Attending high school three miles away from Charles Koch Arena, Samajae Haynes Jones had only attended one Wichita State men's basketball game.

He didn't recall who the Shockers were playing that night, but the point guard remembered 10,506 fans wearing black and yellow screaming at the top of their lungs as their hometown team took the floor.

As Haynes-Jones walked to his car a few hours later, one thought triggered in his mind. When it was time to play college basketball, he wanted to play in front of that crowd and in the city where he spent his entire life.

"Just the thought of playing in that environment was something that really urged me to come here and being in a program like this," Haynes-Jones said. "Playing in an environment like (Koch Arena), anybody wants the opportunity to play in that. That's a huge opportunity. That's a blessing of its own and I got my blessing and I took it."

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