WICHITA STATE (10-11, 3-6) at ECU (9-12, 2-7)
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 6, 2019 | 6:01 P.M. CT (7:01 ET)
GREENVILLE, N.C. / MINGES COLISEUM
TV: ESPNEWS
RADIO: KEYN 103.7 FM / GOSHOCKERS.com/LISTEN
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>>> With momentum from two home wins last week, Wichita State (10-11, 3-6) now goes in search of its first true road victory Wednesday night when it travels to Greenville, N.C. to face ECU (9-12, 2-7).
>>> Watch the game on ESPNEWS with John Brickley (pbp) and Mark Adams.
>>> 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 Bob Hull tip things off at 5 p.m. 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. 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 show dates: Feb. 11, 18, 25 & Mar. 11.
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COACHING FOR LITERACY:
Gregg Marshall is teaming up with Coaching for Literacy to help raise awareness about the problem of illiteracy in America and to provide support for young children struggling to read. Wichita State fans are encouraged to support the cause by pledging a donation for every Shocker assist over a four-game stretch from Feb. 2 to Feb. 17. Funds raised will benefit area youth through Wichita's Fundamental Learning Center. To make a pledge, visit www.pledgeit.org/shockersforliteracy.
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OPENING TIPS:
***This is the second meeting all-time between the programs. WSU won the series debut last year in Greenville, 95-60, behind
Landry Shamet's 11 points and 11 assists. The Shockers set a conference record with 32 total assists (most in any game involving two AAC schools) and shot 70% in the second half to pull away.
***
Gregg Marshall is 4-0 vs. ECU and 3-0 at Minges. His Winthrop teams swept three non-conference meetings from the Pirates in the mid-2000s.
***Two of the league's best scorers go head-to-head. WSU senior
Markis McDuffie tops the conference leaderboard at 18.9 points-per-game. ECU freshman Jayden Gardner is fifth at 18.3. Both have nine 20-point games to their credit.
***McDuffie was named American Player of the Week after a 27-point performance against Tulsa on Saturday. He's scored at least eight points in every game this year and now ranks 24th on WSU's career scoring list.
***
Jamarius Burton became the first Shocker to win Freshman of the Week honors, averaging 9.0 points and 6.5 assists with a 4.33 A:TO ratio. In the Jan. 30 win over SMU he banked a career-best seven assists. Wednesday night will be homecoming for Burton – a Charlotte native who led Independence High School to the Class 4A state title last spring.
***
Samajae Haynes-Jones leads the team in minutes (32.8) and ranks second in scoring (12.3). He hit a game-winning reverse layup with 1.0 second remaining in last Wednesday's 85-83 win over SMU.
***6-11 center
Jaime Echenique is the team's leading rebounder (5.4) and ranks fourth on the AAC blocks chart (1.5). Echenique has swatted 18 shots in nine conference contests -- tied with UCF's Tacko Fall for the league lead.
***Whether you prefer NET (8th) or RPI (12th), the youthful Shockers have played one of the nation's toughest schedules.
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MARSHALL MILESTONE:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
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Gregg Marshall's .718 career winning percentage ranks 12th among active Division I coaches. He's 10 wins shy of the 500-mark.
***There are 28 active D-I head coaches in the 500-win club, and 24 of them have logged at least 500 of their victories at the D-I level.
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HARD WORKS PAYS OFF:
***
Gregg Marshall announced Monday that walk-on junior
Eli Farrakhan has been awarded a full scholarship for the spring 2019 semester. Farrakhan – a 5-foot-11 point guard from Mel-bourne, Fla. – is in his first season as a Shocker after helping Central Georgia Tech to last year's NJCAA National Tournament.
***Farrakhan has totaled two points in 17 minutes this year. Coaches describe him as a tough defender and capable shooter. While he's only appeared in six games, Marshall hasn't been afraid to use Farrakhan in crunch time. Three of his appearances have come in the first half of road games with the team's primary ballhandlers in foul trouble.
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ALL-STAR TEAM OF FORMER SHOCKERS TO COMPETE:
***Wichita State's Charles Koch Arena has been selected as one of eight regional sites for this summer's TBT (The Basketball Tournament).
***An all-star team of former Shockers -- "The AfterShocks" -- will compete in the eight-team bracket, July 25-28, with winners advancing to the final-eight Chicago.
***The tentative AfterShocks roster features 10 former all-conference players (six of them first-teamers). Headliners include Cleanthony Early, a 2014 consensus All-American and New York Knicks draft pick, and Toure' Murry, who played parts of two NBA seasons with the Knicks, Jazz and Wizards.
***Tickets are on sale now via the Shocker Ticket Office (316-978-FANS) or online at GoShockers.com/Tickets.
***For more information on the alumni team, visit wsuaftershocks.com.
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TRENDING:
***Post-game film sessions were a bit easier on the eyes this past week. WSU averaged 82.0 points and shot 46.2% from the field in home wins over SMU and Tulsa. It was a remarkable improvement from the previous week when they averaged 50.5 points on 31.4% in road losses to USF and UConn.
***WSU has won seven-straight February games going back to last year.
***Saturday marked just the 3rd time this year wsu outscored an opponent in both halves. Other two were Rice and ORU
***WSU took 18 more shots than Tulsa, which shot 53.%.
***WSU's 14 fouls were a season-low and came against a Tulsa team that ranked among the top-10 nationally in free throw attempts.
***
Dexter Dennis buried a career-high three triples in the win over Tulsa. That matched his three-point production from the seven previous games combined when he hit just 3-of-15.
***Dennis also had a personal-best three steals – one more than he'd managed through the first eight conference games.
***Dennis' sixth double-figure scoring game of the year was his first since Jan. 6.
***
Erik Stevenson's career-high four steals were the most by a Shocker this year.
***
Jamarius Burton has 13 assists over the past two games. He now shares the team lead with
Samajae Haynes-Jones (58). Notably, in the 46+ years since freshmen gained NCAA eligibility (1972-73), WSU has had just two freshmen lead the team in assists: Joe Griffin (1987) and
Landry Shamet (2017). The latter was a redshirt rookie.
***Burton averaged 9.0 points, 6.5 assists with a 4.33 assist-to-turnover ratio in the two wins. He played 67 of a possible 80 minutes.
***Burton hit just two three-pointers (on 10 attempts) in the team's first 18 games of the season but has now connected in each of the last three contests. He's 4-of-8 in that span.
***The Shockers have committed just 24 turnovers in their last three outings (8.0-per-game). They had been averaging 14.0 turnovers-per-game prior to that.
***Against SMU, five Shockers finished in double-figures for the first time this year. It happened five times last year and 11 the season prior. WSU won all 17 games.
***WSU has faced six of the nation's top-25 scoring defenses this year: Houston (6), Cincinnati (9), VCU (20), Baylor (22), UCF (24), Southern Miss (25).
***WSU shot 65.6% from the free throw line in non-conference play (289th out of 353 D-I teams) but has hit a league-best .757 in American play.
***
Samajae Haynes-Jones' game-winning reverse-layup came with exactly 1.0 second on the clock. It marked only the fourth time in the Charles Koch Arena Era that the Shockers have hit a game-winner in the final second. Toure' Murry did it twice as a freshman, nailing two-point jumpers to knock off Missouri State (Feb. 10, 2009; 62-61) and Evansville (Jan. 25, 2009; 51-50). ***On Feb. 14, 2006, Matt Braeuer beat Creighton with a three-pointer in overtime, 62-61. All three of those shots came with no time left.
***WSU has shot a combined 34.3% in its six true road games this year (.250 from three) and been outscored by 16.8 points. At home the Shockers are shooting .439 (.320) and outscoring foes by 5.3 points.
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ACCESS DENIED:
***
Jaime Echenique has blocked 18 shots in nine conference games -- tied with Tacko Fall (UCF) for the league lead.
***15 of Echeninique's team-high 31 blocks have come in the last six games. He had four in the Jan. 16 win over UCF and five in the Jan. 30 victory against SMU.
***Echenique has blocked at least one shot in 18 of the 21 games this year, including an active run of six-straight.
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MARKIS ON THE MARQUEE:
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Markis McDuffie (18.9 ppg) entered the week atop the conference scoring chart and No. 75 nationally.
***Just six Shockers have won conference scoring crowns and the last came 19 years ago. Jason Perez averaged an MVC-best 20.2 points in 2000.
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American Athletic Conference Scoring Leaders (as of 2/5/19):
18.9 –
Markis McDuffie (Wichita St.)
18.7 – Jarron Cumberland (Cincinnati)
18.5 – Jahmal McMurray (SMU)
18.4 – Shizz Alston Jr. (Temple)
18.3 – Jayden Gardner (ECU)
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GOOD AND TWENTY:
***In January, McDuffie enjoyed a run of four-straight 20-point games. Three of them came against Houston, Cincinnati and UCF -- the AAC's top-3 scoring defenses.
***McDuffie's nine total 20-point games this season are tied for third-most in the conference.
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American Athletic Conference Leaders – 20-point Performances (as of Feb. 5):
11 -- Â Jalen Adams (UConn)
11 -- Jarron Cumberland (Cincinnati)
9 --
Markis McDuffie (Wichita St.)
9 -- Shizz Alston Jr. (Temple)
8 -- Jayden Gardner (ECU)
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***McDuffie's nine 20-point games are third-most by a Shocker in the last 20 seasons. Only Cleanthony Early (10 in 2013-14) and Jason Perez (17 in 1999-00) have posted more in that span.
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1,000 FOR McDUFFIE (AND COUNTING):
***
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 1,419 points -- 16th all-time.
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McDuffie on WSU's All-Time Scoring List:
15. Fred VanVleet (2012-16) -- 1,439 (+190)
16. Jamie Thompson  1964-67) -- 1,359 (+110)
17. J.T. Durley 2007-11) -- 1,327 (+78)
18. Ron Harris 1969-72) -- 1,322 (+73)
19. Paul Miller 2001-06) -- 1,317 (+68)
20. P.J. Couisnard (2004-08) -- 1,303 (+54)
21. Warren Armstrong (1965-68) -- 1,301 (+52)
22. Joe Stevens (1955-58) -- 1,295 (+46)
23. Gus Santos (1983-87) -- 1,278 (+29)
24.
Markis McDuffie (2015-Pr.) -- 1,249
25. Paul Guffrovich (1987-91) -- 1,247Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
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MORE McDUFFIE MILESTONES:
***
Markis McDuffie is one steal shy of 100 for his career. He'd be just the 16th Shocker to do it.
***McDuffie needs 15 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 ranks 16th on WSU's all-time three-point field goal chart. He's on pace to eventually break into the top-10.
***McDuffie has hit at least one three-pointer in 12-straight games (a career-best). All-time, it's the 30th WSU streak of a dozen-or-more. If he extends it Wednesday, he'd be the 18th Shocker with a streak of 13-or-better.
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McDUFFIE A TRIPLE THREAT:
***McDuffie is sinking 2.43 threes-per-game. Just three Shockers have averaged more over a full season:
Landry Shamet (2.63 in 2018), Sean Ogirri (2.60 in 2006) and Maurice Evans (2.46 in 1999).
***McDuffie is on pace to end the regular season with 73 total triples, which would be the fifth-highest single-season total in school history.
***Each of the top-13 on WSU's career three-point field goal list are guards. McDuffie needs just three more to match Rob Kampman (130 from 2001-05) for the most by a non-guard.
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MATCHUP MASHUP:
***WSU and ECU have been the conference's worst shooting teams. The Shockers are shooting a league-low.413 from the field and rank 11th in three-point accuracy (.309). ECU is shooting .420 from the field (11th) and .261 from deep (12th).
***WSU has faced Joe Dooley one other time. Dooley's FGCU team pushed the Shockers at Charles Koch Arena, leading by seven points with 13:00 to go. WSU recovered to win 75-65.
***
Markis McDuffie,
Asbjørn Midtgaard and
Samajae Haynes-Jones are the only returning Shockers from last year's WSU-ECU meeting. They combined for 38 of the 200 minutes (19.0%).
***As a freshman at Hawaii, Isaac Fleming took a nationally-ranked Shocker team to the wire in the Diamond Head Classic. WSU survived in overtime on a last-second putback. Fleming scored 17 points off the bench and grabbed five rebounds before fouling out. He was 7-of-9 from the field and hit three triples.
***Expect a large cheering section for
Jamarius Burton. The WSU freshman's hometown, Charlotte, is roughly 250 miles to the west.
***ECU was one of four new American teams that WSU faced for the first time last year (along with USF, UCF and Tulane). The Pirates make their first-ever visit to Wichita in early March. It'll be senior night for McDuffie and
Samajae Haynes-Jones.
***Former Shocker Gabe Blair -- a starter on the 2011 NIT Championship team -- played his first two collegiate seasons at ECU before transferring to Wichita.
***
Gregg Marshall is 4-0 against ECU and 3-0 at Minges Coliseum (he swept a three-game series during his time at Winthrop).
***Wednesday's game is the last of six regular season trips to the east coast. In addition to ECU, UConn and USF, the Shockers also played non-conference contests in Annapolis, Md., Charleston, S.C. and Richmond, Va.
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SCOUTING ECU:
***The Pirates have a new captain. Last spring ECU re-hired Joe Dooley (who had previously led the program from 1995-99) as its head coach. Dooley was a 10-year assistant at Kansas under Bill Self (2003-13) before guiding FGCU to five-straight 20-win seasons ('13-18).
***Super freshman Jayden Gardner ranks fifth nationally in fouls drawn, per KenPom (7.8 per 40-minutes). He's the team's leading scorer (18.3) and rebounder (9.2). The latter ranks second on the conference chart.
***Gardner owns the only 20-20 game in The American this year. He had 35 points and 20 boards in Jan. 13 trip to UCF.
***Shawn Williams averages a team-high 34.2 minutes. He's 24-of-25 this year at the foul line (.960).
***Williams (36) and K.J. Davis (34) have hit 70 of ECU's 98 threes. No other Pirate has made more than 10.
***Isaac Fleming averages a team-best 3.6 assists.
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A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…
… make them 11-11 (4-6 American).
… match their season-best three-game win streak.
… be their first true road win this year (1-6).
… make them 2-0 all-time vs. ECU.
… make
Gregg Marshall 5-0 vs. ECU (2-0 vs. Dooley).
… move Marshall to within nine wins of 500 for his career (491-192) and within three of 300 at WSU.
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A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
… drop their record to 10-12 (3-7 American).
… make them 0-7 in true road games.
… make Marshall 3-1 vs. ECU (1-1 at WSU).
… tie the all-time series with ECU at 1-1.
… be less good than a win.
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UP NEXT:
***The Shockers are back home Saturday night to take on Tulane at Charles Koch Arena. The 7 p.m. CT tip airs nationally on ESPNU.
***WSU won the first-ever series meeting between the teams last February in Wichita.
***Single-game seats are still available, online at GoShockers.com/Tickets or through the Shocker Ticket Office at 316-978-FANS.
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