 12-day break for the holidays before opening conference play Thursday, Jan. 3 at Memphis (8:30 p.m. CT, CBSSN).
***Excluding gaps between conference tournament and postseason play, this 12-day layoff is the longest for a WSU team since the 1989-90 season, when the Shockers competed in the preseason NIT on Nov. 16, then didn't see action again until Nov. 29.
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