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Shockers Open Conference Play Tuesday at Tulsa

12/14/2020 5:28:00 PM

WICHITA STATE (1-2, 0-0) at TULSA (1-2, 0-0)
TUESDAY, DEC. 15, 2020 | 6:01 P.M. CT
TULSA, OKLA. / REYNOLDS CENTER
TV: ESPNU
RADIO: KEYN 103.7 FM
SERIES: WSU leads 70-62 (29-36 in Tulsa)
LAST MEETING: Mar. 8, 2020 in Wichita (WSU, 79-57)
 
TICKETS:
Tulsa home games are closed to fans due to COVID-19.
 
#WATCHUS:
The game will air on ESPNU with Ted Emrich and Bryndon Manzer on the call. ESPNU subscribers can stream live and on demand via the ESPN App.
 
SHOCKER RADIO:
Listen live on KEYN 103.7 FM and online at GoShockers.com/Listen with Mike Kennedy (pbp) and Bob Hull(analyst). Kennedy is in his 41st season as Voice of the Shockers and will call his 1,262nd-consecutive game (not including exhibitions).
 
THE ISAAC BROWN SHOW:
Join Kennedy and interim head coach Isaac Brown LIVE from 6-7 p.m. every Monday throughout the season at A.J.'s Sports Grill at The Alley, or listen to the show on KFH (97.5 FM / 1240 AM). The show is rebroadcast in a television format Mondays at 9 p.m. on Yurview (Cox HD 2022 in Kansas and online everywhere at YurView.com/Kansas. Next Show: Dec. 28.
 
 
OPENING TIPS:
  • Wichita State begins American Athletic Conference play Tuesday evening on the road at Tulsa.
  • WSU fell to 1-2 with a 67-64 home loss to Oklahoma State on Saturday. OSU preseason All-American Cade Cunningham hit a three with 9.9 seconds left.
  • Shocker sophomore Tyson Etienne scored 19 points against OSU and earned AAC Honor Roll status for the second straight week. Etienne is averaging a team-best 19.7 points and 3.0 threes. He scored a career-high 26 points against Oral Roberts in the Dec. 2 opener.
  • WSU defeated ORU, 85-80, but has dropped back-to-back games against teams that are a combined 11-0. Missouri made its AP top-25 debut this week at No. 16, and OSU was among the top-30 vote-getters.
  • The Shockers are 1-2 for only the second time in 13 seasons. The 2018-19 team started 1-2 (and eventually 8-11) before rallying to win 14 of their last 18 contests. 
  • WSU's last 1-3 start came during the 1998-99 season.
  • Tulsa is also 1-2 with losses to TCU and South Carolina at the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City. The Hurricanes defeated UT Arlington at home on Dec. 4 (79-64) but haven't seen action since. Games against Arkansas (Dec. 8) and ORU (Dec. 12) were canceled.
  • WSU is tabbed seventh in the AAC preseason poll -- one slot behind Tulsa.
  • This is meeting No. 133 all-time between the schools. 
  • They split last year with both sides defending home court. Tulsa won on an Elijah Joiner buzzer, 54-51, on Feb. 1. WSU won the Mar. 8 rematch, 79-57, to deny Tulsa the outright AAC title.
  • For fans of trivial trivia: WSU and Tulsa have been contemporaries for 55 years in the AAC and MVC. This is only the second time they've squared off in a conference opener. WSU lost at Tulsa to tip off the 1980-81 MVC season but went on to win the title at 12-4 and eventually played in the Elite Eight. By contrast, last March was the pair's 12th regular season finale.
  • This is WSU's earliest conference opener in 16 years. On Dec. 8, 2004, the Shockers tipped off MVC play with a 75-53 win at Drake.
  • The Shockers play their first two AAC games on the road  (Dec. 22 at USF) and close with a two-game swing through Tulane and Temple.
  • In between, WSU added a 25th game to its schedule this week -- Friday at home against Emporia State. The 6 p.m. CT tipoff will air on ESPN+.
 
 
YIN-AND-YANG:
  • The Shockers entered the week ranked 13th nationally in fewest turnovers (9.7). They committed a season-high 12 against OSU but just three after halftime.
  • On the flip side, WSU ranks among the bottom-30 in assists-per-game (10.0). 
  • WSU is 36th in fewest fouls (15.0). Foes average just 18.0.
  • WSU is averaging an AAC-best 15.0 offensive rebounds and are fourth by percentage. The defensive glass has been another story. The Shockers .649 defensive rebounding percentage is ninth out of 10 teams on the league leaderboard.
  • WSU has been out-rebounded in all three games so far.
  • Dexter Dennis has mixed feelings about the Reynolds Center. He was 6-of-9 from three there as a freshman but just 1-for-7 last year.
  • Alterique Gilbert has scored in double-figures in all three games as a Shocker. He's averaging 10.7 points in the first half compared to 4.3 points after halftime.
 
POWERED BY TYSON:
  • Entering the week, only two AAC players were averaging more points-per-game than Tyson Etienne (19.7): SMU's Kendric Davis (21.2) and ECU's Jayden Gardner (20.2).
  • Etienne is 16-of-18 at the foul line (.889) after hitting an even 80 percent as a freshman.
  • Saturday's game against OSU was sophomore Tyson Etienne's 34th in a Shocker uniform. His 71 three-pointers are the most ever by a WSU player at that stage, ahead of Chad Elstun (68), Aaron Hogg (67) and Landry Shamet (67).
 
GOING THE FULL 40:
  • Isaac Brown wants a full 40-minute effort out of his team. They've been very good in spots and very not-so-good in others.
  • Add up the first 10 minutes of each half and Missouri outscored Wichita State, 38-16. The Shockers fared much better after the midway point, out-producing Mizzou 46-34 over the final 10:00 of the first and second halves.
  • Against OSU, the Shockers were out-rebounded by 12 in the first half and did not have an offensive rebound. They committed nine turnovers to OSU's five… After halftime, WSU was +1 on the glass with eight offensive rebounds leading to 13 second-chance points. They committed just three more turnovers and forced 10.
  • WSU trailed ORU by as many as nine points early in the second half. Tyson Etienne exploded for 17 points in a span of less than six minutes to put the Shockers back in front. 
 
DEXTER's DEFENSE:
  • Junior guard Dexter Dennis has been guarding opposing teams' top scorers for the better part of three seasons now. This year he's already faced a pair of potential NBA Draft picks in Mizzou's Xavier Pinson and Oklahoma State's Cade Cunningham. Dennis held both well below their season averages.
  • Pinson scored just three points in 29 minutes. He was1-of-13 from the field, including 0-for-7 from three.
  • Cunningham came in averaging over 20 points but finished with 10 points on 11 shots.
 
ROAD WARRIORS:
  • WSU has been one the nation's best road teams over the last decade. Its .757 road winning percentage sicne the start of the 2010-11 season trails only to Gonzaga.
  • The Shockers have won 11 of their last 16 in enemy territory going back to February, 2019.
 
 
SCOUTING TULSA:
  • Tulsa was AAC tri-champion in 2019-20 after being picked 10th in last year's preseason poll. 
  • The coaches picked them sixth this year – one slot ahead of WSU.
  • Now in his seventh year at Tulsa, Frank Haith is the reigning AAC coach of the year.
  • WSU cost the Golden Hurricane an outright title last year with its 79-57 victory on the final day of the regular season. Tulsa would have been the three seed in the AAC tournament.
  • Opponents shot less than 30 percent from three against Tulsa and its matchup zone defense last season. That figure ranked among the top-30 nationally.
  • Tulsa lost its leading scorer to graduation -- 6-8 Martins Igbanu – and three others to transfer. Igbanu averaged 13.4 points and shot close to 200 free throws.
  • Brandon Rachal, a 6-5 senior guard, is the team's top returner. He's averaging a team-high 17.8 points (up from 12.1 last year).
  • Tulsa also has a pair of seniors in the backcourt in Darien Jackson (7.0 pts, 5.0 reb and team-high 3.7 assists) and Elijah Joiner (11.7 pts and a team-high 7.0 rebounds).
  • Opponents have averaged 10 threes on 39.5 percent accuracy against Tulsa this year.
  • Tulsa is shooting just 27.6 percent from three but close to 50 percent inside the arc (54-of-112, .482).
 
 
MATCHUP MASHUP:
  • Tulsa's Brandon Rachal played two seasons at Pearl River CC, the same program that produced former Shocker forward Darral Willis Jr. (2016-18). Isaac Brown got his coaching start there (1997-99).
  • Joiner hit 22 threes last year. Five of them came against WSU in the Feb. 1 game at Tulsa.
  • In 12 of Tulsa's 13 AAC wins last year, the Golden Hurricane held their opponent to 61 points or less. In five league losses, Tulsa surrendered 75, 72, 83, 76 & 79.
  • Over the last two seasons, the Shockers are 22-1 when scoring at least 65 points and 1-9 when scoring less than 65. They lost an 80-79 game against Cincinnati last February and won 54-41 at USF last January.
  • Tulsa senior Darien Jackson led Blue Valley Northwest High School to a 6A state title at WSU's Charles Koch Arena during his senior year (2017).

THE SERIES WITH TULSA:
  • Wichita State and Tulsa square off for the 133rd time since 1931. 
  • Tulsa is WSU's third-most-played opponent behind Drake (151) and Bradley (142). 
  • The teams have met in each of the last 11 seasons going back to 2010.
  • The Shockers lead the series, 70-62 and have won 12 of 14. They're 4-1 in the AAC era.
  • Isaac Brown becomes the 15th different head coach to lead the Shockers into battle against Tulsa 
  • WSU is 7-2 against Frank Haith (who is coach No. 19 on the Tulsa side, in case you were wondering).
  • The Shockers swept the 2018-19 series, coming from behind in the last 10 minutes to win in Wichita. 18 days later at Tulsa they never trailed, jumping to a 14-point halftime lead en route to a 21-point win. Dexter Dennis hit six threes to lead the charge.
  • WSU also swept the season series in 2017-18 – its first in the AAC. In the first meeting (Jan. 13, 2018) Tulsa had a three-pointer in the air ahead of the final buzzer that would have forced overtime, but the fifth-ranked shockers survived, 72-69. WSU won the rematch in Wichita, 90-71, with 28 assists.
  • The teams have met 65 times in Tulsa. The Shockers have a losing record there but are 5-4 at the Reynolds Center (currently in its 22nd season). 
 
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...
... make them 2-2.
... make them 1-0 in AAC play for the third time in four years.
... make them 6-1 vs. Tulsa in the AAC era (3-1 road).
... up their all-time series lead to 71-62 (6-4 at Reynolds Center and 30-36 overall in Tulsa).
... be their 14th in the last 16 tries against Tulsa going back to 2003.
... make them 88-28 on the road since the start of the 2010-11 season.
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...
... drop them to 1-3 for the first time since the 1998-99 season.
... be their third-straight.
... slice their all-time series lead with Tulsa to 70-63.
... make them 29-37 in Tulsa (5-5 at Reynolds Center).
... be just their third in 16 tries against Tulsa since '03.
... be less good than a win.
 
 
UP NEXT:
The Shockers have added a Friday home game against Emporia State (6 p.m. CT, ESPN+).
 
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