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Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler

Wichita State Looks to Tame Tulsa Wednesday

1/12/2021 1:05:00 PM

rv/- TULSA (7-3, 4-1) at WICHITA STATE (7-3, 3-1)
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 13, 2021 | 6:01 P.M. CT
WICHITA, KAN. / CHARLES KOCH ARENA
TV: ESPN+
RADIO: KEYN 103.7 FM (GoShockers.com/Listen)
SERIES: WSU leads 71-62 (40-23 in Wichita)
 
 
TICKETS:
Charles Koch Arena is up to 20 percent capacity (2,100 fans). No single-game tickets are available.
 
#WATCHUS:
The game will air on ESPN+ with Shane Dennis and Steve Strain on the call. ESPN+ subscribers can stream live and on demand via the ESPN App. Subscriptions for the ESPN+ app are $5.99 monthly or $49.99 annually and can be packaged with Hulu and Disney+ streaming services.
 
SHOCKER RADIO:
Listen live on KEYN 103.7 FM and online at GoShockers.com/Listen with Mike Kennedy and Dave Dahl. Pregame coverage begins one hour prior to tipoff.
 
THE ISAAC BROWN SHOW:
Join Mike 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: Jan. 18.
 
 
OPENING TIPS:
  • Two of the American Athletic Conference's hottest teams go head-to-head Wednesday night at Charles Koch Arena when Wichita State takes on Tulsa.
  • WSU (3-1 AAC) has won six of its last seven -- a stretch that began with a 67-63 victory at Tulsa on Dec. 15.
  • Tulsa (4-1) hasn't loss since, winning each of its last six games, including an upset of then-No. 5 Houston. The Hurricanes earned five votes in Monday's AP Poll.
  • Both teams enter the night tied in the loss column with Houston (5-1), which plays Thursday at South Florida, and Memphis (2-1), which hosts SMU on Thursday.
  • Tulsa is seeking its first win at the Roundhouse since the building's 2003 renovation. The Hurricanes' last defeated the Shockers in Wichita on Dec. 8, 2001 (in the final year of Levitt Arena). WSU has won eight-in-a-row since (seven at CKA and one downtown).
  • WSU looks to sweep the series for the third time in four years since joining The American. The Shockers have won 14 of the last 16 in the series (6-1 AAC era).
  • In the Dec. 15 meeting, the Shockers led Tulsa by 17 points late in the first half and held on for a wild 67-63 victory at the Reynolds Center. It was a coming out party for freshman Ricky Council IV, who had clocked just four minutes in the first three games but shared high-scoring honors with Alterique Gilbert (13).
  • Council is the AAC's Freshman of the Week after a career-high 23-point performance in Sunday's 82-76 win over Cincinnati. Morris Udeze matched his season-high with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting, and Tyson Etienne scored 14 of his 16 over the final 9:00 to help WSU pull away.
  • Etienne ranks third in the conference in both scoring (17.7) and three-point field goals (2.8). Last Wednesday's 25-point effort at Houston was his fourth 20-point game of the season.
  • WSU has played one of the nation's strongest schedules (25th in NCAA NET; and No. 17 per KenPom). The Shockers' only losses have come to teams that are either ranked or receiving votes.
  • According to KenPom, just two teams have faced a tougher collection of defenses (UCF & Alcorn State). That trend continues against Tulsa (No. 27 defensive efficiency) -- WSU's sixth game against a top-30 defense.
  • Tulsa ranks fourth nationally in field goal percentage defense (.361). Opponents average 60.2 points (12th).
  • WSU averages a league-low 11.8 turnovers and ranks among the top-40 in offensive rebounding (30th, 13.4) and field goal percentage defense (38th, .393).
 
 
TRENDING:
  • In just seven weeks, Tyson Etienne has won a league-best five weekly awards from the American Athletic Conference (4x honor roll + Dec. 28 player of the week). In one of the two weeks that he missed out (Nov. 25-30), WSU did not play a game.
  • Etienne has a league-best four games with 25+ points. UCF's Brandon Mahan (3) and Houston's Marcus Sasser (2) and Quentin Grimes (2) are the only others with multiple this year.
  • Ricky Council IV's 23-point game against Cincinnati was the best by an American freshman this season, topping 22-point efforts from Houston's Tramon Mark (Nov. 25 vs. Lamar) and UCF's Isaiah Adams (Dec. 19 vs. Cincinnati).
  • Council's 23-point effort was the best by a Shocker true freshman since Toure' Murry put up 23 -- including the game-winner at the buzzer -- to beat Missouri State on Feb. 10, 2009. He's just the fourth to score that many or more since the turn of the century, joined by Murry, Jamar Howard (23 vs. UTA on Nov. 28, 2001) and Randy Burns (27 vs. Western Carolina; Dec. 21, 2001).
  • Tyson Etienne has made 47 free throws through the first 10 games. Over the last 25 years, just two other Shockers have made more: Jamar Howard (57 in 2003-04) and Jason Perez (50 in 1999-00).
 
 
HIT THE TARGET; WIN THE PRIZE:
Over the last two seasons, the Shockers are 28-1 when scoring at least 65 points and 1-10 when scoring less than 65. The exceptions are an 80-79 home loss to Cincinnati last February and a 54-41 road victory at USF in late January, 2020.
Over the last two seasons, WSU is 23-2 when hitting at least 40% from the field and 20-1 when making at least a third of its three-point tries.
The Shockers have won 25 straight games when out-shooting their opponent.
 
 
ON THIS DATE:  JAN. 13
1968 – Warren Armstrong (Jabali) stuffed the box score with 29 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in a 77-69 win over Memphis at the Roundhouse.
1979 – Ray Shirley hit an inside jumper with four seconds left in overtime to give the Shockers a 94-93 win at Tulsa. 
Tulsa had the ball up two with less than 30 seconds left, but Jeff Kovach turned it over, then was hit with a technical foul for complaining to officials. WSU's John Kobar converted the free throw, setting up Shirley's heroics. Shirley finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds to go with 33 and 12 from Cheese Johnson.
1983 -- A national cable audience on Superstation TBS watched Xavier McDaniel grab 22 rebounds in a 92-74 romp over Tulsa. Antoine Carr scored 26 points, while fellow Wichita native Ricky Ross finished with 16 points, six rebounds and six steals for the Canes. It was win No. 3 for the Shockers in a 17-1 romp through the MVC regular season.
2018 -- In the first AAC era meeting between the longtime rivals, fifth-ranked WSU staved off Tulsa, 70-67, at the Reynolds Center to improve to 5-0 in conference play. Landry Shamet shared high scoring honors for the Shockers with 16.
 

SCOUTING TULSA:
  • Tulsa was the AAC tri-champion in 2019-20 after being picked 10th in the preseason. The Hurricanes were sixth in this year's poll but are right back in contention.
  • Since losing to WSU at home on Dec. 15, Tulsa has won its last six games. The Hurricanes last played on Jan. 6. Their Saturday home game was postponed due to a COVID-19 case within the UCF program.
  • Now in his seventh season at Tulsa, Frank Haith is the reigning AAC coach of the year.
  • 6-5 senior guard Brandon Rachal (third team All-AAC last year), is the team's leading scorer (15.8), rebounder (7.6) and shot-blocker (1.0). He's hit 15 threes on 39.5% accuracy.
  • Senior point guard Elijah Joiner averages 9.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and a team-best 4.3 assists. 
  • Rey Idowu (8.9 pts, 4.6 reb), Darien Jackson (7.5 pts, team-high 1.7 steals have been weapons off the bench.
  • Tulsa ranks among the national leaders in scoring defense (12th, 60.2) and field goal percentage defense (4th, .361). 
  • The Golden Hurricanes are the AAC's slowest-paced team, per KenPom (65.5 possessions). WSU and Tulsa combined for just seven fast break points on Dec. 15.
  • With limited practice time and a large cast of newcomers, Tulsa's defense – a strength in last year's title push – took a while to gel. During the team's 1-3 start, opponents shot 39.2% from three (40-of-102). During Tulsa's six-game winning streak, foes are shooting just 22.6% from distance (31-of-137).
 
 
MATCHUP MASHUP:
  • 2021 has been good to WSU's Tyson Etienne. He's averaging a league-best 23.3 points in the month of January (29 at Ole Miss, 25 at Houston, 16 vs. Cincinnati). Tulsa's Brandon Rachal (20.0 ppg) is second on that list (25 at Cincinnati, 15 at USF).
  • Etienne scored a season-low four points at Tulsa on Dec. 15. It's one of only two occasions this year that the sophomore hasn't reached double-figures. He had five in limited minutes vs. Division II Newman (Dec. 30) .
  • Tulsa's bench has played 42.5% of available minutes -- No. 1 in the AAC and No. 21 nationally. WSU's bench averages 38.5% of the team's minutes (AAC No. 3).
  • Tulsa's percentage is on par with some of the deepest Shocker teams in recent memory. Helped by some lopsided scores, the 2016-17 bench played 43.5% of minutes (No. 4 nationally). The 2010-11 NIT champion Shockers averaged 42.5%.
  • 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).
  • 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).
 
 
LAST TIME vs TULSA:
Dec. 15, 2020 (Tulsa, Okla.) | WSU 69, TLS 65
  • WSU built a big first-half lead then somehow found a way to hold onto it for its first AAC win.
  • Three days after scoring just five bench points in a loss to Oklahoma State, WSU got 33 points from its reserves, helped by breakthrough performances from freshman Ricky Council IV (13 points, eight rebounds in 16 minutes), junior Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler (10 points, five rebounds) and JUCO transfer Craig Porter Jr. (4 points, five rebounds, five assists).
  • Alterique Gilbert (13 points, four assists) and Trey Wade (11 points, seven rebounds) also finished in double-figures for WSU, which led by 17 points late in the first half but went cold for much of the second half.
  • Brandon Rachal had 17 points and 11 rebounds for TU, which played for the first time in 10 days following a COVID-19 stoppage. The host Hurricanes twice closed within two points in the second half (at the 14:35-mark and again with 28 seconds to play) but never led.
  • Both sides missed key free throws down the stretch. WSU finished 9-of-17 compared to 11-of-21 for TU.
  • Eight different Shockers made a three-pointer in a 10-of-26 effort. WSU turned it over just nine times and won the rebounding battle, 42-37.
  • 31 of Tulsa's 55 shot attempts were threes. That's the fifth-highest percentage by a Shocker opponent in the last 20 years. Only eight went in the basket including just 3-of-15 after halftime.
 
 
THE ALL-TIME SERIES WITH TULSA:
  • Wichita State and Tulsa square off for the 134th 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, 71-62 and have won 14 of 16. They're 6-1 in the AAC era.
  • Isaac Brown is the 15th different head coach to lead the Shockers into battle against Tulsa 
  • WSU is 8-2 against Frank Haith (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.
 
IN WICHITA // WSU, 40-23
  • The Hurricanes last won in Wichita on Dec. 8, 2001 (82-76). The Shockers have won the last eight home meetings (seven at CKA, one at INTRUST Bank Arena).
  • WSU has won just over two-thirds of the games played inside the Roundhouse (1955-pr.), 34-16.
 
 
OTHER MEMORABLE SERIES MOMENTS:
  • The Shockers and Golden Hurricane were conference rivals in the Missouri Valley from 1945 to 1996. Following Tulsa's MVC exit, the schools played 14 non-conference games over a 21-year span. WSU's 2017 move to The American reunited the two.
  • Though the series dates back over 88 years, the rivalry really heated up in the early 1980s when Gene Smithson's Shocker teams battled Nolan Richardson and Tulsa for MVC supremacy. Three of WSU's all-time great played during the "MTXE" Era (after Smithson's trademark slogan, Mental Toughness eXtra Effort): Cliff Levingston, Antoine Carr and Xavier McDaniel. Tulsa countered with a fearsome full-court press and the likes of Paul Pressey, Mike Anderson and Steve Harris.
  • In 1984, WSU's Karl Papke hit a driving layup down the lane with just under 10 seconds left to lift the Shockers to a 66-64 upset of 10th-ranked Tulsa in Wichita.
  • WSU got the last laugh in its final game against Richardson in the MVC tournament championship (Mar. 9, 1985 at the Tulsa Convention Center). McDaniel  (who led the nation in scoring and rebounding that year) scored 34 points on 15-of-19 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Shockers past No. 17 Tulsa, 84-82.
  • Despite coaching changes on both sides, the rivalry continued. On Mar. 4, 1987, WSU again stunned top-seeded Tulsa with a 79-74 overtime win in the conference title game. The '87 MVC tournament was the first with a three-point line, and the Shockers took full advantage of the new rule, knocking down 8-of-10 from beyond the arc.
  • On Feb. 27, 1988, Joe Griffin's corner three – in the air just before time expired – forced double-overtime where the Shockers claimed a 79-78 victory.
  • Tulsa dominated with 13-straight wins between 1993 and 2002, but the series took a dramatic turn following the completion of the Roundhouse Renaissance.
  • On Dec. 20, 2003 – the first meeting at the newly renovated CKA – WSU finally stopped the slide, winning 66-58 behind recent Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame inductee Jamar Howard's 23 points. That started a run of seven-straight Shocker victories.
  • On Dec. 18, 2004 the Shockers stopped an eight-game losing streak in Tulsa with their first win since 1991.
  • The series returned in 2010 when Tulsa was guest of honor for the first-ever basketball game at downtown INTRUST Bank Arena (Dec. 21, 2010). Justin Hurtt hit six of Tulsa's 14 threes (both are still arena records), but the Shockers held on for an 82-79 win.
 
 
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...
... make them 8-3 with wins in seven of the last eight.
... up their conference record to 4-1.
... make them 5-2 at home with four-straight wins.
... give them a season sweep of Tulsa.
... be their ninth-in-a-row against Tulsa in Wichita.
... be their 15th in 17 tries vs. Tulsa (7-1 AAC era).
... expand their series lead to 72-62 (41-23 in Wichita) 
... make WSU 9-2 vs. Frank Haith.
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...
... drop them to 7-4.
... make them 3-2 in league play.
... drop them 4-3 at home.
... be their first loss to Tulsa in Wichita since Dec. 8, 2001, snapping an eight-game winning streak.
... split the regular season series for the second year in a row.
... narrow their series lead to 71-63 (40-24 in Wichita).
... be less good than a win.
 
 
UP NEXT:
  • The Shockers play back-to-back games on the road beginning Sunday at SMU (5 p.m. CT, ESPNU) and continuing next Thursday, Jan. 21 at Memphis (6 p.m. CT, ESPN or ESPN2).
  • The Shockers have won four-straight against SMU and are 3-0 at Moody Coliseum in the AAC era.
  • WSU is looking for its first win at Memphis' FedExForum since 2018. The teams split last year's series with each holding serve at home.
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