[6] WICHITA STATE (19-14) at [3] FURMAN (25-7)
NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT | FIRST ROUND
WED., MAR. 20, 2019 | 6:01 P.M. CT (7:01 ET)
GREENVILLE, S.C. / TIMMONS ARENA
TV: ESPN3
RADIO: KEYN 103.7 FM
SERIES: FIRST MEETING
 
>>> Wichita State makes its 13th National Invitation Tournament appearance and first since winning the 2011 title.
>>> The sixth-seeded Shockers travel to Greenville, S.C. on Wednesday for a first round date with No. 3 seed Furman. Tipoff is set for 6:01 p.m. CT.
>>> Watch the game on ESPN3 with Drew Felios (pbp) and Nate Ross (analyst).
>>> Listen on KEYN 103.7 FM. Mike Kennedy, now in his 39th season as "Voice of the Shockers," is joined by Bob Hull. Coverage begins an hour before tipoff with the INTRUST Bank Pregame Show.
 

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OPENING TIPS:
***A Shocker win means a second round date at No. 2 Clemson or a home game against No. 7 Wright State (depending on which advances). Dates are TBA.
***Marshall is in search of his 500th career win. He's 499-195 (.719) in 21 seasons, including 305-112 in 12 years at WSU (.731).
***17 of Marshall's career victories have come in postseason play, boosted by the 2011 NIT title and a 2013 Final Four run. This is WSU's 11th consecutive postseason appearance. The streak began with a 2009 CBI bid and continued with NIT's in 2010 and 2011, followed by a run of seven-consecutive NCAA tournaments.
***Reaching No. 500 in South Carolina would be significant for Marshall. He coached his first nine seasons at Winthrop University in Rock Hill.
***Marshall's only encounter with Furman was also career victory No. 3 (Nov. 23, 1998) during his first season at Winthrop. Shocker assistant Tyson Waterman was the starting point guard in a 60-59 home victory. WSU has never faced the Paladins.
***A win over Furman would also push WSU to the 20-win mark for the 10th straight season.
*** The Shockers went 2-1 at last weekend's AAC Tournament in Memphis, defeating ECU and Temple before falling to No. 24 Cincinnati in Saturday's semifinal round. Markis McDuffie averaged 22.3 points over three games and drained 31-of-33 free throw attempts (.939) to earn all-tournament status. He scored a career-high 34 points in the quarterfinal win over Temple.
***Streaks of nine-staight 25-wins seasons and seven-consecutive NCAA tournaments are over, but reaching the NIT is an impressive achievement for the 2019 Shockers. They entered the year as one of the nation's least-experienced units (10 newcomers; just 11.2% of minutes returning). McDuffie is the only active Shocker who has played in a postseason game at the D-I level.
***The rebuilding Shockers were 8-11 in late January (1-6 in conference) before winning 11 of their last 14 games down the stretch.
***WSU played 10 of its 33 regular season games against NCAA tournament teams, defeating Baylor and UCF at home and Temple on a neutral floor. Eleven of the Shockers' 14 losses came to teams that qualified for the NCAA or NIT.
***A second team All-AAC pick, McDuffie's 18.3 points-per-game is the highest Shocker scoring average under Marshall.  He ranks 15th on WSU's all-time scoring list (1,463).
***Guard Dexter Dennis (8.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 38.6% 3pt) was named to The American's all-freshman team.
 

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PLAYING FOR 'JB':
***Shocker players sported "JB" patches on their jerseys last weekend in honor of John Bardo, who passed away Mar. 12 at age 70. Bardo, the university's president since 2012, had been battling a chronic lung condition.
 
THE AMERICAN IN THE POSTSEASON:
***Seven American Athletic Conference teams qualified for postseason play.
***Four teams earned NCAA Tournament bids: Houston (3), Cincinnati (7), UCF (9) and Temple (11).
***Regular season champion Houston is fourth in the NCAA's NET rankings and finished 11th in the final AP Poll. Tournament champ Cincinnati is No. 22 in the latest AP Poll and No. 25 in NET.
***WSU and Memphis made the NIT. Memphis – seeded third – hosts San Diego on Tuesday night.
***USF accepted a bid to play in the CBI.
***In 2018, three AAC teams played in the NCAA Tournament. Cincinnati earned a No. 2 seed, WSU was No. 4 and Houston claimed a No. 6 seed. All three teams finished the season nationally-ranked.
***The American's best finish came in its first year – 2014 – when UConn won the national championship.
 
MATCHUP MASHUP:
***Gregg Marshall's lone meeting with Furman came in his third game as a collegiate head coach on Nov. 23, 1998. 2-0 Winthrop defeated 2-0 Furman, 60-59, at Winthrop Coliseum. It was the first 3-0 start in program history. Current Shocker assistant Tyson Waterman scored a game-high 10 points. He hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 5:00 left and knocked down four free throws down the stretch to help the Eagles hang on.
***Three games in November's Charleston Classic marked the first time that a WSU team had played in South Carolina. Four months later, the Shockers are back in the Palmetto State for a date with Furman. A win could potentially lead to a third trip, just down the road at No. 2 seed Clemson (Clemson, S.C.).
***WSU has already won a game in Greenville this year – Greenville, N.C. that is. Home of the American Athletic Conference's ECU Pirates. The two Greenvilles are roughly 400 miles apart.
***This is the Shockers' seventh trip (and 10th game) on the east coast this year. In addition to American Athletic Conference contests at USF (Tampa, Fla.), UConn (Storrs, Conn.) and ECU (Greenville, N.C.), WSU played three games at the Charleston Classic (Charleston, S.C.), a neutral site contest in Annapolis, Md., and a road game at VCU (Richmond, Va.).
***Former Shocker assistant Steve Forbes is head coach at Furman's SoCon rival ETSU. Prior to taking the job, Forbes spent two years under Marshall (2013-15) and helped WSU to a 65-6 record.
 
TRENDING:
***WSU has held 11 of its last 13 opponents to 40% or less from the field. Foes are shooting a combined .394 in that span.
***The Shockers have shot less than 40% themselves in 17 of their 33 games this year. They're a respectable 8-9 in those games. Last year they failed to top 40% on just two occasions.
***WSU shot 65.6% from the foul line in non-conference games (289th nationally). Since Jan. 1, WSU is shooting 76.9% at the line. For perspective, just 14 Division I teams shot 77% or higher during the regular season.
 
WICHITA STATE IN THE NIT:
***This is Wichita State's 13th NIT appearance.
***The Shockers are 8-11 all-time in the NIT, with five of those wins coming in their last appearance (2011) en route to the championship.
***The 2011 Shockers won five games by an average margin of 15.4 points.
***WSU is 3-9 in NIT openers, but has won 2-of-3.
***WSU is 1-4 in NIT road games with the lone victory coming in overtime at Virginia Tech in the second round of the 2011 tourney.
***Gregg Marshall is coaching in his third NIT (2009, 2010, 2011), tying Ralph Miller (1954, 1962, 1963) and Mark Turgeon (2003, 2004, 2005) for the most in Shocker history.
 
RULES MODIFICATIONS IN THE 2019 NIT:
***The 2019 NIT will use four experimental rules. The first three were also incorporated into the 2018 NIT:
***The 3-point line will be extended by approximately 1 foot, 8 inches to the same distance used by FIBA for international competition (22 feet, 1.75 inches).
***The free throw lane will be widened from 12 feet to 16 feet, consistent with the width used by the NBA.
***The shot clock will reset to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound instead of the full 30 seconds.
***Team fouls will reset at the 10-minute mark of each half for the purpose of determining free throws and one-and-one free throws will be eliminated.  Teams will shoot two bonus free throws after the fifth team foul of each 10-minute segment.  Additionally, teams will be awarded two bonus free throws after the second team foul committed under two minutes re-maining in each half if that foul occurs before the fifth team foul of the segment. In each over-time period, team fouls will reset, and teams will shoot two free throws beginning with the fourth team foul or the second team foul committed under two minutes remaining if that comes before the fourth team foul of the overtime period.
 
AMERICAN TOURNAMENT LEFTOVERS:
***Markis McDuffie set tournament records for free throws (31), attempts (33) and percentage (.939). He matched his career-high with 11 free throws in the first round, then broke it the following night against Temple with a 12-for-13 effort. He was 8-for-8 (all in the first half) against Cincinnati.
***WSU's 59 free throws over the three games tied SMU's team mark. The Shockers shot 83.1%.
***McDuffie averaged 22.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and posted a team-high four steals to make the all-tournament team.
***McDuffie's best game was a 34-point, 12-rebound effort against Temple in the semifinals. It was his first double-double of the year and the most points by a Shocker in a conference tournament play since Xavier McDaniel in the 1985 MVC Tournament Championship.
***Dexter Dennis averaged 12.0 points and 7.0 rebounds, lifted by a 19-point, 12-rebound statline in the quarterfinal win over Temple. It was his second double-double of the season and matched his career scoring high from earlier this year against Alabama.
 The Shockers failed to top 40% from the field in any of the three games but held all three of their opponents less than 40%, as well.
 
MILESTONES:
***Markis McDuffie (603 total points this year) is just the eighth Shocker to score 600+ points in a season. He's currrently seventh on WSU's single-season list.
 
Shockers with 600+ Points in a Season:
1. Xavier McDaniel (1984-85) -- 844
2. Dave Stallworth (1963-64) -- 769
3. Maurice Evans (1998-99) -- 632
4. Xavier McDaniel (1983-84) -- 619
5. Cliff Levingston (1980-81) -- 612
6. Dave Stallworth (1962-63) -- 609
7. Markis McDuffie (2018-19) -- 603
8. Cheese Johnson (1978-79) -- 600
 
***McDuffie has attempted a school-record 213 three-point field goals this year. He broke Ron Baker's mark (209 in 2014-15) last Saturday vs. Cincinnati.
***Samajae Haynes-Jones (198) is also closing in on the 200 attempt plateau. Prior to this season, only two others Shockers had taken that many in a year. Baker and Sean Ogirri (206 in 2005-06).
 
Single-Season 3-Point Field Goal Attempts:
1. Markis McDuffie (2018-19) -- 213
2. Ron Baker (2014-15) -- 209
3. Sean Ogirri (2005-06) -- 206
4. Samajae Haynes-Jones (2018-19) -- 198
 
***McDuffie's 74 three-point field goals are fifth on WSU's season chart. His next three will tie him with David Kyles (2010-11) for fourth.
 
Single-Season 3-Point Field Goals Made:
1. Sean Ogirri (2005-06) -- 91
2. Landry Shamet (2017-18) -- 84
3. Ron Baker (2014-15) -- 80
4. David Kyles (2010-11) -- 75
5. Markis McDuffie (2018-19) -- 149
 
***McDuffie has made 149 free throws this year. That total is seventh on WSU's single-season list. McDuffie needs just three more to match Jamar Howard (2003-04) for what is essentially the modern free throw record (1972-73 to present).
 
Single-Season Free Throw Attempts:
1. Cleo Littleton (1954-55) -- 220
2. Dave Stallworth (1963-64) -- 203
3. Dave Stallworth (1962-63) -- 165
4. Cleo Littleton (1952-53) -- 155
5. Jamar Howard (2003-04) -- 152
6. Cleanthony Early (2013-14) -- 151
7. Markis McDuffie (2018-19) -- 149
 
***McDuffie (1,456 career points) ranks 15th on WSU's all-time scoring list. He needs just seven more to catch Sasha Radunovich for 14th and is 15 points behind Cliff Levingston for 13th.
 
McDuffie on WSU's All-Time Scoring List:
12. Toure' Murry (2008-12) -- 1,539
13. Cliff Levingston (1979-82) -- 1,471
14. Sasha Radunovich (1985-89) -- 1,463
15. Markis McDuffie (2015-Pr.) -- 1,456        
16. Fred VanVleet (2012-16) -- 1,439
 
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SCOUTING FURMAN:
***Furman (25-7) ended the regular season with a NET rating of 41. The Paladins finished third in the Southern Conference regular season and reached the semifinals in the SoCon Tournament before bowing to UNC Greensboro.
***This is their second NIT appearance and first since 1991. Furman made back-to-back CIT's in 2016 and 2017, reaching the semifinals in the latter.
***Leading scorer and rebounder Matt Rafferty (17.2 pgg, 9.1 rpg) has 16 double-doubles and is shooting 61.7 percent from the field. He also has 79 steals.
***Alex Hunter ranks 15th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.86).
***Just 10 Division I players have taken more threes this year than Jordan Lyons (293).
***Furman ranks among the national team leaders in steals (13th, 8.80, three-point field goals (15th, 10.3), scoring margin (18th, +12.1) and field goal percentage (34th, .476). Just six teams are committing fewer fouls on a per-game basis (14.5).
 

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A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…
… move them into the second round for either a road game at No. 2 seed Clemson or a home matchup with No. 7 Wright State. Dates TBA.
… give Gregg Marshall his 500th career win (500-195, .719 in 21 seasons).
… give them 20-wins for the 10th-straight year and for the 21st time in school history.
… give Marshall 20-wins for the 16th time in his 21 seasons as a head coach.
… make them 20-14 with wins in 12 of their last 15.
… give them six-straight NIT wins.
…make WSU 9-11 in NIT games (4-9 in openers).
…make WSU 17-9 in postseason play under Marshall.
…make them 5-7 this year in true road games with wins in five of their last six.
… make them 1-0 all-time vs. Furman.
… make Marshall 2-0 all-time vs. Furman.
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
… end their season at 19-15.
… give them consecutive losses for the first time since late January.
… be their first NIT loss since 2010, snapping a five-game streak from their 2011 run.
… make them 0-1 all-time vs. Furman.
… make Marshall 1-1 all-time vs. Furman.
… sink them to 8-12 all-time in NIT games.
… be their 10th one-and-done in 13 NIT trips.
… be less good than a win.