ECU (10-18, 3-13) at WICHITA STATE (15-13, 8-8)
TUESDAY, MAR. 5, 2019 | 8:05 P.M. CT
WICHITA, KAN. | CHARLES KOCH ARENA
TV: CBSSN
RADIO: KEYN 103.7 FM / GOSHOCKERS.com/LISTEN
SERIES: WSU LEADS 2-0 (FIRST IN WICHITA)
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>>> Winner of seven of its last nine, Wichita State plays host to the ECU Pirates Tuesday night at Charles Koch Arena in the final regular season home game. The 8 p.m. CT tip airs nationally on CBSSN.
>>> Tickets are still available, including $15 general admission seats, through the Shocker Ticket Office (316-978-FANS) or online at GoShockers.com/Tickets.
>>> Â Watch the game on CBS Sports Network with Brent Stover (pbp) and Bob Wenzel (analyst).
>>> 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 Dave Dahl tip things off at 7 p.m. with the INTRUST Bank Pregame Show.  Â
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OPENING TIPS:
***Both sides are playing on short rest following Sunday dates. ECU played just down the road at Tulsa. The Shockers were in Dallas.
***This is ECU's first-ever trip to Wichita. The Shockers are 2-0 against the Pirates all-time, winning each of the last two years in Greenville, N.C. On Feb. 6, WSU claimed a 65-49 victory at Minges Coliseum. Haynes-Jones made his first seven shots on his way to a game-high 18 points. The Shockers bested the Pirates 46-27 on the glass behind double-digit rebounding efforts from
Asbjørn Midtgaard (11 rebounds) and
Jaime Echenique (10).
***The Shockers reached the .500-mark in league play and took over sole possession of sixth-place with Sunday's 67-55 win at SMU. They're the first team in American history to win eight games after a 1-6 start. McDuffie scored 15 points to go with nine rebounds.
Jamarius Burton tallied 10 points and five assists.
Dexter Dennis scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half. WSU led by 13 at the break and by as many as 21 down the stretch.
***Two Shocker wins this week would lock up the No. 6 seed in next week's American Tournament and set up a first-round matchup with ECU next Thursday. WSU can finish no lower than eighth (its preseason projection) and the list of potential first round opponents is down to three: ECU, SMU or UConn.
***WSU is rebuilding this year behind 10 newcomers but has faced one of the nation's toughest schedules (No. 23, per NET and No. 30, per RPI). As of Monday, the Shockers had played a league-best 17 Quadrant I or II games, ahead of UConn (15) and Houston (15).
*** WSU will honor its two seniors,
Markis McDuffie and
Samajae Haynes-Jones, immediately after the game.
***McDuffie is tied for 16th on WSU's career scoring list (1,359 points) and tied for 10th in three-point field goals (141). He's been a key part of two conference title winners and three NCAA tournament teams. The 2016 MVC Freshman of the Year was a first team All-Valley pick as a sophomore when he led a 31-win Shocker team in both scoring and rebounding. A preseason foot injury cost him the first half of his junior season, but McDuffie has bounced back with an outstanding senior year. He's twice earned conference player of the week honors, and his 18.1 points-per-game scoring average is WSU's highest in nearly two decades.
***A Wichita East High School graduate, Haynes-Jones was a JUCO All-American and national champion at Hutchinson CC before returning home to play for the Shockers. He showed flashes in his first year (in a win over Savannah State he set a school record with 31 points off the bench), but as a senior Haynes-Jones has begun to fully harness his potential. The lightning-quick lefty is averaging 12.3 points in nearly 33 minutes and has delivered two game-winning buzzer-beaters. The last came Thursday when his running baseline jumper landed him the No. 1 spot on SportsCenter's top plays.
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SHOCKER SEEDING SCENARIOS:
***Wichita State will be seeded anywhere from sixth to eighth (its predicted preseason slot) in next week's American Athletic Conference Tournament, Mar. 14-17 at FedExForum in Memphis.
***WSU controls its own destiny for the No. 6 seed. If the Shockers win out against ECU and Tulane, they would lock in a first round matchup against ECU on Thursday, Mar. 14 (9 p.m. CT, ESPNU) with the winner moving on to face the No. 3 seed (currently UCF).
***A WSU win over either ECU or Tulane would guarantee no worse than a No. 7 seed for the Shockers (and a game in next Thursday's evening session). They own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Tulsa under any scenario. The Hurricane can finish no better than 9-9.
***USF owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over WSU, thanks to its win in Tampa earlier this year.
***WSU would win a three-way tiebreaker over USF and Tulsa, thanks to a 2-1 record against that grouping of teams. USF (1-1) would be the No. 7 seed and Tulsa (1-2) would drop to eighth.
***A Shocker win over ECU would lock the Pirates into the No. 11 seed. ECU can still move up to No. 10 with two wins this week, plus two UConn losses and at least one SMU win.
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Remaining Schedules:
6. Wichita State (8-8) -- ECU (Tue.), @ Tulane (Sat.)
7. Tulsa (8-9) -- @ Memphis (Sat.)
8. USF (7-9) -- @ Tulane (Wed.), SMU (Sun.)
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TRENDING:
***Since Jan. 27, WSU's seven wins are tied for second-most in the conference. Only co-leaders Cincinnati (8-1) and Houston (7-1) have posted a higher winning percentage in that span.
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Conference Records (Since Jan. 27):
8-1 – Cincinnati (14-2)
7-1 – Houston (14-2)
7-2 – Wichita State (8-8)
7-3 – UCF (12-4)
6-4 – Temple (11-5)
6-4 – Tulsa (8-9)
6-5 – Memphis (10-7)
4-5 – USF (7-9)
2-7 – UConn (5-11)
2-7 – ECU (3-13)
1-8 – SMU (5-11)
0-9 – Tulane (0-16)
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WHO'S HOT:
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Dexter Dennis has scored in double-figures in four of his last five games. Over that stretch he's averaging 13.0 points, 8.6 rebounds and shooting just under 53% from deep (18-of-34).
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Jamarius Burton is The American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week after averaging 10.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists in victories over UConn and SMU last week. He finished with a 5.00-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio... Burton is the league's freshman leader in assists (3.3) and A:TO ratio (1.79). The latter would be the highest ever by a Shocker true freshman (min. 3 APG). Burton 5+ assists in four-straight games and scored in double-figures in three-straight.
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Samajae Haynes-Jones averaged 12.5 points in two Shocker wins and nailed five three-pointers to earn a spot on the American Honor Roll for the second time.
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Jaime Echenique is the team's leading rebounder (5.9) and shot-blocker (1.57). He's swatted at least one shot in 13-straight games (longest since Antoine Carr's 24-gamer in 1983). Echenique has blocked a league-high 31 shots in conference play.
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Markis McDuffie (team-high 18.3 ppg) has scored at least eight points in every game and has topped 20 on 10 occasions. He'a tied for 16th on WSU's career scoring list (1,359) and tied with Fred VanVleet for 10th all-time triples chart (141). McDuffie has scored 506 points this year. He's just the fourth Marshall Era Shocker to make that mark, joining Cleanthony Early (2013 & 2014) and Ron Baker (2015).
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TRENDING:
***
Dexter Dennis has 130 rebounds -- most by a Shocker freshman under
Gregg Marshall.
***Dennis has scored in double-figures in four of the last five games after doing so just four times in the first 23 games of the season.
***Going back to the last ECU game, WSU has held six of its last seven opponents to 40%-or-less from the field. Foes are shooting a combined 36.9% in that span.
***Seniors
Markis McDuffie and
Samajae Haynes-Jones are the only Shockers who have started all 28 games this year. McDuffie is in line for his 61st career start and his 30th-consecutive. WSU is 45-8 (.849) at CKA with McDuffie on the floor -- 9-4 this year.
***10 different Shockers have taken a turn as leading rebounder this year.
***McDuffie has led the scoring in 17 of the 28 games.
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MARKIS ON THE MARQUEE:
***
Markis McDuffie (18.2 ppg) is one of five AAC players averaging 18+ points per game.
***McDuffie's average is the highest by a Marshall Era Shocker -- nearly two points better than Cleanthony Early (16.4) during his All-American senior season.
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American Athletic Conference Scoring Leaders (as of Mar. 4):
19.7 -- Jeremiah Martin (Memphis)
19.1 -- Shizz Alston Jr. (Temple)
18.6 -- Jarron Cumberland (Cincinnati)
18.1 -- Markis McDuffie (Wichita St.)
17.8 -- Jahmal McMurray (SMU)
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1,359 FOR McDUFFIE (AND COUNTING):
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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 1,399 points -- 16th all-time.
***McDuffie currently tied with Jamie Thompson for 16th on the list. A former Wichita East High School standout, Thompson helped WSU to the 1965 Final Four.
***McDuffie is 80 points shy of former teammate Fred VanVleet for 15th on the list.
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McDuffie on Wichita State's All-Time Scoring List:
13. Cliff Levingston (1979-82) -- 1,471 (+112)
14. Sasha Radunovich (1985-89) -- 1,463 (+104)
15. Fred VanVleet (2012-16) -- 1,439 (+80)
16. Jamie Thompson (1964-67) -- 1,359
16. Markis McDuffie (2015-Pr.) -- 1,359
18. J.T. Durley (2007-11) -- 1,327
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McDUFFIE A TRIPLE THREAT:
***McDuffie (140 career three-pointers) is tied for 10th on WSU's career list with Fred VanVleet. He needs just three more to catch Paul Guffrovich for ninth.
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McDuffie on Wichita State's All-Time 3-Point Field Goal Chart:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
7.
Landry Shamet (2015-18) – 159 (+18)
8. David Kyles (2008-12) – 153 (+12)
9. Paul Guffrovich (1987-91) – 144 (+3)
10. Fred VanVleet (2012-16) -- 141
10. Markis McDuffie (2015-Pr.) -- 141Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
12. Ryan Herrs (1992-96) -- 140Â
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THE SERIES WITH ECU:
***WSU is 2-0 all-time against ECU. Both meetings came in Greenville, N.C.
***ECU is the last of the American teams to visit Charles Koch Arena. After Saturday's game at Tulane, WSU will have also visited all 11 schools at least once.
***
Gregg Marshall is 5-0 vs. ECU. His teams swept three non-conference meetings with ECU in the mid-2000s. Marshall is 4-0 at Minges Coliseum (2-0 at WSU, 2-0 at Winthrop).
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Feb. 6, 2019 | Greenville, N.C. | WSU, 65-49
***
Samajae Haynes-Jones hit his first seven shots on his way to a team-high 18 points, and WSU outrebounded ECU by 19 to pick up its first true road win.
***Haynes-Jones finished 7-of-9 from the field (2-of-2 from three) and hit both free throw attempts.
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Markis McDuffie added 14 points and two steals, becoming the 16th player in program history with 100 career steals. It was his 20th double-figure scoring game of the season.
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Asbjørn Midtgaard grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds (five of them on the offensive end) to go with six points, and
Jaime Echenique just missed a double-double with eight points and 10 boards.
***The Shockers won despite shooting just 39.7% thanks to a gritty defensive effort. They held ECU (9-13, 2-8) to 34.6% and outrebounded the host Pirates, 46-27. The +19 margin was WSU's largest of the year.
***WSU had lost its first six true road games this year. Wednesday's road victory was the program's 50th in the last six seasons.
***The Shockers led 34-20 at halftime and extended the margin to as many as 21 points late in the second half to improve to 2-0 all-time against ECU. The Pirates make their first-ever visit to Wichita in early March.
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Jan. 11, 2018 | Greenville, N.C. | #5 WSU 95, ECU 60
***WSU used its superior depth and a full-court press to wear down shorthanded ECU and win its 10th-straight true road game.
***
Landry Shamet recorded the first double-double of his career, pairing 11 points with a career-high 11 assists (while committing just one turnover).
***WSU's 32 assists (on 38 field goals) was a Marshall Era best and a new AAC record (con-ference games only).
***
Rauno Nurger led the scoring with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, followed closely by
Markis McDuffie (12),
Shaquille Morris (12) and Shamet (11).
***WSU shot 59.4% from the field, including 70% (21-of-30) in the second half. The Shockers tallied 50 points in the paint and outrebounded the Pirates 40-26.
***WSU trailed 14-9 after eight minutes but outscored ECU 36-9 over the remainder of the half.
***A 45-23 halftime lead grew to 30 less than four minutes into the second stanza and to as many as 41 late.
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MATCHUP MASHUP:
***
Jamarius Burton is a Charlotte, N.C. native who led Independence High to the Class 4A state title last spring.
***ECU freshman Tae Hardy is a former prep school teammate of current WSU freshman
Dexter Dennis. The two played together last year at Believe Academy under new Shocker assistant
Tyson Waterman.
***Rebounding has carried the Shockers in their last two encounters with ECU. They were +14 in last year's meeting and +19 in the Feb. 6 matchup.
***It's ECU's first trip to the Roundhouse, but not Joe Dooley's. Last season Dooley's Florida Gulf Coast team pushed the 11th-ranked Shockers, leading by seven points with 13:00 to go. WSU recovered to win 75-65.
***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.
***Former Shocker Gabe Blair – a starter on the 2011 NIT Championship team – played his first two collegiate seasons at ECU before transferring to Wichita.
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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).
***ECU ranks among the top-50 nationally in steals-per-game (7.7). The Pirates had seven in the first encounter with WSU.
***Freshman forward Jayden Gardner is the team's leading scorer (16.9 ppg). He ranks 14th nationally in free throw attempts (218) and 18th in makes (165). Both are tops among American Athletic Conference players and the highest marks of any freshman in Division I basketball. He's also high on the national leaderboard for offensive rebounds (32nd, 3.11), rebounds (59th, 8.6) and double-doubles (46th, 10).
***Gardner owns the only 20-20 game in The American this year. He had 35 points and 20 boards in the Jan. 13 trip to UCF.
***ECU is averaging 5.0 threes-per-game (346th out of 351 D-I schools) on 28.1 percent shooting (347th). Shawn Williams (a .363 shooter) has hit 61 of the team's 140 treys. K.J. Davis has 43. The rest of the squad has combined for just 36.
***Williams averages a team-high 34.5 minutes – fourth on the league-leaderboard.
***Isaac Fleming leads the team in steals (47) and assists (103).
***ECU grabbed a signature home win against Cincinnati on Jan. 5 but has dropped 12-of-14 since. Its only wins in that stretch have come against Tulane, though two other games (at USF and home vs. Tulsa) went to OT.
***ECU is 1-10 on the road this year, with a Feb. 23 win at Tulane.
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A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…
… make them 16-13 with wins in 8 of their last 10.
… make them 9-8 in American play after a 1-6 start.
… guarantee no worse than a No. 7 seed (and an evening game) in next week's conference tourney.
… make them 11-4 at home (10-4 at CKA).
… lift them to three games over .500 for the first time since Dec. 19 (7-4 after a home win over ORU).
… make them 3-0 against ECU all-time.
… give them their third home-and-home sweep (Tulsa, SMU, ECU) with a chance at a fourth at Tulane.
… move
Gregg Marshall to within four wins of 500.
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A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
… drop their record to 15-14 (8-9 American).
… be just their third loss since Jan. 27
… give ECU a split of the season series.
… narrow WSU's all-time lead to 2-1.
… make senior night a heck of a lot less fun.
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UP NEXT:Â Saturday at Tulane (7:30 p.m., CBSSN)Â Â
WSU wraps up the regular season in New Orleans. It's the Shockers first-ever visit to Tulane. They defeated the Green Wave earlier this month in Wichita and lead the all-time series 2-0.
Dexter Dennis is the first Louisiana native to play for the Shockers. His hometown (Baker) is less than 100 miles away.
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