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Jaime Echenique

Shockers Face Tough Road Challenge at SMU

2/29/2020 12:10:00 AM

WICHITA STATE (21-7, 9-6) at SMU (19-8, 9-6)
SUNDAY, MAR. 1, 2020 | 3:05 P.M. CT
DALLAS, TEXAS | MOODY COLISEUM (7,000)
TV: ESPNU (WatchESPN)
RADIO: KEYN 103.7 FM (GoShockers.com/Listen)
SERIES: WSU leads 7-6 (2-4 in Dallas)
LAST: Mar. 3, 2019 in Dallas (WSU, 67-55)
 
The Wichita State Shockers (21-7, 9-6) meet the SMU Mustangs (19-8, 9-6) Sunday afternoon at Moody Coliseum in a game with heavy postseason implications.
 
Thursday's matchup airs nationally on ESPNU with streaming available through the ESPN App, accessible on computer, smart phones, tablets and devices to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider. Ted Emrich and Sean Harrington have the call.
 
Mike Kennedy and Bob Hull describe the action on KEYN 103.7 FM and online at goshockers.com/listen. Kennedy, who is now in his 40th year as Voice of the Shockers, will call is 1,256th consecutive game (not including exhibitions).
 

OPENING TIPS:
  • WSU and SMU enter the weekend tied for fourth-place in the American Athletic Conference standings with three games to play. The top-four seeds earn a first-round bye in the conference tournament.
  • Sunday's matchup qualifies for Quadrant II status on WSU's team sheet. The Shockers are a solid 8-7 in Q-I and Q-II games and a perfect 13-0 in Q-III/IV contests.
  • This is the only regular season meeting between the teams. WSU has won three of the four games in the American Era, including both visits to Moody Coliseum.
  • The Shockers came from behind to beat Temple on Thursday night, 72-69, in a game that featured 14 lead changes. WSU used an 11-1 run to erase a seven-point deficit with 4:00 to play. Trey Wade scored a season-high 21 points, Jamarius Burton paired 15 points with six assists and Jaime Echenique notched his sixth double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. WSU's 50% shooting night was its best since Dec. 29.
  • SMU is 15-1 at Moody Coliseum this year and is looking to finish out a perfect home conference slate.
  • The Shockers are 4-4 this year in true road games and 95-54 in 13 seasons under Gregg Marshall.
  • WSU ranks ninth nationally in defensive efficiency, per KenPom, and will look to slow an SMU team that rates 19th in offensive efficiency. The Mustangs are the conference's highest-scoring team (74.4 points) despite playing at one of the nation's slowest paces (No. 323 out of 353 teams in KenPom's adjusted tempo).
  • WSU (22nd, .391) ranks among the national leaders in field goal percentage defense.  The Shockers have held 20 of their 28 opponents under 40% and 10 of them to less than 60 points.
  • WSU is 16-2 when it makes at least 40% from the field and a perfect 15-0 when outshooting its opponent. SMU is 12-0 when holding its opponent under 40%.
  • With a Sunday victory, the Shockers would match their 2018-19 win total (22) and join Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas as the only programs that have won at least 22 games in every season since 2010.
 

A NIGHT OUT WITHOUT THE KIDS:
  • Thursday night against Temple, WSU rolled out a starting five with three sophomores, a junior and senior. It was the first time since the 2018 NCAA tournament that Gregg Marshall has opened a game without at least one freshman on the court. The Shockers had started a freshman in 64-straight games going back to the 2018-19 season opener.
  • During that almost two-year stretch the Shockers played freshman-free for a combined 15 minutes.
  • Thursday night, the group of Burton-Stevenson-Dennis-Wade-Echenique (WSU's eighth different starting lineup this season) played 17 minutes together and finished +7.
 

WORTH THE WADE:
  • Gregg Marshall's decision to return Trey Wade to the starting lineup on Thursday turned out to be a good one. The junior forward scored 18 first-half points and 21 overall in a victory over Temple while playing a career-high 34 minutes.
  • During non-conference play Wade was a 37% three-point shooter and the team's leading rebounder, but lost his starting spot after 23 games. In the aftermath, Marshall urged the struggling Wade to focus on bringing energy and doing the little things  -- areas where he exceled early in the season.  Wade took that advice to heart and his improved play in practice and in recent games against USF and Cincinnati were enough to convince Marshall to give him another shot in the lineup.
  • Wade's 21 points against Temple matched his combined total from the five previous games. It was his first double-figure scoring games since Jan. 25 and just his third against a conference foe. Wade had been 5-for-25 from three in AAC play coming into the night but knocked down 4-of-5 against the Owls.
 

 TRENDING:
  • Over the past five games, five different Shockers have topped 20 points: Erik Stevenson (27 at UCF), Dexter Dennis (21 vs. Tulane), Tyson Etienne (20 vs. Tulane), Jaime Echenique (20 vs. USF) and now Trey Wade (21 vs. Temple).
  • The Shockers are 14-1 when they make at least a third of their three-point attempts.
  • WSU is shooting 11 percentage points better from three in home games (.363) than on the road (.262).
  • Four of the Shockers' eight February games were decided by three-points in either direction. Three of them were losses. After heartbreakers on Feb. 1 at Tulsa (54-51), Feb. 6 against Cincinnati (80-79) and Feb. 23 at Cincinnati (67-64), the Shockers finally caught some breaks in a 72-69 home win over Temple on Feb. 27.
  • Etienne has scored at least seven points in 11-straight games
  • If the Shockers defeat Tulsa in next Sunday's Senior Day finale they would tie the school record for most regular season home victories (17), previously set by the 2013-14 and 2009-10 squads.
  • Since last season's 8-11 start, WSU is 35-11.
 

SENIOR MOMENTUM :
  • Over half (19) of Echenique's team-high 36 blocks came in the month of February. In eight February games, he averaged team-highs 12.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks-per-contest with four double-doubles.
  • Echenique (87 career blocks) needs just four more to move into WSU's all-time top-10.
  • Echenique's block and defensive rebounding percentages stack up with the conference and even the nation's best, per KenPom.

AAC Players on KenPom's National Leaderboard // Defensive Rebound Percentage:
48. Trevon Scott; Cincinnati (25.3)
56. Jaime Echenique; WSU (25.0)
68. Precious Achiuwa; Memphis (24.3)
 
AAC Players on KenPom's National Leaderboard // Block Percentage:
4. Chris Harris; Houston (13.91)
31. Akok Akok; UConn (9.87)
44. Isaiah Whaley; UConn (8.68)
63. Jaime Echenique; WSU (7.35)

 

SCOUTING SMU:
  • SMU is in its fourth full season under Tim Jankovich.
  • The Mustangs lost three starters from a team that finished 15-17 (6-12 American) last year.
  • SMU was picked eighth in the conference preseason poll but has out-performed those expectations with help from some talented newcomers, including a pair of Big 12 transfers. A win on Sunday would give the Mustangs 20-wins and sole possession of fourth place with tiebreakers in hand over both WSU and Memphis.
  • The Mustangs rank 18th nationally in assists (15.9) and 17th in free throw percentage (.771). They also lead the conference in scoring offense (74.4), free throw percentage (.771), field goal percentage (.454), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2) and three-point field goals (8.1).
  • SMU is 8-0 in conference home games but just 1-6 away from Moody Coliseum. The Mustangs finish out their schedule with road contests at UCF and USF next Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Four SMU players average in double-figures, led by TCU transfer Kendric Davis (15.0 ppg). Davis – a 5-foot-11, sophomore -- enters the weekend ranked seventh nationally in assists-per-game (6.9) and 19th in A:TO ratio (2.72). He's also among the top-50 in free throw percentage at 85.9% (85-of-99).
  • No Mustang clocks more time than, 6-4 junior Tyson Jolly. The Baylor transfer averages 14.8 points and 6.3 rebounds in 34.7 minutes-per-game.
  • 6-8 junior forward Isiaha Mike (13.8 points, 6.3 rebounds) has 38 steals and stretches defenses with 57 threes on 38% accuracy.
  • 6-8 sophomore forward Feron Hunt (11.3 points) is SMU's top rebounder (6.7) and shot-blocker (24).
 

MATCHUP MASHUP: 
  • SMU is 48-14 (.774) in AAC home games since the league's formation in 2013-14. WSU (2-0), Cincinnati (3-3) and Houston (2-5) are the only visiting teams with multiple wins.
  • Gregg Marshall is 10-6 career against Tim Jankovich.  Marshall won seven of the 12 head-to-head meetings during Jankovich's time at Illinois State (2007-12).
  • Marshall is 3-1 against SMU all-time (all at WSU).
  • Jankovich has Kansas ties. He played collegiately at Kansas State (1979-82) and was an assistant coach for the Wildcats for two more years (1984-86). From 1997-99, he served as head coach at Hutchinson Community College, just up the road from Wichita, where he guided the Blue Dragons to consecutive NJCAA national tournaments. Jankovich was a member of Bill Self's original staff at Kansas (2003-07) before accepting the head coaching job at Illinois State. His move to the Missouri Valley coincided with Marshall's arrival at Wichita State.
  • SMU assistant K.T. Turner worked one season under Marshall at WSU and helped the Shockers to the 2013 Final Four.
  • WSU freshman Grant Sherfield has ties to both areas. Born and raised in Wichita, he moved with his family to Fort Worth as a sixth grader. Sherfield was a Class 6A All-State performer at North Cowley High School in 2018 but chose to return to the Wichita area for his senior season at Sunrise Christian Academy.
  • Tyson Jolly logged three minutes against the Shockers on Dec. 2, 2017 while playing for Baylor. The eighth-ranked Shockers escaped Waco with a 69-62 victory over the 16th-ranked Bears.
  • Jolly spent the 2018-19 school year at Trinity Valley CC – the same program that produced Shocker senior Jaime Echenique a year earlier.
  • SMU graduate manager Champ Oguchi faced the Shockers a handful of times while playing for Jankovich at Illinois State (2007-09), where he was an All-Valley performer.
 

THE SERIES WITH SMU:
  • This is meeting No. 14 in the series. WSU leads 7-6 with three-straight wins.
  • SMU leads 4-2 in Dallas. The Shockers lead 4-2 in Wichita. The difference in the series -- and probably its most important game -- was a neutral court battle in the 1965 Midwest Regional in Manhattan, Kan. Behind 31 points from Kelly Pete, the Shockers knocked off SMU 86-81 in the 1965 NCAA Midwest Regional Semifinal on their way to the Final Four.
  • WSU's move to The American ended a 22-year series hiatus. The teams split a four-game non-conference series from 1993-96. The Shockers won twice in Wichita. SMU held serve with two wins in Dallas.
 

RECENT GAMES:
 
Jan. 17, 2018 (Wichita) | SMU 83, #7 WSU 78
Behind 33 points from Shake Milton, SMU snapped the Shockers' 27-game Roundhouse winning streak and saddled them with their first AAC loss following a 5-0 start. The Mustangs shot 63.8% from the field and 11-of-22 from three in a low-possession game.  Milton was 11-of-14, including 5-of-6 from distance. Landry Shamet finished with 20 points and 10 assists to lead WSU, which had won 67 of its last 68 games on campus coming in. In a twist of fate, Shamet and Milton became teammates the following year with the 76'ers after both declared early for the NBA Draft.

Feb. 24, 2018 (Dallas) | #13 WSU 84, SMU 78
Markis McDuffie scored 26 points and Shaquille Morris added 21 to help the Shockers win for the first time ever at Moody Coliseum. It was their fifth visit all-time and first since 1994. Against an SMU team that came in ranked fifth nationally in scoring defense (62.9 ppg), the Shockers put up 84, led by McDuffie's 11-of-14 shooting. Jahmal McMurray paced SMU with 28 points and hit six of the Mustangs' 15 threes. With Milton and others injured, SMU used just seven players, and eventually wore out. The Shockers expanded a 37-35 halftime lead to as many as 17, helped by a 41-23 rebounding edge and 17 offensive boards.

Jan. 30, 2019 (Wichita) | WSU 85, SMU 83
Samajae Haynes-Jones scored the game-winning basket (a driving, twisting, reverse-layup) with 1.0 second remaining to break an 83-all tie. It was a major turning point for the 2018-19 Shockers who came in 8-11 and riding a three-game winning streak but went on to win 14 of their next 17 on their way to the NIT semifinals. Haynes-Jones and Erik Stevenson scored 17-each to lead a group of five double-digit scorers. SMU's Isiaha Mike (24 points) hit four three-pointers in the first half to send the Mustangs into the break with 45-38 cushion. WSU tied it four minutes into the second half. Over the last 15:44, neither side led by more than four points. From the 5:41-mark onward, neither side held more than a two-point advantage.
 
Mar. 3, 2019 (Dallas) | WSU 67, SMU 55
The Shockers put away short-handed SMU early behind Markis McDuffie's 15 points and nine rebounds. WSU never trailed using first-half runs of 11-0 and 10-0 to pull away. The Shockers led by 13 at halftime and by as many as 21 in the second half. Ferron Hunt scored 14 points off the bench for the Mustangs, who hit just 3-of-26 from three-point range.
 

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…
... improve their record to 22-7 (10-6 American).
... give them sole possession of 4th-place with two games left and a head-to-head tiebreaker over SMU.
... make them 5-4 in true road games.
... give them four-straight wins over SMU.
... make them 4-1 vs. SMU in the AAC Era.
... give them an 8-6 lead in the all-time series.
... make them 3-4 at Moody w/ 3-straight wins.
... make them 34-18 in AAC games since joining.
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
... drop their record to 21-8 (9-7 American).
... give SMU sole possession of 4th place with two games left and a head-to-head tiebreaker over WSU.
... even the all-time series with SMU at 7-7.
... make them 2-5 at Moody Coliseum (2-1 AAC Era).
... make them 3-2 vs. SMU in the AAC Era.
... drop their road mark to 4-5.
... be less good than a win.
 

UP NEXT:
  • The Shockers go back on the road Thursday against Memphis inside the FedExForum (8 p.m. CT, ESPN).
  • The Shockers defeated Memphis on Jan. 9 in Wichita by a score of 76-67. Both squads were nationally-ranked at the time.
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