MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- No. 22/21 Wichita State (17-5, 7-3) makes it first visit to Memphis (14-9, 5-5) since 1983 (Tuesday, 8 p.m. CT, CBSSN).
 
The Shockers transitioned to The American last summer after 72 years in the Missouri Valley. WSU finished its tenure with a four-peat, going 68-4 in league play.
 
WSU has qualified for six-straight NCAA Tournaments and is one of only five schools that have won a game in each of the last five tournaments. The Shockers are the decade's second-winningest team by percentage (225-48, .824 since '10-11), trailing Gonzaga.
 
The Shockers are coming off of an 81-79 overtime loss at Temple last Thursday. Shaquille Morris scored a game-high 24 points and became the 46^th member of the school's 1,000-point club. He and Austin Reaves have each posted back-to-back 20+ point games.



 

GAME 23

Memphis, Tenn.

FedExForum (18,119)

Game Notes: WSU | MEM

MATCHUP

#22/21 Wichita State (17-5, 7-3 American) at Memphis (14-9, 5-5 American)

Tuesday, Feb. 6

8:00 P.M. CT

CBS Sports Network

KEYN 103.7 FM

GoShockers.com

GoShockers.com

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STARTING FIVE:
 
1 --- WSU-MEMPHIS SERIES:
This is the Shockers' 11th trip to Memphis but their first since Feb. 7, 1983 at the old MidSouth Coliseum. WSU has won just two times previously -- most recently in 1974... It's meeting No. 21 all-time. The teams split the first 20 evenly. The majority came between 1967 and 1973 when the Tigers were a member of the MVC... Four current Shocker seniors saw time in a November, 2014 matchup between WSU and Memphis in Sioux Falls, S.D.  Ron Baker scored 21 points that day to key a 71-56 Shocker victory.
 
2 --- BOARD CHOPS:
WSU ranks third nationally in rebound margin (+10.5)... WSU has been beaten on the glass just once in 22 games this year and has finished with double-digit margins on 13 occasions... The Shockers' +7.89 margin over the last six seasons (2012-13 to present) leads the nation – edging out Arizona (7.84), UNC (7.76), New Mexico St. (7.73) and Michigan St. (7.71).
 
3 --- WATCHING THE DISHES:
In the month of January, no team averaged more assists than WSU (21.0)... For the year, the Shockers are putting up 19.0 per game (third on the NCAA list)... Landry Shamet has a pair of point-assist double-doubles... WSU has dished 25+ assists on five occasions, second only to Mich. St.
 
4 --- ROAD WORK:
Gregg Marshall has 80 true road win in 11 seasons at WSU (80-43). Since the start of the 2010-11 season, the Shockers lead the nation in road wins (71) and percentage (.816).
 
5 --- ON A POLL ROLL:
WSU is one of 10 schools that have been ranked in every AP Poll this year, and its run of 18-straight AP Polls (since Feb. 2017) is the NCAA's eighth-longest.
 
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THE SERIES WITH MEMPHIS:
This is meeting No. 21 in the Wichita State-Memphis series but just the second in the last 35 years. Each side has won 10 times… Home teams have dominated. WSU is 7-2 against the Tigers in Wichita but 2-8 in Memphis… The majority of the matchups fell during a seven-year period between 1967 and 1973 when Memphis was a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. The Tigers won six of the 11 MVC encounters… In November, 2014 WSU defeated the Tigers 71-56 in a neutral court battle at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D… This will be the Shockers' first trip to Memphis since Feb. 7, 1983 when the Tigers (led by Keith Lee and Andre Turner) downed WSU (led by Antoine Carr and Xavier McDaniel), 85-73. That was one of just three losses for the Shockers, who finished 25-3 but were ineligible for postseason that year due to NCAA sanctions.
 
MATCHUP MASHUP:
WSU junior Samajae Haynes-Jones and his Hutchinson CC team defeated an Eastern Florida State team led by Kareem Brewton Jr. in last year's NJCAA National Championship game. Haynes-Jones was a second team All-American, and Brewton landed first team honors... Haynes-Jones' Hutch team also twice defeated Malik Rhodes and Barton Community College.
 Expect a large Austin Reaves cheering section. The sophomore's hometown of Newark, Ark. (population 1,200) is just over 100 miles from Memphis… Gregg Marshall is 1-1 vs. Memphis. His Winthrop team fell 73-63 to fourth-ranked Memphis at FedExForum on Jan. 8, 2006.
 WSU freshman Rod Brown is a Memphis native who played at Cordova High. Brown is redshirting the 2017-18 season… The WSU roster will add some additional Memphis flavor next fall with Memphis East point guard Alex Lomax, who signed an NLI back in November.
 Marshall is 0-1 against Tubby Smith. The two went head-to-head in 2003 when Marshall's Winthrop team lost at Kentucky… Smith is the fifth 500-win coach that the Shockers have faced this year. WSU is a combined 1-3 against Oklahoma's Lon Kruger (0-1), Houston's Kelvin Sampson (1-1) and Temple's Fran Dunphy (0-1).
 
TRENDING:
Landry Shamet has 14 games of 5+ assists… Four Shockers sets career-highs for minutes in Thursday's overtime game at Temple: Landry Shamet (41), Shaquille Morris (35), Rashard Kelly (33) and Austin Reaves (32). In addition, Markis McDuffie played a season-high 32 minutes (up from 25 against Tulsa in the previous outing)… Austin Reaves and Shaquille Morris have each scored 20+ points in back-to-back games. Ron Baker was the last Shocker to string together three-consecutive 20-point games -- in November, 2015 vs. Tulsa (23), Emporia State (23) and USC (25)… 19 of Shaquille Morris' has a team-high 29 dunks have come in conference play. He has nine over his last three games.
 
POLL NOTES:
An overtime loss at Temple dropped Wichita State from No. 16 to No. 22 in this week's AP Poll.
 The Shockers also dropped five notches in the Coaches Poll to No. 21… 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 121 of the 131 poll weeks.
 
ON THE LEADERBOARD (as of 2/5):
Wichita State leads the American in scoring offense (83.2), field goal percentage (.479), rebound margin (+10.5), assists (19.0), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6), defensive rebound percentage (.776) and three-pointers per game (9.3)… Landry Shamet leads the league in assists (5.3) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.5). He's third in threes-per-game (2.5), fourth in three-point percentage (.448), and eighth in scoring (14.5)… Rashard Kelly is the American's fourth-leading rebounder (7.7) and ranks second on the offensive glass (3.3)… Shaquille Morris leads the league in blocks per game (1.7) and ranks fourth in field goal % (.559)… Austin Reaves ranks second in the league in three-point percentage (.468).
 
ALSO TRENDING:
Rashard Kelly is tied for ninth on WSU's career games played list (128). If the Shockers play at least five postseason games (including the American conference tournament), he would tie Fred VanVleet and Tekele Cotton's school record (141)… Austin Reaves is a league-best 20-of-38 from three since the start of conference play… Over his last three games, Shaquille Morris is averaging 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds on 68.4% shooting (26-of-38)… The Shockers are 1-3 this year in games decided by five points or less… Shaquille Morris leads the team in plus/minus. Per 40 minutes, the Shockers are outscoring opponents by an average of 18.3 points with Morris on the floor.
 
MAKE IT - TAKE IT:
Over the last two seasons, WSU is 45-1 when outshooting its opponent from the field (and 3-9 when outshot).
 
RPI IN THE SKY:
As of Friday, WSU owns nine Quadrant 1 or 2 wins -- second most in The American behind Cincinnati (11) and tied for ninth nationally… The Shockers are 0-3 in Q1 games but 9-2 against Q2 teams. A road win at Memphis (currently No. 123 in the RPI) would give WSU its 10^th Q2 win… The Shockers will have opportunities to add to their resume over the next month. Four of their last five regular season games currently qualify for Q1 status… Beginning Saturday, the Shockers play six of their last seven games against RPI top-100 teams… A year ago, the they played just six top-100 teams during the entire 31-game regular season.
 
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…
… improve their record to 18-5 (8-3 American).
… make them 6-2 on the road this year and 16-3 over the last two seasons.
… be Gregg Marshall's 81^st true road win in 11 seasons at Wichita State (80-43, .650).
… give them an 11-10 lead in the all-time series and be just their third win at Memphis (3-8).
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
… drop their record to 17-6 (7-4 American).
… be their fourth in six games.
… give Memphis an 11-10 lead in the all-time series and drop WSU to 2-9 in Memphis.
… drop them to 5-3 on the road this year and 15-4 over the last two seasons.
… give them three-consecutive road losses for the first time since the 2009-10 season when they fell at UNI, Evansville and Utah State in succession. That streak bled over to the following season with a loss at San Diego State in December, 2010.
… be less good than a win.
 
UP NEXT:
The Shockers return home for back-to-back games beginning Saturday against UConn (5 p.m. CT, ESPN2). WSU won the first meeting in Hartford, 72-62.