CENTRAL ARKANSAS (1-6) at -/rv WICHITA STATE (6-1)
THURSDAY, DEC. 5, 2019 | 7:05 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: FIRST MEETING
 
>>> The Wichita State Shockers (6-1) play host to the Central Arkansas Bears (1-6) at 7 p.m. CT Thursday inside Charles Koch Arena.
 
>>> Tickets are still available for this game at 316-978-FANS or goshockers.com/Tickets
 
>>> Thursday'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).
 
>>> Tickets are also still available for the WSU's 10^th annual downtown game, next Saturday, Dec. 14 (5 p.m.) at INTRUST Bank Arena against the Oklahoma Sooners. To purchase, call 855-755-SEAT, log on to selectaseat.com or visit the Select-A-Seat Box Office at INTRUST Bank Arena.
 

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OPENING TIPS:

• The Shockers finished runner-up in last week's Cancun Challenge, routing South Carolina 70-47 before falling 75-63 to West Virginia in the title game. Erik Stevenson averaged 20.5 points to make the all-tournament team and earn a spot on the AAC's Weekly Honor Roll.
• This is the first ever meeting between WSU and UCA. The Bears are picked fifth out of 13 teams in the Southland Conference preseason poll.
• The Shockers earned four votes in the latest USA Today Coaches Poll -- up from two votes the previous week. The Nov. 25 edition ended a long poll drought for WSU, which was ranked wire-to-wire during the 2017-18 campaign but went the entire 2018-19 without receiving any votes.
• WSU opened the 2018-19 season 8-11 but has since won 20 of its last 25 games.
• WSU (5-0 at CKA this year) is riding a seven-game home winning streak. The Shockers have held all five visitors under 40% from the field.
• WSU is 13th in KenPom's defensive efficiency rankings. Foes are shooting just 38.6% from inside the arc (eighth-lowest nationally).
• Seven Shockers are averaging at least 7.0 points-per-game. Ten are clocking 10+ minutes.
• Stevenson leads the team in both points (13.6) and assists (3.3). He's committed just five turnovers and ranks among the national leaders in A:TO ratio (6th, 4.60).
• Gregg Marshall is shooting for his 509th career victory, which would tie former Tulsa/Arkansas boss Nolan Richardson for 94th all-time among D-I coaches.
• As of Tuesday, WSU ranks among the top-25 nationally  in A:TO ratio (18th, 1.45), field goal percentage defense (23rd, 36.7%) and scoring defense (25th, 58.9).
• The Shockers rank 11th nationally in fewest turnovers (10.4). They're averaging just 4.6 after halftime.
• Beginning Sunday at Oklahoma State (1 p.m. CT, ESPNU), the Shockers will play three-straight against teams that are receiving votes in the latest AP Poll.

 SCOUTING CENTRAL ARKANSAS:

• The Bears (14-19) missed the 2019 postseason but advanced to the CBI quarterfinals in 2018. It was the school's first men's basketball postseason appearance since transitioning to NCAA Division I in 2006.
• Picked fifth out of 13 teams in the Southland Conference preseason poll, UCA (1-6) is still in search of its first win over a Division I opponent. The Bears play eight of their first 10 this year on the road and their non-conference schedule includes stops at Baylor, Georgetown, Duke, WSU, Utah and Marquette.
• The Bears are averaging 70.0 points despite shooting just 28.6% from deep. KenPom ranks them 23rd nationally in tempo (74.7 possessions-per-40-minutes).
• Junior seven-footer Hayden Koval ranks fourth nationally in blocks-per-game (4.00) and is No. 3 among active players in career blocks (205). He's twice led the Southland Conference in that category.
• Koval is also UCA's top returning scorer and rebounder and was a preseason second team all-conference pick. He's averaging 12.9 and 6.7 respectively this year.
• Junior point guard Deandre Jones also earned preseason second team status. He average 4.8 assists and 2.0 steals last year.
• Koval (34.4 minutes-per-game) leads trio of Bears who are each clocking 30+ minutes, joined by Ryan Bergersen (14.1 pts, 5.0 reb) and Eddie Kayouloud (13.9 pts, 6.1 reb).
• Bergersen is averaging a team-high 14.1 points, followed closely by Kayouloud's 13.9-per-game.
• Head coach Russ Pennell -- a Pittsburg, Kan. native and UCA alumnus – led Arizona to the 2009 NCAA Tournament after head coach Lute Olson stepped down for medical reasons. In 2014, he served as interim coach for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and took that team to the Western Conference finals.
• Basketball Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen played collegiately at UCA (1983-87). He arrived as a 6-foot-1 walk-on but grew to 6-8 and became a two-time NAIA All-American. The school has retired his No. 33 jersey. Pennell was a senior point guard during Pippen's freshman season.

 MATCHUP MASHUP:

• WSU is 16-2 all-time against current members of the Southland Conference (15-1 in Wichita). The only home loss came to McNeese State during the 1984-85 season.
• The Shockers host one more Southland Conference opponent during non-conference play: Abilene Christian (Dec. 29), which is picked third in the Southland preseason poll on the heels of last year's conference tournament title.
• This is the first series meeting between WSU and UCA.
• WSU has never faced Russ Pennell.
• Marshall has never faced Pennell, nor UCA.
• The drive from Conway to Wichita is roughly six hours (421 miles).
• The Shocker volleyball team defeated UCA in first round of the 2018 NIVC.
• Sophomore guard Khaleem Bennett played at Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire.

 ENTER ECHENIQUE:

• Senior center Jaime Echenique missed the first four games of the season with a fractured left hand, suffered during the team's closed door scrimmage with Nebraska on Oct. 26. The injury sidelined him for exactly four weeks.
• Echenique returned Nov. 23 against Oral Roberts and logged 11 minutes off the bench. In two Cancun Challenge games against South Carolina and West Virginia he  averaged 22 minutes and put up 8.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks.
• Echenique's 29 minutes against West Virginia were a new career-high. His double-double (11 pts, 11 reb) was his first of the year and fourth of his Shocker career. His free throw makes was also a new personal-best.
• Echenique (9.1 ppg in 2018-19) made 34 starts last year and was WSU's leading rebounder (6.0) and shot blocker (51).

 MAKE NO MISTAKE:

• WSU's young guards did an admirable job of limiting turnovers during a five-game homestand to start the season, but their first true test came last week in Cancun against two traditionally stout defenses.
• After logging 13 first-half turnovers against South Carolina, the Shockers committed just 12 more the rest of the tournament (three in the second half against SC and nine vs. West Virginia).
• KenPom ranks the Shockers eighth nationally in fewest unforced errors (turnovers not caused by steals).
• WSU has committed less than 10 turnovers in four of its seven games.
• Shocker opponents are averaging 7.8 points-per-game off turnovers (WSU averages close to 16).

 FRESH START:

• Despite coming off the bench in each of the first seven games, freshman Tyson Etienne is on pace to challenge a handful of Shocker freshman records:
• Etienne's 2.29 three-pointers-per-game would break WSU's rookie mark, set 27 years ago by Chad Elstun (2.19 in 1992-93), and would also tie for fifth overall on the school's single-season list.
• Etienne is on track to end the regular season with 71 total threes. WSU's current freshman mark was set by Landry Shamet (72 in 36 games) in 2016-17.
• Etienne is on pace to end the regular season with 44.3 steals, which would edge Toure' Murry's freshman record (44 in 34 games) from the 2008-09 season.
• There's no such stat as steal-to-turnover ratio, but Etienne's is nonetheless impressive. He has a team-high 10 steals with just two turnovers.
• Per KenPom, Etienne leads all Division I freshmen in turnover percentage (4.3). He's No. 13 overall.

 BOLSTERED BY BURTON:

• Jamarius Burton is averaging 9.8 points while splitting time on the wing and at point guard. His season numbers are a bit misleading, thanks to an ankle injury suffered just four minutes into the season opener.
• Burton missed the Nov. 9 game against Texas Southern but in the five games since his return, he's averaging 11.8 points, 3.2 assists (with a 2-to-1 ratio) in 23.2 minutes while shooting 51 percent from the field.
• Burton spent the off-season refining his jumper, and the work has paid off. He current leads the American Athletic Conference in three-point percentage (6-of-10, .600) after making just 10-of-38 as a freshman (.263).

 20-APPLENTY:

• Last Tuesday's 70-47 win over South Carolina marked the 65th time in the last seven seasons that the Shockers have won a game by 20+ points. Only Gonzaga (93), Villanova (72) and Duke (70) have more in that span.

Most 20-Point Wins, Last 7 Seasons (2013-14 to Present):

1. Gonzaga -- 93 
2. Villanova -- 72
3. Duke -- 70      
4. Wichita St. -- 65         
5. Arizona -- 64  
6. Louisville -- 64
7. Kentucky -- 63
8. Virginia -- 62  
9. Michigan St. -- 60      

 TRENDING:

• On this day -- Dec. 5, 1951 -- led by freshman Cleo Littleton, the Shockers scored 100 points for the first time in school history in a 100-63 win over Creighton.
• Dexter Dennis has the team's longest active starting streak: 20-straight going back to last Feb. 20.
• Close to 40% of the Shockers scoring has come from non-starters. Reserves are averaging 28.9 points-per-game, compared to 44.7 from the starting-five.
• The Shockers are 6-1 this year on openin tipoffs. Morris Udeze has won all five jump balls since joining the starting lineup.
• West Virginia outrebounded thge Shockers by 17 (48-31) in the Cancun Challenge final. That tied for the third-worst margin of the Marshall Era.
• Prior to the West Virginia game, WSU had outrebounded each of its first six foes by an average margin of 8.7.

 

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A SHOCKER WIN WOULD….
... make them 7-1 on the year.
... make them 6-0 at home with eight-straight wins.
... give them a 1-0 series lead on UCA.
... be Marshall's 508th career victory, tying him with Nolan Richardson for 94th on the all-time D-I wins list.
… make them 17-2 all-time against current Southland members (16-1 in Wichita).
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
... drop them to 6-2.
... give them consecutive losses for the first time since January, 2019.
... snap a seven-game home winning streak.
... give UCA a 1-0 lead in the all-time series.
... be only their 27th at CKA under Marshall (167-27).
... be less good than a win.
 
UP NEXT:
The Shockers play their first true road game of the year Sunday at No. rv/25 Oklahoma State. The 1 p.m. CT tip airs nationally on ESPNU.