ABILENE CHRISTIAN (7-5) at rv/25 WICHITA STATE (10-1)
SUNDAY, DEC. 29, 2019 | 2:05 P.M. CT
WICHITA, KAN./CHARLES KOCH ARENA (10,506)
TV: YURVIEW KANSAS (Cox HD 2022 / YurView.com/Kansas)
RADIO: KEYN (103.7 FM / GoShockers.com/Listen)
SERIES: WSU, 5-0 (5-0 in Wichita)
 
>>> Wichita State closes out the most-successful decade in program history at 2 p.m. Sunday inside Charles Koch Arena against Abilene Christian (7-5).
 
>>> Purchase your seats at GoShockers.com/Tickets.
 
>>> Sunday's matchup airs on YurView Kansas, available to Cox subscribers across the state of Kansas on HD 2022 with streaming in all 50 states at 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). Kennedy, who is now in his 40th year as Voice of the Shockers, will call is 1,239th consecutive game.
 
>>> Catch the Gregg Marshall Show on Monday nights throughout the season. Join host Mike Kennedy and Coach Marshall LIVE from 6-7 p.m. at A.J.'s Sports Grill at The Alley, or listen on KFH (97.5 FM / 1240 AM). The show is rebroadcast in a television format Mondays at 9 p.m. on YurView Kansas (Cox 2022).   January Show Dates: 6, 13, 27
 

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OPENING TIPS:

• Since Jan. 1, 2010 the Shockers are 279-75 (.788), with 201 of those wins coming by double-figures. That 10-year stretch includes 18 postseason wins (spread across seven NCAA tournaments and three NIT's), five regular season conference titles and two conference tournament crowns.
• Also this decade, WSU is 55-10 (.851) in December games -- which is fourth nationally behind Duke, Kansas and Arizona -- and 138-15 (.902) at CKA.
• The Shockers missed the AP Top-25 by 13 votes on Monday but did debut in the USA Today Coaches Poll (No. 25). This marks WSU's first major poll appearance since Apr. 2, 2018 when it finished at No. 25 in the Coaches.
• WSU entered the weekend at No. 11 in the NCAA's NET ratings, which are used by the selection committee as a sorting tool to grade the quality of wins and losses. The Shockers are 1-1 in Quadrant I games and 3-0 in Quadrant II contests.
• This is the sixth meeting all-time against ACU but the first since 1986. Each of the five previous matchups (all WSU victories) took place in Wichita with four of them coming during the Gene Smithson Era. This is the first meeting since ACU's move to Division I.
• The Wildcats won 24 games last year and represented the Southland Conference in the NCAA tournament. ACU leads the nation in turnover margin and ranks 11th in steals. Senior guard Payten Ricks (preseason first team All-Southland) is a Maize South product.
• WSU ranks among the top-25 nationally in field goal percentage defense (22nd, .380), scoring margin (22nd, +14.8) and turnover margin (24th, 4.5).
• Shocker men's basketball players combined to post a 3.29 GPA during the Fall 2019 semester.
• A Sunday win would close out a 5-0 December. It would be WSU's 11th undefeated month under Marshall and its first since February, 2017 (8-0).
• Sunday's game is WSU's third-straight against a 2019 NCAA tournament team with yet another -- Ole Miss -- due in next Saturday. In between, the Shockers open American Athletic Conference play Wednesday afternoon against ECU (2 p.m. CT, ESPNU).

 

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SCOUTING THE WILDCATS:

• Ninth-year head coach Joe Golding arrived at ACU in 2011, just prior to the school's transition from NCAA Division II to Division I. He has gradually improved the schools profile. In their first three seasons at the Division I level, the Wildcats went 10-21 (2014-15), 13-18 (2015-16) and 13-16 (2016-17) before hitting the .500-mark in 2017-18 at 16-16 (their year of full membership) and earning a CBI bid.
• ACU (25-6, 14-4 Southland in 2018-19) won the Southland tournament last spring, becoming just the fourth school in the last two decades to qualify for an NCAA Tournament within its first two years of eligibility, joining North Dakota State (2009), Florida Gulf Coast (2013) and Northern Kentucky (2017).
• ACU lost five of its top-six scorers from that team but are picked third in the Southland preseason poll behind New Orleans and Sam Houston State.
• The Wildcats (7-5, 2-0 Southland) have won five-in-a-row on the heels of a 2-5 start.
• Payten Ricks (a graduate of nearby Maize South High School) was a preseason first team All-Southland pick. He's averaging a team-high 13.6 points in 27.8 minutes. Ricks has hit 33 three-pointers on 38.4% accuracy, and his 2.5 steals-per-game rank 17th nationally.
• ACU leads the nation in turnover margin (+7.8) and also ranks among the leads in turnovers forced (3rd, 20.83), steals (11th, 10.0) and scoring margin (+17.3), helped in part by lopsided wins over Arlington Baptist (90-39), Champion Christian (90-58), Dallas Christian (102-34) and Howard Payne (105-36).
• ACU is 3-5 against Division I opponents. Ricks has averaged a team-high 16.1 points and just under three steals in those eight games while clocking 34.5 minutes.

THE SHOCKS, IN SHORT:

• WSU is out to a 10-1 start, which includes a 3-1 record against "Power 5" teams: vs. South Carolina (W), vs. West Virginia (L), at Oklahoma St. (W), Oklahoma (W).
• 10 of the 13 Shocker scholarship players are underclassmen, though many of them gained valuable experience during last year's run to the NIT semifinals.
• KenPom's advanced metrics rate the Shocker defense eighth nationally in efficiency. WSU has held nine of its 11 opponents under 40% from the field. Foes are shooting just 40.7% from inside the arc (No. 9 nationally).
• Only two teams have topped 70 points against the Shockers this year: West Virginia (75 points) and Oklahoma (75).
• Sophomore guard Erik Stevenson leads the team in points (13.2), steals (18 total) and minutes (28.2) and is WSU's second-leading rebounder (5.3). After a four-point performance in the season-opener, he has scored at least eight points in each of the last 10 games.
• After a slow start from three-point range, Stevenson has found his stroke. He's drained multiple threes in six-straight games. Over that stretch he's averaging a team-high 15.2 points and shooting 43.7% from deep.
• Junior forward Trey Wade is the team's top rebounder (7.4). He has three games with 10+ boards and a pair of double-doubles.
• 6-11 Jaime Echenique -- the team's lone senior -- missed the first four games with a fractured hand but has averaged 10.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks since returning on Nov. 23. He's dunked at least once in all seven of his games.
• Freshman guard Tyson Etienne ranks 22nd nationally (and fourth among freshmen) in three-point percentage. He's nailed a team-high 28 triples with 45.2% accuracy this year.

THE SERIES: (WSU leads 5-0; 5-0 in Wichita)
 
Dec. 8, 1959 (Wichita): WU 91, ACU 66
Coach Ralph Miller's full court press, led by Lanny Van Eman, frustrated the visitors.
 
Dec. 31, 1979 (Wichita): WSU 75, ACU 58
Randy Smithson (15 points) and the freshman duo of Cliff Levingston (14) and Antoine Carr (12) helped the Shockers close out the 1970's with a win.
 
Nov. 28, 1980 (Wichita): WSU 101, ACU 60
A Shocker team that would ultimately play in the Elite Eight started its season strong with 62 first-half points. Carr set a school and NCAA record (the latter has since been broken) by hitting all 13 of his field goal attempts, and WSU outrebounded ACU 52-22. Notably, it was the first regular season game for the duo of Mike Kennedy and Dave Dahl -- now Division I basketball's most-tenured radio tandem.
 
Nov. 27, 1981 (Wichita): WSU 93, ACU 55
Ranked No. 6 in the AP Poll, WSU racked up 18 steals and forced 31 turnovers. Carr missed four shots this time but still finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Jan. 2, 1986 (Wichita): WSU 78, ACU 50
Gus Santos scored a game-high 20 points for the Shockers who built a 28-point halftime lead (49-21) and won by the same margin.

MATCHUP MASHUP:

• ACU's Director of Athletics, Allen Ward, earned his M.Ed. in physical education and sport administration from Wichita State University in 1991.
• The Shockers face a Southland Conference opponent for the second time this year, having defeated Central Arkansas at home back on Dec. 5 (95-69).
• WSU is 17-2 all-time against current members of the Southland, including 16-1 at home. The only loss came to McNeese State during the 1984-85 campaign.

ANOTHER DECEMBER TO REMEMBER:

• WSU's last December loss at Charles Koch Arena came nearly eight years ago -- Dec. 31, 2011 to Creighton.
• The Shockers have won 37-straight December non-conference games at the Roundhouse, going back more than a dozen years. They're 38-1 under Marshall with the only loss coming Dec. 7, 2007 against UT Arlington.
• Overall, Wichita State is 67-18 (.788) under Marshall in the month of December.

Unblemished Months (Marshall Era):
February, 2017 (8-0)
January, 2016 (9-0)
February, 2015 (8-0)
November, 2014 (4-0)
February, 2014 (8-0)
January, 2014 (6-0)
December, 2013 (6-0)
November, 2013 (7-0)
November, 2012 (7-0)
February, 2012 (8-0)

TRENDING:

• Sunday's game concludes a slow stretch. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day (28 days), the Shockers played just four times. Marshall gave his players five full days off between the Dec. 21 VCU game and the evening of Dec. 26. The ACU game kicks off a stretch of nine games in 28 days (Dec. 29-Jan. 25).
• WSU has won the turnover battle in nine of their 11 games this year (-4 vs. ORU & -3 vs. Oklahoma). The Shockers have finished with 10-or-fewer turnovers on five occasions already this year.
• The Shockers have won the rebounding battle in 10 of their 11 games this year (-17 vs. WVU on Nov. 27).
• Despite a longer three-point distance, the Shockers are sinking 8.3-per-game and shooting 34.9% as a team -- up from 7.5 and 30.8% a year ago.
• The five Shockers newcomers have combined to hit 38.7% from deep (46-of-119), led by Tyson Etienne (28-of-62, .452) and Trey Wade (10-of-27, .370).
• The Shockers are 7-0 at Charles Koch Arena this year. Collectively they've held opponents to 60.3 points on 38.4% shooting. The Shockers are +6.3 in turnovers and +7.6 on the glass. Foes have tallied almost twice as many turnovers (124) as assists (68).

SMART JOCKS:

• Wichita State student-athletes across the board achieved a 3.32 cumulative GPA in the Fall of 2019 -- the highest in the 30 years since the athletic department began keeping records (Fall, 1989 to present).
• The men's basketball team set a new program record , ending its semester with a 3.29 GPA.

WORKING AHEAD:

• The Shockers opened the 2018-19 campaign at 8-11 but are 24-5 since.
• Last year's team didn't win its tenth game until Feb. 2. This year's squad beat that mark by 43 days (Dec. 21).
• The Shockers have recorded double-digit non-con wins for the tenth time in Marshall's 13 seasons.

POLL PATROL:

• This week's Coaches Poll ranking was WSU's 169th all-time and 80th under Gregg Marshall.
• WSU appeared in 24-straight Coaches Polls from Feb. 20, 2017 through Apr. 2, 2018.
• The Shockers have received votes in 138 of the 187 Coaches Polls since the start of the 2010-11 season.

TIME OUT OF MIND:

• Heading into Sunday, WSU has gone 110 minutes and 15 seconds without calling a timeout. The last came at the 10:15-mark of the first half at Oklahoma State on Dec. 8.
• Gregg Marshall hasn't called a second-half timeout since Nov. 27 vs. West Virginia. WSU has used 11 total timeouts for the year and only one full stop.

 

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A SHOCKER WIN WOULD….
... make them 11-1 with five-straight wins.
... give them 11-straight home wins.
... give them 11 non-con wins -- most since 2013-14.
... be their 57th non-conference win at CKA in their last 58 tries going back to 2011.
... be 38-straight December non-con wins at CKA.
... make WSU 68-18 in December under Marshall.
... give WSU a 6-0 lead all-time series vs. ACU.
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
... drop them to 10-2 and end a 4-game win streak.
... snap a 10-game home winning streak.
... be their first home loss since Feb. 23 (Memphis).
... be their first ever to ACU (5-1).
... be just their 12thsetback in Wichita in the last nine seasons (124-12).
... be less good than a win.
 

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UP NEXT:

• Wichita State rings in a new year and a new conference season on Wednesday, Jan. 1 with its American opener against ECU.
• Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.CT on ESPNU.