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Erik Stevenson

Shockers Open AAC Tournament Play Friday

3/11/2020 7:52:00 PM

[4] WICHITA STATE (23-8) vs. [5] UCONN (19-12) or [12] TULANE (12-18)
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS
FRIDAY, MAR. 13, 2020 | 2:00 P.M. CT
FORT WORTH, TEXAS | DICKIES ARENA
TV: ESPN2 (WatchESPN)
RADIO: KEYN 103.7 FM
 
>>> The Wichita State Shockers (23-8, 11-7) are at the brand-new Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas this weekend for the Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Championship.
 
>>> As the No. 4 seed, WSU earns a first-round bye and will take on either No. 5 UConn or No. 12 Tulane in Friday's quarterfinal round (approximately 2 p.m. CT, ESPN2).
 
>>> Friday's matchup airs nationally on ESPN2 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. Adam Amin and Bryce Drew have the call.
 
>>> Mike Kennedy and Dave Dahl 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 1,259th consecutive game (not including exhibitions).
 
 
OPENING TIPS:
  • The Shockers won their lone regular season matchups with both potential quarterfinal foes, defeating UConn in double-overtime at the XL Center back on Jan. 12. On Feb. 16 in Wichita they downed Tulane, 82-57.
  • WSU has won four of its five American Era matchups with UConn and is 4-0 against Tulane.
  • This is WSU's third AAC tournament. The Shockers are 3-2 and have played in back-to-back semifinals.
  • WSU has advanced to the semifinals in each of its last 10 conference tournaments. Coach Gregg Marshall is 19-2 in conference tourney openers, last losing in 2008 in his MVC Arch Madness debut. He led the Shockers to MVC tournament titles in 2014 and 2017.
  • The Shockers are seeking their eighth NCAA Tournament bid in nine seasons. They enter the weekend with a 9-8 record in Q-I and Q-II games and have no "bad losses" on their resume, having won all 13 of their Q-III and Q-IV contests.
  • Senior center Jaime Echenique was named second team all-conference earlier in the week. He's the team's leading scorer (11.3) and rebounder (7.1) and ranks fourth on the AAC blocks chart (1.6).
  • Defense has been this team's calling card. KenPom ranks WSU No. 8 nationally in defensive efficiency. The Shockers have surrendered 70+ points on just five occasions and have held 22 of their 31 opponents under 40% from the field.
  • The Shockers rank among the national leaders in field goal percentage defense (14th, .391), scoring defense (35th, 63.8) and rebound margin (45th, +4.7).
  • WSU has already surpassed its 2018-19 win total (22) and joins Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas as the only programs to win 22+ games in every season since 2010.
 
 
AMERICAN TOURNAMENT ODDS & ENDS:
This is the sixth year for the American Tournament. The winner earns the conference's automatic bid to next week's NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.
WSU's addition in 2018 boosted the field to 12 teams for the first time and added a fourth play-in game to the schedule. The top-four seeds each receive first-round byes. The other eight schools take part in Thursday's first round.
SMU (2015 & 2017) and Cincinnati (2018 & 2019) own multiple titles.
Cincinnati and UConn have the most finals appearances with three-each. The Huskies played in each of the first three titles games (2014-16), while the Bearcats have made each of the last three (2017-19).
The quartet of Wichita State, Cincinnati, Houston and Memphis have played on each of the last two semifinal Saturdays. It could happen again in 2020 if all four teams win early round games. Cincinnati has defeated Houston in each of the last two championships.
Play-in teams are a respectable 6-12 in quarterfinals games. No. 1 seeds are 6-0, No. 2 seeds are 5-1 (the lone loss coming in 2016 when No. 10 Tulane upset No. 7 UCF and No. 2 Houston before bowing to Memphis). No. 3 seeds have had the worst time, losing to the No. 6 seed in five of the six tournaments. Wichita State furthered that trend last year with an upset of Temple in the quarterfinals.
No. 6 seeds are 6-0 in their tournament openers and 10-6 overall. 2018 Houston is the only No 3 seed that has won a game in the tournament. UConn (2015) and Memphis (2016) reached the title game as six seeds.
 
 
DICKIES ARENA:
  • Dickies Arena will play host to each of the next three American Athletic Conference Championships.
  • The $540 million facility opened in November, 2019.
  • It seats approximately 13,300 for basketball and features North America's second-largest 360-degree screen -- 105 feet across (longer than the width of the court) and 26 feet tall.
  • On Dec. 6, 2019, USC used a last-second tip-in to defeat TCU, 80-78, in in the arena's first basketball game.
  • Next month, Dickies Arena will host the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championship and, in 2022, it will serve as a first and second round host site for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.
 
 
FORT WORTH NOTING:
  • Wichita State is 363 miles (or a little over five hours by car) from Dickies Arena. Other area schools include SMU (40 miles), Houston (268), Tulsa (310) and Memphis (496).
  • WSU has had a handful of Fort Worth natives on its roster of the years, including one of its all-time great, Nate Bowman. The 6-10 center out of Kirkpatrick High School teamed with Dallas-native Dave Stallworth to lead the Shockers to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 1964. Six years later, they joined forces again on the New York Knicks' 1970 NBA championship squad.
  • Shocker freshman Grant Sherfield grew up in Wichita but moved with his family to Fort Worth in sixth grade.  He was an all-state performer at North Crowley High in 2018 but returned to Kansas last year to play his final season at Sunrise Christian Academy.
  • The Shockers are 0-2 all-time in Fort Worth. Both games were against TCU (Dec. 27, 1949 and Dec. 8, 2008).
 
 
WICHITA STATE IN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS:
  • This is WSU's third go-around in the AAC tournament. They're 3-2 with consecutive semifinal appearances.
  • The Shockers have scored quarterfinal wins over Temple in each of the last two years. In 2018, as the No. 2 seed, they outscored the Owls 89-81 behind Landry Shamet's 24 points on 6-of-8 three-point shooting. In 2019, seeded sixth, they dispatched ECU in the first round then took care of third-seeded Temple, 80-74, helped by Markis McDuffie's career-high 34 points and 12 rebounds and Dexter Dennis' 19 points and 12 rebounds.
  • WSU has dropped close games on each of the last two semifinal Saturdays. In 2018 it was a 77-74 loss to Houston in a battle of nationally-ranked teams. Rob Gray scored 33 points to lead the Cougars. Last year, the Shockers pushed 25th-ranked Cincinnati to the wire in a 66-63 loss.
  • WSU has won its conference tournament opener in each of the last 11 years and made 10-straight semifinal appearances.
  • From 1977 to 2017, WSU competed in 38 Missouri Valley Conference tournaments, going 35-34 with seven final appearances (four of them under Gregg Marshall) and four titles (1985, 1987, 2014, 2017). Notably, the first two came at the expense of Tulsa on the Hurricanes' home floor.
  • The Shockers cut down the nets in their final Arch Madness appearance (2017), winning by margins of 26, 15 and 20 points. Conner Frankamp knocked down 11 threes in three games on his way to MVC honors. He scored 19 in the championship game against Illinois State (71-51). It was just the second WSU title since the event's 1991 move to St. Louis.
 
 
GREGG MARSHALL IN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS:
  • Gregg Marshall has won nine conference tournament titles, most recently in 2017. He captured seven in the Big South in his years at Winthrop (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007).
  • Marshall is 37-12 all-time in conference tournament games (18-10 at WSU).
  • Marshall is 19-2 in conference tournament openers with 11-consecutive wins. Losses came in 2003 (at Winthrop) and 2008 (his first season at WSU).
  • Marshall teams have reached the semifinal round in 18 of his 21 trips, including an active run of 10-straight semifinals. WSU's eight-straight MVC semifinals from 2010-17 were a conference record.
  • Marshall teams are 9-2 in conference tournament finals (7-0 at Winthrop, 2-2 at WSU). The Shockers lost Arch Madness title game appearances in 2010 (UNI) and 2013 (Creighton) but won their next two in 2014 (Indiana State) and 2017 (Illinois State).
 
 
A FOUR TO BE RECKONED WITH:
  • WSU has only been a four seed in two other conference tournaments (1980 and 1998). In both cases, the Shockers lost in the semifinals. The 1998 Shockers ended what had been a 10-year conference tournament victory drought, defeating No. 5 seed Indiana State in the Arch Madness quarterfinals, 65-55. Notably, WSU has gone one-and-done just three times in the 22 years since (2001, 2002 and 2008).
  • No. 4 seeds are 3-3 against No. 5 seeds in the AAC tournament. The No. 5 has won each of the last two years. UConn advanced to the final round of the inaugural event in 2014, but no four-seed has made it since.
 
 
SCOUTING THE UCONN:
  • UConn plays its final AAC tournament. The Huskies won multiple games in each of the first four years, including the 2016 title, but seek their first semifinal since 2017.
  • A first-round win would give UConn 20 victories for the first time since 2016. Likewise, the Huskies' No. 5 seed is their best in four years. Dan Hurley has improved the Huskies from six AAC wins to 10 in his second year.
  • UConn finished tied for fifth but enters the tournament as one of the league's hottest teams, having won five-straight and 8-of-10. The only losses in that stretch came in overtime at Temple and by four points at SMU.
  • UConn split home-and-homes with each of the three tri-champs, defeating Houston and Cincinnati at home and Tulsa on the road.
  • UConn has lost three times in overtime, including a double-OT defeat to WSU on Jan. 12. Three other losses came by four points-or-less.
  • UConn ranks fifth nationally in blocks-per-game (6.0), although the loss of 6-9 freshman Akok Akok hurts. He was averaging a conference-best 2.64 blocks prior to his season-ending injury in mid-February.
  • UConn is the league's second-highest scoring team (72.8 points), led by a pair of all-conference guards.
  • Senior Christian Vital earned first team status after averaging 16.4 points (tied second-most in the conference) and 6.3 rebounds. He ranks among the top-10 nationally in steals (2.52) and free throw percentage (133-of-148, .899) and has hit a team-high 66 threes.
  • James Bouknight averaged 13.0 points during the regular season to land third team all-conference and all-freshman plaudits. He hit his stride late in the year, averaging over the final 13 games.
 
 
LAST MEETING:
Jan. 12, 2020 (Hartford) |  #23 WSU 89, UConn 86 2ot
WSU let a nine-point lead slip away in the final minute of regulation but regrouped to beat UConn in double-overtime... Jaime Echenique scored 19 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Erik Stevenson (16 points), Dexter Dennis (16) and Jamarius Burton (13) also scored in double-figures... Christian Vital finished with 25 points, five rebounds and five steals to pace UConn, which trailed 69-60 with 1:05 to go but rattled the Shockers with a full-court press and scored the last nine points of regulation. Sidney Wilson's corner three tied the game with 1.4 seconds remaining... Two of the Shockers' top scorers – Echenique and Stevenson – fouled out during overtime but others stepped up. Tyson Etienne gave the Shockers the lead for good with a three-point play just three seconds into double-OT. Buckets from Burton and Grant Sherfield helped maintain it... The Shockers committed a season-high 21 turnovers – 19 in regulation but only two in the 10 minutes of overtime, compared to five for UConn... UConn attempted 42 free throws to WSU's 24 and outscored the Shockers 29-19 at the line.
 
 
MATCHUP MASHUP:  
  • The Shockers hit rock bottom with their 80-60 loss at Gampel Pavilion on Jan. 26, 2019, falling to 8-11 (1-6 AAC). They went on to win 14 of their next 18.
  • Likewise, WSU's win at XL Center on Jan. 12, 2020 was the top of an early peak. The Shockers improved to 15-1 and climbed to No. 16 in the polls the next day., but they lost three of the next five to fall out of first-place.
 
 
SCOUTING TULANE:   
  • Tulane has tripled its win total under new head coach Ron Hunter, going from four to 12. The Green Wave are on the 12-line again, but went from 0-18 to 4-14 and own a win over tri-champion Cincinnati.
  • Thursday's first-round game against UConn is a rematch of the regular season finale in New Orleans. Tulane lost 80-76 in a game that came down to the final minute.
  • Tulane is in search of its first conference tourney win since 2016 when it reached the semifinals as a No. 10 seed, upsetting No. 7 UCF and No. 2 Houston.
  • Hunter has re-shaped the roster in his first season. Each of the team's top-five scorers are transfers.
  • A trio of grad transfers include K.J. Lawson (12.5 ppg) from Kansas, Christion Thompson (15.3) from Rhode Island and Nic Thomas (7.6) out of Norfolk State.
  • 6-foot-5 junior guard Teshaun Hightower  averages 14.7 points. He played past two seasons at Georgia and started 17 games as a sophomore.
  • 5-11 sophomore Jordan Walker (7.3 ppg) was on the  practice squad last year after arriving from Seton Hall.
  • Those five newcomers have scored 86% of the points.
  • Lawson – a 6--7 forward – was the  2016 AAC rookie of the year while playing for Memphis. He averaged 11.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in two seasons before transferring to Kansas. Lawson put up 3.1 points and 2.0 rebounds in 9.9 minutes for the Jayhawks in 2018-19.
  • Lawson leads the league and ranks 36th nationally in minutes-per-game (36.2). Hightower (34.3) and Thompson (33.8) aren't far behind.
  • Tulane is averaging a league-low 11.8 turnovers and forcing a league-high 16.8 turnovers. Not surprisingly, the Wave ranks 12th nationally in turnover margin (+4.3). Their 8.5 steals-per-game are 17th.
 
 
MATCHUP MASHUP:  
  • WSU defeated first-year Tulane coach Ron Hunter on Feb. 16, but it wasn't his first time coaching at the Roundhouse. On Dec. 9, 2000, Hunter led his IUPUI team against first-year Shocker head coach Mark Turgeon at then-Henry Levitt Arena. The Shockers won 72-65.
  • Dexter Dennis' hometown of Baker, La. Is less than 100 miles from New Orleans. Dennis is the first Louisiana native to ever play for the Shockers. His mother, Dawn McQuirter, played collegiately at Grambling. Dennis is a distant cousin of Aaron James, the first player ever drafted by the expansion New Orleans Jazz.
  • Both sides' 2018-19 rosters were hurt by early 2018 NBA Draft departures. Landry Shamet went 26th overall to the 76'ers, leaving two years of eligibility on the table. Tulane's Melvin Frazier gave up his final season but went 35th overall to the Orlando Magic.
  • Morris Udeze and Tulane's Kevin Zhang spent the '17-18 school year at Montverde Academy in Florida.
  • Tulane assistant Ray McCallum was head coach at Detroit from 2008-16 and twice faced the Shockers as part of ESPN's BracketBusters series.
  • WSU joined the AAC on July 1, 2017 after a 72-year run in the MVC. Tulane was one of four teams that the Shockers had never faced, along with USF, UCF and ECU. Notably, WSU is now a combined 16-1 against those four teams.
  • Mickey Loomis, general manager of the NBA's Pelicans and the NFL's Saints, earned his maste's degree in sport administration from Wichita State in 1982.
 
 
THE SERIES:
  • WSU leads 4-0 (2-0 in Wichita), 1-0 in New Orleans.
  • The Shockers took the only regular season meeting on Feb. 16 in Wichita, 82-57.
  • WSU swept two games during the 2018-19 season, winning 77-62 in Wichita behind Markis McDuffie's 25 points. The Shockers overcame a nine-point deficit in the final 10 minutes to win their first visit to Fogelman Arena, 82-79, on Louisiana native Dexter Dennis' three-point buzzer-beater.
  • The 13th-ranked Shockers won the inaugural meeting on Feb. 21, 2018 in Wichita, 93-86, despite playing without star point guard Landry Shamet (illness).
  • Prior to 2019, WSU had played three others times in New Orleans but never against Tulane. A loss to the University of New Orleans in the 1982-83 season opener was one of just three suffered by the Shockers, who were led that year by Antoine Carr and Xavier McDaniel. WSU's lone victory in the Big Easy came in the 1981 Midwest Regional Semifinal, played inside the Louisiana Super Dome. Mike Jones' last-second jumper (known in Shocker lore as "the shot") gave WSU a 66-65 win over in-state rival Kansas in "The Battle of New Orleans." Two days later, WSU fell to top-seed LSU in the Elite Eight.
 
 
LAST MEETING WITH TULANE:
Feb. 16, 2020 | Wichita | WSU 82, Tulane 57
 
  • Dexter Dennis and Tyson Etienne both topped 20 points to lead WSU to a 25-point rout of Tulane.
  • Gregg Marshall's 327th Shocker win was also his 100th by 20-or-more points.
  • WSU's 30-point halftime lead (50-20) tied for the sixth-largest in school history.
  • Dennis scored a career-high 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting to go with nine rebounds. He was 4-of-5 from deep.
  • Etienne (20 points) tied WSU's freshman record with six three-pointers on eight attempts. Jaime Echenique added 10 points and five rebounds to go with Jamarius Burton's nine points and seven assists.
  • Tulane entered the day ranked 13th nationally in turnover margin but among the bottom-10 in rebounding margin. Both trends continued. WSU went +17 on the glass (48-31) but had 16 turnovers to Tulane's eight.
  • The Shockers shot 48.3% from the field and a season-best 54.2% from beyond the arc. Eight of their 13 threes came in the first half. By contrast, Tulane made just 2-of-18 threes and finished up at 34.5%.
  • Dennis drilled three triples and Etienne hit back-to-back for a 24-10 lead. WSU's transition game keyed another 17-2 run.
 
 
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD….
... improve their record to 24-8.
... be their seventh in nine tries.
... advance them to Saturday's semifinal round for a 2 p.m. CT (ESPN2) tip against either No. 1 seed Cincinnati, No. 9 USF or No. 8 UCF.
... make them 3-0 in AAC quarterfinal games.
... mark the 11th straight year that they've reached the semifinals of their conference tournament.
... make them 4-2 in AAC tournament games.
... make Marshall 20-2 in conference tournament openers with 12-straight wins.
 
A SHOCKERS LOSS WOULD...
... drop their record to 23-9.
... eliminate them from the tournament.
... be their first "one-and-done" since 2008.
... end a string of 10-straight semifinal trips.
... be less good than a win.
 
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