WICHITA, Kan. -- No. 13/12 Wichita State (21-5, 11-3 American) continues its conference title quest Wednesday night when it plays host to Tulane (13-13, 4-10) at Charles Koch Arena.
 
The 6:30 p.m. CT tip airs nationally on CBS Sports Network with Andrew Catalon and Steve Lappas. CBSSN is available in the Wichita area on Uverse (643), Cox (260), DIRECTV (221) and DISH (158), or CBSSN subscribers can stream the game through CBS Sports Digital, available online at cbssports.com/watch/cbssportsnetwork.
 
The Voice of the Shockers, Mike Kennedy, describes the action on Shocker Radio (103.7 FM KEYN and GoShockers.com/Listen). Join Kennedy and Dave Dahl for a one-hour pregame show, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
 
The Shockers are the NABC's National Team of the Week after wins over Temple (93-86) and No. 5 Cincinnati (76-72) pulled them to within a game of first place in The American standings. The latter was WSU's first top-5 road win since 1964 and snapped the Bearcats' nation-best 39-game home winning streak. WSU rallied from 14 down at halftime on Thursday to defeat Temple with big men Darral Willis Jr. (24 points) and Shaquille Morris (23 points, 13 rebounds) combining to hit 18-of-21 shots.
 
Morris (18.0 pts, 8.0 reb, 2.0 blk on 74% shooting in the two wins) is the reigning Player of the Week in The American.
 
WSU is on a four-game winning streak. Since bottoming out at No. 22 in the Feb. 5 AP Poll, the Shockers have climbed nine spots in two weeks to No. 13... Tulane has lost its last five games, but three of them were decided by five-points or less.


 

GAME 27

Wichita, Kan.

Charles Koch Arena

Tickets

Game Notes: WSU | TLN

MATCHUP

#13/12 Wichita State (21-5, 11-3 American) vs. Tulane (13-13, 4-10 American)

Wednesday, Feb. 21

6:30 P.M. CT

CBS Sports Network

KEYN 103.7 FM

GoShockers.com

GoShockers.com

SOCIAL

@GoShockersMBB | #watchus

@goshockers | #watchus

Go Shockers

STARTING FIVE:
 
1 --- AMAZING RACE:
WSU's win at Cincinnati further tightened the American conference race. The Shockers and Houston are tied for second-place at 11-3 with four games to go -- one game back of first-place Cincinnati (12-2). By sweeping its last four games (including the March 4 finale against Cincy), WSU would be guaranteed at least a share of the regular season title and likely the No. 1 seed in next months' American Tournament.
 
2 --- NEW FACES:
The first -- and only -- regular season meeting between the Shockers and Green Wave is also the first in series history. Tulane is one of four new American foes that the Shockers had never faced prior to this year (along with ECU, UCF and USF).
 
3 --- A HOME RUN:
The Shockers are 71-2 at Charles Koch Arena over the last five seasons. UNI (2/13/16) and SMU (1/17/18) are the only losses... 70 of those 73 games have come in front of capacity crowd. A Wednesday sellout would be the arena's 20th-straight.
 
4 --- ROCKING THE MICS:
Head coaches Gregg Marshall and Mike Dunleavy, Sr. will wear microphones for the CBS Sports Network broadcast. Look for exclusive clip throughout the game on Twitter by following @CBSSportsNet.
 
5 --- TALENT SHOW: 
The Shockers rank in the top-10 nationally in rebound margin (3^rd, 10.2), assists (3^rd, 19.0) and A:TO Ratio (6^th, 1.62). KenPom ranks the WSU offense eighth out of 351 teams in adjusted efficiency.
 
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MATCHUP MASHUP:
*A former national coach of the year meets a former NBA coach of the year. Gregg Marshall won consensus honors in 2014 after guiding the Shockers to a 35-0 start. Mike Dunleavy Sr. joined the college ranks last year following 17-years leading the Lakers, Bucks, Trail Blazers and Clippers. He NBA Coach of the Year in 1999 after taking Portland to the Western Conference Finals.
*Marshall grew up rooting for the University of South Carolina, and Dunleavy was one of his favorite players.
*Tulane athletic director Troy Dannen served in the same position at Northern Iowa (one of WSU's former MVC rivals) from 2008-15.
*Dunleavy makes his first visit to the Roundhouse. The last head coach to win his Roundhouse debut was VCU's Shaka Smart in a Feb. 2011 BracketBusters matchup that helped vault the Rams to the Final Four.
*The league's three most accurate shooters share the floor Wednesday. Tulane's Samir Sehic (.577) and Melvin Frazier (.574) rank just ahead of WSU's Shaquille Morris (.561).
 
SCOUTING TULANE:
*Tulane's 13 wins this season have already eclipsed last
season's total by seven, matching the fifth-largest improvement in the country this season.
*The Green Wave have dropped their last five, but three of those have come by five points or less.
*Tulane defeated Houston, 81-72, in New Orleans back on Jan. 17. The loss is all that separates Houston (11-3) from a share of first place in the conference standings. The Cougars' only other league losses have come in Wichita and Cincinnati.
*Junior Melvin Frazier (15.9) and senior Cameron Reynolds (15.7) form a potent scoring combo, ranking fifth and sixth respectively on the league's scoring chart. Reynolds also ranks sixth in rebounds (6.6), and his 36.7 minutes are second only to UConn's Jalen Adams. Frazier's 2.3 steals are second on the leaderboard.
 
A HIGH FIVE:
Shaquille Morris reached 500 rebounds on Thursday to become the fifth player in Shocker history with 1,000 points, 500 boards and 100 blocks. Others: Robert Elmore, Antoine Carr, Xavier McDaniel & Garrett Stutz.
 
LANDRY LIST:
Landry Shamet was one of 30 player named last week to the Naismith Trophy's Late Season 30 list. Ron Baker (2014-15) was the last Shocker to make the final 30. Fred VanVleet was one of 10 semifinalists for the award in 2013-14.
 
TIP-TOP SHAPE:
With Houston's debut in the top-25, The American is one of four conferences with 3 nationally ranked teams, joining the ACC (5), Big Ten (4) and Big 12 (3).
 Cincinnati (12), Wichita State (16) and Houston (19) all rank in the RPI's top-20.
 
POLL NOTES:
*Wichita State gained 6 spots in the AP Poll to No. 13 this week after winning at No. 5 Cincinnati on Sunday.
*The Shockers also climbed six notches in the Coaches Poll to No. 12.
*WSU's No. 3 AP ranking on Dec. 11 was its highest since finishing the 2013-14 regular season with four-consecutive weeks at No. 2.
*WSU opened at No. 7 in the AP preseason rankings and No. 8 in the Coaches' -- its highest starting point since the '81-82 campaign.
*Going back to Dec. 12, 2012 -- a span of five years -- WSU has been ranked or received AP and/or Coaches votes in 123 of the 133 poll weeks.
 
ON THE LEADERBOARD (as of 2/20):
*Wichita State is on pace to set American conference records for scoring offense (83.8), rebounding offense (41.0), assists per game (19.0) and rebounding margin ( 10.2). The Shockers also lead the league in field goal percentage (.483), three-point percentage (.390), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6), defensive rebound percentage (.778) and three-pointers per game (9.4)
*Landry Shamet leads the league in assists (5.2) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.5). He's second in threes-per-game (2.6), third in three-point percentage (.453), and 11th in scoring (14.7).
*Rashard Kelly is The American's top offensive rebounder (3.3) and is fourth in total boards /game (7.5).
*Shaquille Morris leads the league in blocks per game (1.6) and ranks third in field goal % (.561).
*Austin Reaves ranks second in the league in three-point percentage (.466).
 
TRENDING:
*WSU's non-conference schedule was light on cupcakes. Four of the six buy games that the Shockers played were against teams that are currently leading their respective leagues: College of Charleston (Colonial), Savannah State (MEAC), South Dakota State (Summit) and Florida Gulf Coast (A-Sun).
*The Shockers' 10.2 rebounding margin is ahead of the school record pace set by the 1980-81 team ( 10.1), which featured bookend forwards Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston.
*Last Saturday's victory over UConn was Gregg Marshall 150^th at Charles Koch Arena (excluding exhibitions). He's lost just 21 times in his 11 seasons (.877).
*24 of Shaquille Morris' has a team-high 34 dunks have come in conference play. He has 92 career slams.
*The Shockers are 8-0 with Austin Reaves in the starting lineup. Reaves is shooting a league-best 50.0 percent from three since the start of conference play.
*Sunday at Cincinnati marked just the fourth time in three seasons that WSU has won a game that was decided by five points or less. The Shockers are 2-3 this year in close games (margin of 5 points or less) and 4-11 since the start of the 2015-16 season.
 
MILESTONES:
*Landry Shamet reached 250 career assists last week. He's just the third Shocker to hit that milestone before the end of his sophomore season, joining Fred VanVleet (282) and Joe Griffin (306).
*Conner Frankamp's next three-pointer will tie him with David Kyles for sixth on WSU's all-time list. Kyles hit 153 from 2008-12. 
*Landry Shamet (142 career threes) hit three triples at Cincinnati to pass Fred VanVleet (141) for ninth on the school's career list. Paul Guffrovich (8^th, 144) is next.
 
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…
… improve their record to 22-5 (12-3 American).
… run their winning streak to five games.
… make them 13-1 at Charles Koch Arena this year and 72-2 over the last five seasons.
… give them 12 conference wins for the ninth year in a row (the MVC also plays an 18-game schedule).
… give them a 1-0 series lead over Tulane.
… make them 4-1 against American conference schools that start with the letter "t."
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
… drop their record to 21-6 (11-4 American).
… equal their conference loss total from the four previous years when they went 68-4 in MVC games.
… give Tulane a 1-0 lead in the all-time series.
… be their third Roundhouse loss in five seasons (71-3)
… give WSU three home losses in a season for the first time since 2010-11.
… be less good than a win.
 
UP NEXT:
WSU hits the road for back-to-back games, beginning Saturday at SMU (1 p.m. CT, ESPN) and continuing next Thursday at UCF (6 p.m. CT, ESPN).