ORAL ROBERTS (2-3) at WICHITA STATE (4-0)
SATURDAY, NOV. 21, 2019 | 2 P.M. CT
WICHITA, KAN./ CHARLES KOCH ARENA (10,506)
TV: YURVIEW KS (Cox HD 2022 / YurView.com/Kansas)
RADIO: KEYN (103.7 FM / GoShockers.com/Listen)
SERIES: WSU, 7-5 (4-3 in Wichita)

>>> The Wichita State Shockers (4-0) finish out a five-game homestand Saturday against the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (2-3) at 2 p.m. CT inside Charles Koch Arena.
>>> Tickets are still available for this game at 316-978-FANS or goshockers.com/Tickets
>>> Saturday's matchup will air statewide on YurView Kansas, available to Cox subscribers on HD 2022 and to fans in all 50 states on YurView.com/Kansas. Shane Dennis and Bob Hull have the call.
>>> Division I college basketball's most-tenured tandem, Mike Kennedy and Dave Dahl, tip off their 39th season together on radio (KEYN 103.7 FM and online at goshockers.com/listen).
 

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OPENING TIPS:

• The Shockers are coming off a 74-52 win over Gardner-Webb on Tuesday. Jamarius Burton and Morris Udeze scored 15 points each. WSU led by as many as 31 down the stretch. The visiting Bulldogs were 11-of-21 from three but just 5-of-24 from inside the arc.
• The Shockers are holding opponents collectively to 38.6% from two-point distance (13th nationally). Opponents have committed 67 turnovers while converting just 49 two-point buckets.
• Tuesday's game marked the 191st time in the last 10 seasons that the Shockers have won by double-digits. That total is second only to Gonzaga (222). Duke (185), UNC (185) and Kentucky (181) rank third through fifth.
• ORU (2-3) was picked third out of nine teams in the Summit League preseason poll, earning three first-place votes.
• This is the 13th meeting all-time between WSU and Oral Roberts. The Shockers lead 7-5 (4-3 in Wichita).
• WSU downed ORU 84-63 last December. Markis McDuffie scored 19 of his game-high 25 points in the seond half, and the Shockers outscored the Eagles 30-15 over the final 12:00 to pull away.
• Despite heavy minutes from underclassmen, the Shockers enter the weekend ranked among the national leaders in A:TO ratio (5th, 1.89), turnovers-per-game (6th, 8.8) and turnover margin (11th, +8.3). Jamarius Burton has the nation's fifth-best A:TO ratio (10.00).
• Seven Shockers are averaging between 8.5 and 12.0 points, and 11 are playing 10+ minutes-per-game.
• WSU has outscored its opponents by an average of 20.8 points and is 4-0 for the sixth time in the last eight seasons. A win Saturday would give them their fourth 5-0 start under Gregg Marshall and their 16th all-time.
• The Shockers have won six-straight at home. Since 2009, they're is 32-1 in November home games. The only loss was to LA Tech in the 2018-19 season opener.

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SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES:

• ORU is off to a 2-3 start with wins over Houston Baptist and Division II Rogers State. The Golden Eagles hung tough in road losses to Oklahoma State (80-75), Tulsa (74-67) and Iowa (87-74). WSU will face OSU next month and Tulsa twice during league play.
• A pair of Eagle forwards made the league's preseason first team. Emmanuel Nzekwesi (14.5 ppg, 7.8 rpg in five games this year) was a second team all-league performer last year, and Kevin Obanor (12.2 ppg, team-high 8.0 rebounds) was the Summit's 2019 newcomer and freshman of the year.
• Max Abmas is averaging a team-high 16.4 points and has hit 18 threes in five games.
• Deondre Burns (12.0 ppg) is clocking a team-high 30.0 minutes-per-contest.
• Third-year head coach Paul Mills worked 14 seasons under Scott Drew at Baylor before accepting the ORU job.

MATCHUP MASHUP:

• ORU redshirt sophomore Elijah Lufile is the younger brother of former Shocker Chadrack Lufile, who played two seasons in Wichita (2012-14). He was a rotation player on WSU's 2013 Final Four team and averaged  5.9 points and 5.1 rebounds the following year on a Shocker squad that went undefeated during the regular season.
• Former Shocker walk-on Kaelen Malone played his final season at ORU as a graduate transfer.
• Graduate transfer Ty Lazenby arrives from Oklahoma. He played two minutes in the Sooners' 91-83 victory over the third-ranked Shockers at INTRUST Bank Arena on Dec. 16, 2017.
• Former WSU Media Relations GA Tyler Pounds makes his return to Wichita as a member of the ORU Athletic Communications Staff.

THE SERIES:

• This is the 13th meeting all-time between WSU and ORU. The Shockers lead the series 7-5 (4-3 in Wichita).
• This is the second-straight year that the teams have played in the regular season and the fourth-consecutive season that they've met in some form. WSU and ORU were preseason closed-door scrimmage opponents in 2016 and 2017 (the latter was Mills' first year as ORU coach).
• WSU defeated ORU last season in Wichita, 84-63. Markis McDuffie scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half, and the Shockers outscored the visiting Golden Eagles 30-15 over the final 12 minutes to push a six-point lead to 21.
• WSU is 2-1 against ORU at the Roundhouse since its 2003 renovation. The Eagles' 76-73 win (on Dec. 30, 2003) was the first by a visiting team in the Charles Koch Arena era (the Shockers have dropped just 11 other non-conference games in the years since).

Notable Wichita State-Oral Roberts Games:

• Dec. 22, 1979 -- WSU defeated ORU for the first time in three tries, 70-66, in front of a sellout crowd. Junior point guard Randy Smithson scored 15 points and handed out 11 assists.
• Jan. 6, 1988 -- WSU's Joe Griffin handed out a school- record 16 assists in a 94-72 Shocker victory.
• Dec. 12, 1988 -- Sasha Radunovich sanks two free throws with no time remaining for a 92-91 Shocker win in Tulsa. Radunovich was fouled by ORU's Rufus Freeman on a rebound under the basket as time ran out. The first free throw rolled around the rim and dropped. Radunovich calmly swished the second for the game-winner. ORU had taken the lead with 38 seconds to go on Clarence Thompson's seventh three of the game. Haywoode Workman (who went on to both play and of- ficiate in the NBA) scored 28 points for ORU.
• Dec. 30, 2003 -- ORU's 76-73 win was the first by a visiting team in the newly renovated Charles Koch Arena.
• Dec. 7, 2013 -- WSU improved to 9-0 (on its way to 35-0) with a 71-58 victory. Cleanthony Early (16 points) led a balanced scoring attack.

BOLSTERED BY BURTON:

• Jamarius Burton made Monday's American Weekly Honor Roll, helped by a career-high 18 points in last Saturday's win over UT Martin.
• Burton injured his ankle four minutes into the season opener. He returned to active duty on Nov. 16 and in two games against UT Martin and Gardner-Webb has averaged 16.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists on 60% shooting (6-of-7 from three).
• WSU has outscored opponents by an average of 40.0 points-per-40-minutes with Burton on the floor.
• Burton is 6-of-8 (.667) from three this year after making just 10-of-38 as a freshman (.263) as a freshman.

TRENDING:

• As of Thursday, 63 teams are still undefeated. Four of them represent the American Athletic Conference: WSU, SMU (4-0), Temple (3-0) and Tulane (3-0). Meanwhile, West Virginia (3-0) and UNI (5-0) await next week in Cancun. Four other unbeatens appear on WSU's non-conference calendar: Oklahoma (4-0), Oklahoma State (4-0), Ole Miss (4-0), VCU (4-0).
• Wichita State has the American Athletic Conference's top scoring defense. Foes are averaging 57.8 points.
• On a per-40-minute basis, Burton is also averaging a team-high 25.9 points. Tyson Etienne (24.8) and Morris Udeze (24.6) are a close second and third.
• Asbjorn Midtgaard is averaging a team-best 12.4 rebounds-per-40, edging out Trey Wade (12.3).
• A year after ranking second-to-last in the 12-team American Athletic Conference in three-point percentage (.310), the Shockers rank second at .365 from deep (38-of-104).
• WSU's shooting percentage against Texas Southern (24.2%) was the lowest by a winning team in a Division I game in nearly five years. On Nov. 14, 2014, Temple toppled American 40-37. The Owls shot 22.9% (11-of-48) while holding their opponent to just under 31%.
• Dexter Dennis has the team's longest active starting streak: 17-straight going back to last Feb. 20.

CENTER ROULETTE:

• With incumbent starter Jaime Echenique out, WSU started a different center in each of its first three games.
• Sophomore Morris Udeze's first two starts at center have been an unqualified success. In wins over UT Martin and Gardner-Webb the 6-foot-8 bruiser averaged 14.5 points on 12-of-16 shooting (.750) while clocking 18.0 minutes-per-game.
• Sophomore Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler started the Texas Southern game (also his first career start), and junior Asbjorn Midtgaard got the nod in the season opener. Collecively, the three-headed monster of Udeze/Midtgaard/Poor Bear-Chandler is putting up 14.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in roughly 40-minutes-per-game.

TAKING TURNS:

• Freshmen guards Tyson Etienne, Grant Sherfield and Noah Fernandes have as many combined steals (13) as turnovers (13) in 204 total minutes.
• Etienne's seven steals are the most by a WSU frosh in his first four games since Aubrey Sherrod 38 years ago.
• Sherrod -- an eventual second round pick by the NBA's Chicago Bulls -- tallied eight in his first four contests during the 1981-82 season. He still ranks seventh on WSU's all-time steals list (148).
• Toure' Murry owns WSU's single-season freshman record (44 in 2008-09).

THREE'S COMPANY:

• Dexter Dennis has connected on a three-pointer in 21 consecutive games going back to last season. It's the fifth-longest streak in school history. Dennis is 51-of-121 (.421) since his streak began back on Feb. 2, 2019.
• Dennis made 54 threes with 40% accuracy as a freshman in 2018-19, but the bulk of the damage came in the second half of the year. He hit 42 of those 54 triples over the final 17 games.

Consecutive Games w/ 3-Point Field Goal (WSU, All-Time):
40 -- Conner Frankamp (1/1/2017 to 1/28/2018)
29 -- Landry Shamet (12/17/2016 to 11/22/2017)
27 -- Ron Baker (11/18/2014 to 2/22/2015)
25 -- Ron Baker (4/6/2013 to 2/5/2014)
21 -- Dexter Dennis (2/2/2019 to Present)

 

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A SHOCKER WIN WOULD….
... make them 5-0 for the fourth time under Gregg Marshall and for the 16th time in school history.
... up their series lead on ORU to 8-5 (5-3 in Wichita).
... make Marshall 3-0 vs. ORU (2-0 vs. Mills).
...  give them seven-straight home wins.
... give them nine-straight regular season victories going back to Feb. 28, 2019.
... make Marshall 507-196 (313-113 at WSU, 167-26 at CKA).
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
... drop them to 4-1.
... be just their second Nov. home loss since 2010.
... snap a six-game home winning streak.
... make WSU 7-6 all-time vs. ORU (4-4 in Wichita).
... be only their 27th at CKA under Marshall (166-27).
... be less good than a win.
 
UP NEXT: CANCUN CHALLENGE
The Shockers play two games in two days next week in Cancun, Mexico. WSU opens Tuesday with a semifinal matchup against South Carolina (5 p.m.) and faces either Northern Iowa or West Virginia on Wednesday (5 or 7:30 p.m.). Both games will air on CBS Sports Network.