rv/- CINCINNATI (15-3, 4-1) at WICHITA STATE (8-8, 1-3)
JAN. 19, 2019 | 1:07 P.M. CT
WICHITA, KAN./ CHARLES KOCH ARENA (10,506)
TV: CBS | RADIO: KEYN 103.7 FM
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>>> For the second time this week, Wichita State will look to topple an American Athletic Conference front-runner when it plays host to the defending champion Cincinnati Bearcats, Saturday afternoon at Charles Koch Arena.
>>> Tickets are still available through the Shocker Ticket Office (316-978-FANS). Fans can purchase $15 general admission seats – online only – by visiting GoShockers.com/Tickets.
>>> Watch the game on CBS with Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel.
>>> Listen on KEYN 103.7 FM and online at GoShockers.com/Listen. Mike Kennedy, now in his 39th season as "Voice of the Shockers," and Dave Dahl tip things off at Noon with the INTRUST Bank Pregame Show.
>>> Join Kennedy on Monday nights for the
Gregg Marshall Radio Show LIVE from 6-7 p.m. at AJ's Sports Grill at The Alley. Â Listen in on KNSS (98.7 FM / 1330 AM). The show is also rebroadcast in a television format Mondays at 9 p.m. on YurView Kansas (Cox 2022) and online at YurView.com/Kansas. Remaining Shows Dates: Jan. 28, Feb. 4, 11, 18, 25, and Mar. 11.
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OPENING TIPS:
***Wednesday night, WSU handed first-place UCF its first conference loss, 75-67.
Markis McDuffie scored 18 of his game-high 23 points in the second half.
Samajae Haynes-Jones (14) and
Jamarius Burton (12) also reached double-figures. The Shockers shot a season-high 51.9% from the field and made 17-of-18 free throws. They outrebounded the Knights 20-5 in the second-half.
***Cincinnati (15-3, 4-1) is one of five one-loss teams that are clustered atop the league standings. Winners of three-straight and six-of-seven, the Bearcats are receiving votes in the most recent AP Poll. They're led by preseason all-conference pick Jarron Cumberland, who scored 34 points and joined Cincinnati's 1,000-point club during Tuesday night's 82-74 home win over USF. UC ranks 10th nationally in turnover margin (+4.6) and 11th in scoring defense (61.1).
***The teams split two epic games last year. On Feb. 18, 2018, then-No. 19 WSU ended No. 5 Cincinnati's nation-best 39-game home winning streak (76-72). Two weeks later, in the regular season finale, the tenth-ranked Bearcats returned the favor with a 62-61 win at Charles Koch Arena that denied the 11th-ranked Shockers a share of the conference crown.
***Cincinnati leads the all-time series 19-12. The two former Missouri Valley Conference rivals have split 16 meetings in Wichita.
***Whether you favor RPI (20th), NET (18th) or KenPom (32nd), the youthful Shockers have played one of D-I's strongest schedules. Ten of WSU's 16 games would be classified as Quadrant I or II contests by the Selection Committee. Saturday brings that total to 11.
***McDuffie is The American's second-leading scorer at 19.6 points. He's topped 20-points seven times this year, including each of the last three games. McDuffie's run of 15-consecutive games in double-figures is the Marshall Era's second-longest streak. Consensus All-American Cleanthony Early ran off 19-straight in 2013-14.
***6-11 center
Jaime Echenique is the team's leading rebounder (5.4) and shot-blocker (20 total).
***Guards
Samajae Haynes-Jones (3.1) and
Ricky Torres (3.0) are both averaging over three assists-per-game. Haynes-Jones has posted double-digit point totals in each of his last eight contests. Torres ranks 96th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.09).
***Cincinnati is one of just five teams that have won a game at CKA over the last six seasons. WSU is 77-5 on campus since 2013-14.
***Free throws are finally falling. After sinking just 65.6% from the line during the non-conference slate, the Shockers have hit a league-best 85.9% in American play (55-of-64), led by McDuffie (18-20),
Dexter Dennis (10-11) and
Jamarius Burton (7-7).
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SUPER MARKIS SWEEP:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
***
Markis McDuffie entered the weekend ranked second on the conference leaderboard and No. 48 nationally in scoring (19.3). He's averaging 22.0 points in American play, which is tied with ECU's Jayden Gardner for the league lead.
***It's been 19 years since a Shocker last won a conference scoring crown. Jason Perez averaged an MVC-best 20.2 points in 2000.
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American Athletic Conference Scoring Leaders:
- Jayden Gardner (ECU) – 19.8
- Markis McDuffie (WSU) – 19.6
- Shizz Alston Jr. (Temple) – 19.2
- Jahmal McMurray (SMU) – 18.4
- B.J. Taylor (UCF) – 17.8
***McDuffie's run of 15-straight double-figure scoring games is the second-longest of the Marshall Era, trailing only Cleanthony Early (19 in '13-14).
***Xavier McDaniel has the all-time record locked down (65-straight). He scored 10+ in every game of his junior and senior seasons. In the latter (1985), he led the nation in scoring.
***McDuffie's streak is one of the 10-longest by a Shocker in the last 40 seasons.
***McDuffie has logged three-straight 20-point games and seven total this year. If he does it again Saturday, McDuffie would tie Ron Baker (Nov./Dec., 2013) and Garrett Stutz (Jan./Feb., 2012) for the most-consecutive 20-point games in the Marshall Era.
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Consecutive Games with 10+ Points (Marshall Era):
19 – Cleanthony Early (2013-14*)
15 –
Markis McDuffie (2018-19)
14 – Ron Baker (2015-16)
13 – Cleanthony Early (2012-13)
12 – Ron Baker (2014-15*)
12 – Ron Baker (2014-15)
12 – Fred VanVleet (2014-15)          Â
* = Streak began the previous year
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SHOCKERS ON THE LEADERBOARDS (as of Jan. 17):
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Ricky Torres has the conference's sixth-best assist-to-turnover ratio (minimum 3.0 apg). That includes a 3.5 ratio during conference games (which ranks third-highest among qualifiers).
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Jaime Echenique ranks among conference's top-10 in blocks (6th, 1.1) and field goal percentage 4th, .574.
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Markis McDuffie ranks among the top-10 in scoring (2nd, 19.6), free throw percentage (5th, .829), 3-point percentage (7th, .394) and 3-pointers/game (6th, 2.4).
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UCF LEFTOVERS:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
***Wednesday night was
Gregg Marshall's 400th at Wichita State -- most in program history.
***WSU's four-game losing streak is over. Thanks to the holiday break, it spanned a full 28 days. It was the program's longest skid since January, 2009 (Marshall's second-year) when WSU opened Missouri Valley play at 0-6. That group, which also leaned heavily on newcomers, won nine of the next 12 on the way to a CBI bid. It was the first in a still-active run of 10-straight postseason appearances for WSU.
***After the UCF win, WSU jumped nine spots in KenPom (to No. 120) and 22 notches (to No. 105) in the NCAA's NET ratings.
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1,000 FOR McDUFFIE (AND COUNTING):
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Markis McDuffie is the 47th member of WSU's 1,000-point club. He reached the mark in his 100th game (Dec. 8, 2018 at Okla.) and is on pace to finish the regular season with 1,440 points -- 15th all-time.
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McDuffie on WSU's All-Time Scoring List:
25. Steve Grayer (1985-89) – 1,211 (+45)
26. Robert Elmore (1973-77) – 1,186 (+20)
27. Cal Bruton (1972-76) – 1,184 (+18)
28.
Shaquille Morris (2014-18) – 1,172 (+6)
29. Kelly Pete (1963-66) – 1,169 (+3)
30.
Markis McDuffie (2015-Pr.) – 1,166
31. Vince Smith (1970-73) – 1,163
32. John Cooper (1987-91) – 1,153Â
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TOUGH STRETCH:
***WSU is over halfway through a stretch of eight-straight games (five of them on the road) against teams that rank among the top-100 in the NCAA's NET calculations. All are considered tier-1 and tier-2 games by the NCAA Selection Committee.
***Tabbed eighth in the preseason poll, the rebuilding Shockers opened American Athletic Conference play with five-straight games against teams picked to finish in the upper-half: @Memphis (4th), TEMPLE (6th), @Houston (3rd), UCF (1st), CINCINNATI (2nd).
***The schedule eases a bit after Jan. 19 with five of the next six against teams picked seventh-or-lower: @USF (12th), @UConn (5th), SMU (7th), TULSA (9th), @ECU (11th), TULANE (10th).
 The unbalanced league schedule ultimately favors the Shockers. Four American teams are ranked or receiving AP votes. Houston, UCF and Temple are teams the Shockers face just once this year, and all three are in the rearview mirror. WSU faces the other, Cincinnati, on Saturday and makes a return visit in February.
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MORE McDUFFIE MILESTONES:
***
Markis McDuffie is four steals shy of 100 for his career. He'd be just the 16th Shocker to do it.
***McDuffie needs 33 rebounds to hit the 500-mark.
***Only seven players in program history have recorded the combo of 500 rebounds AND 100 career steals: Cheese Johnson (1975-79), Xavier McDaniel (1981-85), Jason Perez (1996-00), Jamar Howard, (2001-05), P.J. Couisnard (2004-08), Toure' Murry (2008-12) and Ron Baker (2012-16).
***McDuffie went 2-for-4 from three-point range against UCF on Wednesday to move into 19th on WSU's all-time three-point field goal chart. He's on pace to eventually break into the top-10.
***McDuffie has connected at least two times in seven-straight games. During that stretch he's 20-for-48 (.417) from long range.
***Each of the top-13 on WSU's career three-point field goal list are guards. McDuffie needs just 15 more to match Rob Kampman (130 from 2001-05) for the most by a Shocker forward/center.
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McDuffie on WSU's All-Time 3-Point Field Goal Chart:
t-13. Rob Kampman (2001-05) – 130 (+15)
t-13. Matt Braeuer (2004-08) – 130 (+15)
15. Clevin Hannah (2008-10) – 128 (+13)
16. Dwight Praylow (1985-89) – 125 (+10)
16. Graham Hatch (2007-11) – 125 (+10)
18. Maurice Evans (1997-99) – 118 (+3)
19.
Markis McDuffie (2015-Pr.) – 115
20. P.J. Couisnard (2004-08) -- 114
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SCOUTING CINCINNATI:
***Cincinnati (31-5, 16-2 American in 2017-18) swept last year's American regular season and tournament titles and earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Bearcats defeated Georgia State but were upset by Nevada in the second round.
***Head coach Mick Cronin was named 2018 Sporting News National Coach of the Year.
***Cincinnati is 15-3 (4-1) out of the gate in 2018-19. The Bearcats lost their season opener (also the debut of the newly renovated FifthThird Arena) to Ohio State but have since ripped off 11-straight home wins. They're 2-2 in true road games, winning at UNLV and Tulsa while falling at Mississippi State and ECU. On Nov. 23 and 24, the Bearcats downed George Mason and Ole Miss (currently No. 18 in the AP Poll) on a neutral court to win the Emerland Coast Classic.
***The Bearcats are the nation's seventh-slowest team, per KenPom's tempo rankings. They average 64.0 possessions-per-game and have done an excellent job of maximizing those limited possessions, both individually and collectively:
***Justin Jenifer leads the conference and ranks second nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (5.82). He's committed just 11 turnovers this season.
***The Bearcats rank 10th nationally in turnover margin (+4.6) but have been even better in loop play at +6.00. They're forcing American foes into an average of 16.6 turnovers-per-game.
***Jarron Cumberland ranks fifth on conference scoring chart (17.8).
***Jenifer and Cumberland have been the league's most-accurate three-point shooters at .435 and .429 respectively.
***Nysier Brooks ranks among the top-3 in field goal percentage (2nd, .618) and blocks (3rd, 1.6).
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MATCHUP MASHUP:
***WSU and Cincinnati have been two of the decade's most-decorated programs. The Shockers' .803 winning percentage since the start of the 2010-11 season ranks third nationally behind Gonzaga and Kansas. Cincinnati ranks 12th in that span with a .747 percentage.
***The Bearcats have played in each of the last eight NCAA Tournaments. The Shockers have appeared in seven-straight. Those are two of the seven-longest streaks in college basketball.
***WSU and Cincinnati were two of college basketball's best in 2017-18. Both went wire-to-wire in the national polls. The Shockers climbed as high as No. 3. The Bearcats peaked at No. 5.
***The two sides had four of the five players on last year's all-conference first team:
Landry Shamet and
Shaquille Morris for WSU; Gary Clark and Jacob Evans for Cincinnati. All four players have moved on, and three of them are currently playing in the NBA. Shamet (76ers) and Evans (Warriors) were first-rounders. Clark caught on with the Houston Rockets as an undrafted free agent.
***Losing Clark and Evans hurt, but the Bearcats returned 11 other letter-winners returned this year. The Shockers, meanwhile, brought in 11 newcomers.
***Both sides have a preseason all-conference player on which to lean. In conference play, no one has scored more than UC's Jarron Cumberland and WSU's
Markis McDuffie. They're tied for the league lead at 22.0 points-per-game.
***Cumberland averaged 14.5 points and a team-high 35.5 minutes for Cincy in two games last year against the Shockers. Cane Broom put up 11.0 points in 28.0 minutes off the bench
***McDuffie averaged 6.5 points and 3.0 rebounds in 19.5 minutes off the bench against Cincy. The two other returning scholarship players,
Samajae Haynes-Jones and
Asbjørn Midtgaard did not see action.
***The Shockers are playing their third-straight game (and sixth overall this year) against a KenPom top-50 defense. As was the case with Houston and UCF, Cincinnati opponents are shooting less than 40% from the field this year (.399, 34th nationally).
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THE SERIES WITH CINCINNATI:
***This is meeting No. 32 in the series. Cincinnati leads 19-12. The teams have split 16 games in Wichita.
***
Gregg Marshall is 1-1 against both Cincinnati and its head coach, Mick Cronin.
***Neither school appeared in this week's AP Top-25. One or both teams have been nationally-ranked for each of the last five meetings and in 21 of the 31 all-time.
***WSU and Cincinnati played 26 times from 1958-70 while Cincinnati was a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. The Bearcats won six-straight conference titles from 1958-63 and played in five-consecutive Final Fours, winning national titles in 1961 and 1962. The Shockers supplanted Cincinnati with back-to-back titles in 1964 and 1965. The latter group reached the Final Four for the first time in school history.
***61 years ago, Bearcat legend Oscar Robertson set the Roundhouse's single-game scoring record (50 points). That mark – set March 1, 1958 in Cincinnati's first-ever visit to Wichita – still stands. It came in the arena's third year of existence when the building was simply known as WU Fieldhouse."
***WSU's first series win came in 1961 (52-51). Lanny Van Eman hit the game-winning jumper with three seconds to play to stop the defending national champion Bearcats' 27-game winning streak.
***The Shockers lost six-straight times in Cincinnati before finally breaking through in 1963-64 with a 59-58 overtime victory. The sixth-ranked Shockers thought they had won the game, 56-54, in regulation on a corner jumper by Dave Stallworth, but the timekeeper ruled otherwise and officials forced the Shockers to return to the court at UC Armory Fieldhouse. After the Shockers rallied to win (again), 59-58, some 2,000 fans were on hand to greet them at the Wichita airport. They presented the team with a trophy that included an inscription "One Game-Won Twice."
***In 1963, Stallworth produced what is regarded as the greatest game ever by a Shocker in a 65-64 win over No. 1 Cincinnati. He scored 46 points (then a Shocker record), including the game's final seven to rally from a six-point deficit. That win ended a 37-game win streak for the Bearcats.
***In 1969, the Shockers trailed the 10th-ranked Bearcats 54-42 with 11:30 to play. They won 67-66 with reserve guard Greg Rataj scoring eight points in the final minutes.
***Prior to 2018, the teams had last played on Dec. 5, 1981 at Levitt Arena (now Koch Arena). The future NBA trio of Xavier McDaniel, Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston combined for 35 points and 24 rebounds, and the Shockers pulled away for an 87-67 victory. Michael Williams (24 pts, 13 reb) and Dwight Jones (13 pts, 16 reb) starred for the Bearcats.
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LAST YEAR:
Feb. 18, 2018 | Highland Heights, Ky./ BB&T Arena
#19 Wichita State 76, #5 Cincinnati 72
No. 19 WSU ended No. 5 Cincinnati's nation-best 39-game home winning streak and scored its first top-5 road win in 54 years...
Landry Shamet scored 16 of his game-high 19 points in the first half and dished out five assists... The Shockers forged ahead 42-40 on a pair of free throws just before halftime and led wire-to-wire in the second half... The win pulled WSU back within a game of first-place with control of their own destiny in the conference race... WSU won in Cincinnati for just the fourth time ever. It was the first meeting between the programs since 1981.... The Shockers' 52.8% shooting was a season-high for a UC opponent, and 76 points was the most surrendered by the Bearcats in conference play. UC came into the day ranked second nationally in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense.
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LAST YEAR:
Mar. 4, 2018 | Wichita, Kan./ Charles Koch Arena
#10 Cincinnati 62, #11 Wichita State 61
No. 10 Cincinnati spoiled senior day and denied No. 11 WSU a share of the regular season title and the conference tournament's No. 1 seed... UC, which entered the finale with a one-game lead, claimed the crown outright... WSU's six seniors lost for just the third time at Charles Koch Arena...
Shaquille Morris and
Landry Shamet scored 16-each... UC used a 16-1 run to go up 27-16 when the Shockers went over seven minutes without a field goal... WSU pulled to within a point at halftime, 37-36, when Darral Willis beat the buzzer with a short jumper, and moved ahead with 10:53 to go on three-pointer and a transition layup from
Markis McDuffie...The game featured eight ties and eight lead changes... WSU trailed by a point with 17 seconds and had three cracks at the go-ahead score. Shamet's driving layup was blocked out of bounds,
Conner Frankamp missed a three and Willis' stickback was snuffed out.
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A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…
… improve their record to 9-8 with back-to-back wins.
… up their conference mark to 2-3.
… snap UC's three-game winning streak.
… make WSU 7-2 at home (6-2 at CKA) in 2018-19.
… up their CKA record to 78-5 over the last six seasons.
… make WSU 2-1 against UC in The American Era.
… close the gap in the all-time series to 19-13.
… move Marshall to within 11 wins of 500 for his career (489-189) and within five of 300 at WSU (295-106).
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A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
… drop them back under .500 at 8-9 (1-4 American).
… give UC a 20-12 lead in the all-time series.
… make WSU 1-2 vs. UC in The American Era.
… drop them to 6-3 at home (5-3 at CKA) in 2018-19.
… be just the sixth CKA loss in six seasons (77-6).
… be the first time since 2009 (Southern Illinois) that an opponent has won back-to-back games at CKA.
… be less good than a win.
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UP NEXT:
***The Shockers play their next two out on the road, beginning Tuesday in Tampa, Fla. against the USF Bulls. The 7 p.m. CT tip airs on CBS Sports Network.
***WSU takes on UConn next Saturday in Storrs, Conn. That game tips at 5 p.m. CT and also airs on CBSSN.
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