ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Aaron's American Athletic Conference Championship is down to just four teams on semifinal Saturday at the Amway Center.
 
After splitting the regular season series and finishing in a dead heat for second-place, No. 11/14 Wichita State (25-6) and No. 21/21 Houston settle their differences once and for all at 2:30 p.m. CT (3:30 ET) on CBS.
 
The WSU-UH winner advances to Sunday's title game (also 2:30 CT on CBS) against either Cincinnati or Memphis.
 
Fans to can tune into coverage the rest of the way on CBS with the team of Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson.
 
The Voice of the Shockers, Mike Kennedy -- now in his 38th year -- describes the action on Shocker Radio (KEYN 103.7 FM in Wichita) alongside Dave Dahl and Bob Hull. Catch their one-hour pregame show beginning at 1:30 p.m. CT.
 
IMG Radio will carry both semifinal games nationwide on Sirius 138, XM 202, App 962, or via TuneIn at http://tun.in/sfnc8.
 
Visit TheAmerican.org/MBB for the latest information on the 2018 Championship.

 

GAME 32

Orlando, Fla.

Amway Center

Tournament Central

Game Notes: WSU

MATCHUP - SEMIFINALS

#2 Wichita State (25-6) vs. #3 Houston (25-6)

Saturday, March 10

2:30 P.M. CT

CBS (Stream)

KEYN 103.7 FM

KEYN.com

GoShockers.com

SOCIAL

@GoShockersMBB | #watchus

@goshockers | #watchus

Go Shockers

OPENING TIPS:
*The tournament will have a first-time winner this year. Memphis and Cincinnati were runners-up in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Houston reached the 2014 semifinal but has never played in the championship game.
*Houston is the first three seed to win a game in the American Tournament. Each of the four previous No. 3s suffered quarterfinal upsets.
*Last year marked the first time that the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds had both reached the title game. (1) SMU defeated (2) Cincinnati at the XL Center in Hartford.
*This is the tournament's second go-around at the Amway Center. It also hosted in 2016. Hartford's XL Center has twice been the site (2015 & 2017). Memphis' FedExForum, home of the inaugural American Tournament in 2014, will host again in 2019. The American signed a three-year deal with the new Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas to host the 2020-22 tournaments.
*Three teams carry top-25 rankings into the weekend: No. 8 Cincinnati, No. 11 Wichita State and No. 21 Houston. That's the most since 2014 when the league had four heading into the inaugural tournament.
 
TRENDING:
*Zach Brown hit his 100th career three in the final minutes against Temple on Friday. Just 24 other Shockers have hit triple-digit triples, including a couple of current teammates (Shamet & Frankamp).
*Shaquille Morris has scored in double-figures in eight straight games and in 16 of 18 going back to New Years Day.
*Morris needs one more block to reach 50. It's happened just nine other times in school history.
*25 of Morris' has a team-high 35 dunks have come in conference play. He has 92 career slams.
*Landry Shamet's 80 three-pointers are tied for second on WSU's single-season list. Ron Baker also hit 80 as a junior in 35 games. Shamet needs just 11 more to match Sean Ogirri's school record, set in 2006.
 
KELLY TOPS LIST OF MARSHALL ERA REBOUNDERS:
Rashard Kelly's 630 career rebounds are the most by a Marshall Era Shocker (2007-Pr.). Kelly snagged seven rebounds in the Mar. 9 win over Temple to surpass Toure' Murry (626) and Garrett Stutz (624).
 
WINNERS' CIRCLE:
Rauno Nurger became the ninth Shocker to participate in 100 career victories during Friday's quarterfinal win over Temple. Teammates Rashard Kelly, Shaquille Morris and Zach Brown all reached the mark over the past two months.
 
THE SERIES WITH HOUSTON:
*WSU leads 17-10 all-time with wins in 10 of the last 14 meetings.
*Houston has won 8-of-11 games on its home floor, but WSU is 12-2 in Wichita (with the only two losses each coming by a single-point).
*The Shockers have been won neutral site games in the 1954 and 1960 All-College Classic in Oklahoma City.
*Houston played home games this season at Texas Southern's H&PE Arena while Hofheinz Pavilion undergoes a $60 million renovation. It will reopen for the 2018-19 season as the Fertitta Center. The Cougars were 15-0 at TSU this year.
*From 1950-60, WSU and Houston were both members of the Missouri Valley Conference. Over the course of 10 seasons, Shockers won 14 of the 21 MVC games between the two programs.
*The teams met in the play-in round of the 2005 NIT. WSU ended what had been a 16-year postseason victory drought with an 85-69 decision at Charles Koch Arena.
 
MATCHUP MASHUP:
*WSU (83.3 points per game) and Houston (78.2) are The American's two highest scoring teams.
*Three of the five first team all-conference picks share the floor with WSU's Landry Shamet and Shaquille Morris joined by Houston's Rob Gray.
*WSU senior Zach Brown is a Houston native who attended Klein Collins High School in Spring, Texas. Brown is the fifth Houston-area player to suit up for the Shockers under Marshall.
*WSU has had at least one Houston player on the roster in every season since 2001-02. That run began with 1,600-point scorer Randy Burns (out of Booker T. Washington High School). P.J. Couisnard and Karon Bradley were key contributors on the Shockers' 2006 Sweet 16 team. One of Marshall's first WSU recruits, Toure' Murry (Klein Forest HS), finished with 1,539 points from 2008-12 and went on to play parts of two NBA seasons.
*Gregg Marshall is 1-2 against Kelvin Sampson (1-0 in the American Era)... In  a past life, Sampson (then head coach at Oklahoma) led his third-seeded Sooners past Marshall's 14th-seeded Winthrop team, 74-50, in a first round NCAA Tournament matchup at the McKale Center in Tucson.
 
REGULAR SEASON:
*The teams split two regular season meetings in January. The last came almost 50 days ago (Jan. 20).
*WSU hit 10 first-half threes (12 total) and led by as many as 32 in the second half when the teams met Jan. 4 in Wichita.
*The Shockers couldn't buy as basket in the rematch, hitting a season low four treys on 20 attempts.
*Houston held WSU to a season-low 59 points. Until last week's 62-61 loss to Cincinnati, the Shockers had scored 72 or more points in every other conference game this year.
*Houston outrebounded the Shockers 36-35 in Wichita (one of only two times this year that WSU has been outrebounded), but WSU was 11 on the glass in the Jan. 20 rematch.
 
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…
… improve their record to 26-6.
… be their ninth win in 10 tries.
… move them into Sunday's championship game (2:30 p.m. CT, CBS) vs. either No. 8 Cincinnati or Memphis.
… give them a 2-1 series win over Houston and up their all-time lead to 18-10.
… make Gregg Marshall 36-10 all-time in conference tournament games and set up his 12th title game appearance in 20 seasons (7 BSC, 4 MVC, 1 AAC).
… Improve Marshall's record against Sampson to 2-2.
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
… drop their record to 25-7.
… give multiple losses to a team in the same year for the first time since 2016 when UNI split the regular season and bumped them from the MVC semifinals) and for only the second time since 2013.
… shrink WSU's all-time series lead to 17-11.
… be less good than a win.