DALLAS -- No. 13/12 Wichita State (22-5, 12-3) looks to avenge its lone conference home loss of the year when it travels to face SMU (16-12, 6-9) Saturday afternoon at Moody Coliseum.
 
The 1 p.m. CT tip airs nationally on ESPN with Kevin Brown and Mark Adams on the call.
 
The Voice of the Shockers, Mike Kennedy, describes the action on Shocker Radio (KEYN 103.7 FM and GoShockers.com/Listen) alongside Bob Hull. Catch the pregame show beginning at Noon.
 
The Shockers have won five-straight after Wednesday night's 93-86 victory over Tulane. Playing without point guard Landry Shamet (illness), WSU rolled to a 47-31 halftime lead but struggled to put the game away completely. Shaquille Morris matched his career-high with 25 points and nine rebounds. Conner Frankamp (18 pts) and Markis McDuffie (15) also set season scoring highs.


 

GAME 28

Dallas, Texas

Moody Coliseum

Game Notes: WSU | SMU

MATCHUP

#13/12 Wichita State (22-5, 12-3 American) at SMU (16-12, 6-9 American)

Saturday, Feb. 24

1:00 P.M. CT

ESPN (WatchESPN)

KEYN 103.7 FM

GoShockers.com

GoShockers.com

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@GoShockersMBB | #watchus

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THE STARTING FIVE:
 
1 --- THE SERIES:
WSU is 0-4 all-time at Moody Coliseum, last visiting on Dec. 2, 1995 – the final year of the Scott Thompson Era. This is meeting No. 11 overall. SMU leads the series 6-4... In the Jan. 17 meeting, Shake Milton scored 33 points on 11-of-14 shooting, and the Mustangs snapped WSU's 27-game Charles Koch Arena winning streak. Landry Shamet scored 20 points and handed out 10 assists for the Shockers, who lost on campus for just the second time in five seasons... WSU hasn't been swept in a regular season series since 2012-13 when Evansville nipped them twice.
 
2 --- ROAD WARRIORS:
WSU is 7-2 this year in true road games with wins over two nationally-ranked foes (No. 16 Baylor and No. 5 Cincinnati). Since the start of the 2013-14 season, the Shockers own the most road wins (47-8) and highest percentage (.855) in Division I. Three of the eight losses have come in overtime.
 
3 --- MORE MORRIS:
Shaquille Morris is the reigning American Player of the Week. He's averaging 15.6 points and 6.2 rebounds during WSU's five game winning streak and has played at least 30 minutes in each of the last three contests.... Morris' conference-leading block total (44) is one shy of WSU's single season top-10.
 
4 --- TALENT SHOW:
The Shockers rank in the top-5 nationally in rebound margin (3^rd, 9.9), assists (3^rd, 18.9) and A:TO Ratio (3^rd, 1.62). KenPom ranks the WSU offense eighth out of 351 teams in adjusted efficiency. SMU ranks fifth nationally in scoring defense (62.9). The Shockers have topped 70 points in all but three games.
 
5 --- AMAZING RACE:
After Houston's Thursday loss at Memphis, WSU is alone in second place and one game behind first-place Cincinnati. By sweepings its last three games (including the March 4 finale against the Bearcats), the Shockers would be guaranteed at least a share of the regular season title and the No. 1 seed in next month's American Athletic Conference Tournament).
 
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THE SERIES WITH SMU:
This is the 11^th meeting all-time between WSU and SMU. The Mustangs lead the series 6-4... WSU has never beaten SMU at Moody Coliseum (0-4)... The Shockers are 3-2 against SMU in Wichita... WSU won the most important game in the series on a neutral floor in Manhattan, Kan. Behind 31 points from Kelly Pete, the Shockers knocked off SMU 86-81 in the 1965 NCAA Midwest Regional Semifinal en route to the program's first-ever FInal Four.
 
SCOUTING SMU:
Injury plagued SMU snapped a five-game losing streak with Wednesday night's win at ECU... Leading scorer and American preseason player of the year Shake Milton, who put up 33 points in the last meeting with WSU and averages 18.0 for the season, has missed the last six games... The Mustangs are 1-5 over that stretch... Leading rebounder Jarrey Foster (13.9 points, 5.9 boards) suffered a season-ending knee injury in the previous meeting in Wichita... SMU's Jan. 17 win in Wichita was its first top-10 road victory since 1985... SMU is 80-7 at Moody since the start of the 2013-14 season but has lost three of its last four there. Prior to that, the Mustangs had won 33-straight at Moody Coliseum. A Jan. 10 loss to Temple (66-64) ended that streak. SMU bounced back to defeat ECU (86-61) but has since dropped back-to-back home games to Cincinnati (76-51) and Memphis (70-67).
 
MATCHUP MASHUP:
Gregg Marshall is 7-6 career against Tim Jankovich. Marshall won seven of the 12 head-to-head meetings during Jankovich's time at Illinois State (2007-12)... Jankovich is 2-4 at Charles Koch Arena (1-0 w/ SMU)... Marshall is 0-1 against SMU all-time... SMU assistant K.T. Turner worked one season under Marshall at WSU and helped the Shockers to the 2013 Final Four... The league's two best three-point shooting teams, collide Saturday afternoon. SMU is shooting a conference-best 39.2% from three -- just a hair ahead of WSU at 39.1%. The Shockers (9.4) and Mustangs (8.7) also rank first and second respectively in threes per game... SMU's Ben Emelogu (.491) and WSU's Austin Reaves (.472) and Landry Shamet (.453) occupy the top-3 spots on The American's individual three-point percentage chart... WSU's Landry Shamet (2.5) and SMU's Jimmy Whitt (2.1) are the conference leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio... Whitt has as many steals (55) as WSU's top-three players combined: Shamet (20), Frankamp (18), Kelly (17). He ranks 31st nationally in that category.
 
TEAM OF THE WEEK:
WSU was named NABC National Team of the Week for Feb. 12-18 after wins over Temple (93-86) and No. 5 Cincinnati (76-72). 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 last Thursday to defeat Temple with big men Darral Willis Jr. (24 points) and Morris (23 points, 13 rebounds) combining to hit 18-of-21 shots.
 
ON THE LEADERBOARD (as of 2/22):
Wichita State is on pace to set American conference records for scoring offense (84.2), rebounding offense (40.8) and assists per game (18.9). The Shockers also lead the league in rebound margin ( 9.9), field goal percentage (.483), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6), defensive rebound percentage (.773) 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 10th in scoring (14.7)... Rashard Kelly is The American's top offensive rebounder (3.3) and is fourth in total boards /game (7.3)... Shaquille Morris leads the league in blocks per game (1.6) and ranks third in field goal % (.564)... Austin Reaves ranks second in the league in three-point percentage (.472).
 
ON POINTS:
The Shockers have topped 90 points on 10 occasions this year, including each of the last four home games. The 1978-79 Shockers scored 90-plus in five straight at home, passing 100 twice. Wichita State didn't break 90 once during a span of five seasons from 1991-1996... Wednesday marked the 17^th time this year that they've reached 80. Shocker teams are 97-2 under Marshall when scoring at least 80 points. One of those losses came earlier this year against Oklahoma. The other was a triple-overtime setback at Drake in 2012... Past WSU teams put away opponents by stringing together defensive stops. This year's version is capable of scoring its way out of danger... In Marshall's first 10 seasons, WSU won just three games when surrendering more than 80 to the opposition. This year alone, they've done it five times. The Shockers are 5-3 when allowing 80 (compared to 3-10 over the last 10 seasons)... The most recent was Wednesday's 93-86 win over Tulane when WSU protected a four-point lead with 4:00 to go by coming away with points on each of its last nine possessions to end the game.
 
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).
 
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…
… improve their record to 23-5 (13-3 American).
… run their winning streak to six games.
… make them 8-2 in true road games this year and 48-8 (.857) since the start of the 2013-14 season.
… be their first against SMU in Dallas.
… make them 5-6 all-time against SMU.
… keep them in control of their own destiny for a share of the American regular season title.
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
… drop their record to 22-6 (12-4 American).
… equal their conference loss total from the four previous years when they went 68-4 in MVC games.
… mark the first time they've been swept in a conference home-and-home since 2012-13 (Evansville).
… snap a five-game winning streak.
… leave them two games back of Cincinnati in the loss column with two games to play.
… be less good than a win.
 
UP NEXT:
The Shockers conclude their regular season next with a trip to UCF (Thursday, 6 p.m. CT, ESPN), then celebrate senior day next Sunday against Cincinnati (11 a.m. CT, CBS). WSU defeated UCF, 81-62, in Wichita back on Jan. 25 in the first ever meeting between the programs and also won the first round against the Bearcats, 76-72, in Cincinnati.