JACKSONVILLE STATE (0-0, 0-0 ASUN) at WICHITA STATE (0-0, 0-0 AAC)
Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021 | 7:02 p.m. CT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena (10,506)
 
Tickets: 978-FANS (3267), GoShockers.com/Tickets
TV: ESPN+
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM (GoShockers.com/Listen)
Series: WSU leads 1-0 (1-0 in Wichita)
Last: Dec. 12, 2018 in Wichita (WSU, 69-65)
 

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Wichita State opens up its 115th men's basketball season Tuesday night against Jacksonville State.
 
PROMOTIONS:
WSU will drop postseason and conference championship banners prior to the game. The first 3,000 fans in attendance will receive a Shocker Basketball schedule magnet. Fans can show their men's ticket and receive free admission to Tuesday's women's basketball season opener against Chicago State (Noon).
 
TICKETS:
Tickets are available for all remaining games – online at goshockers.com/tickets or through the Shocker Ticket Office at 316-978-FANS. Fans can buy a specialty ticket to the Jan. 1 Memphis game that includes a replica AAC championship ring. For more information, visit goshockers.com/rings.
 
#WATCHUS:
The game will air on ESPN+ with Shane Dennis (PxP) and Bob Hull (Analyst) on the call.  ESPN+ subscribers can stream live and on demand via the ESPN App.  Subscriptions for ESPN+ are $6.99 monthly or $69.99 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. Division I college basketball's longest-tenured duo, Mike Kennedy (pbp) and Dave Dahl (analyst) are in their 41st season together on radio. Kennedy is in his 42nd season as Voice of the Shockers.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Go behind the scenes with the Shockers all season long. Follow @GoShockersMBB on facebook, twitter and Instagram. For feature stories and podcasts bookmark The Roundhouse page at GoShockers.com and follow @RoundhouseNews.
 

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OPENING TIPS:

• The Shockers tuned up last Monday with a 90-58 exhibition win over Missouri Southern State. Ricky Council IV led the way with 15 points.
• This is the second meeting all-time between the schools. The other came three years ago (Dec. 12, 2018) in Wichita when WSU defeated the Gamecocks by a score of 69-65.
• Prior to the starting lineups, WSU will drop banners in honor of its 2021 American Athletic Conference regular season title and NCAA tournament appearance.
• Since 1992, the Shockers are 26-2 in season openers.
• WSU opens at home for the 18th-straight year. The Shockers have won 24 of their last 25 home openers with the lone loss coming to LA Tech in 2018. They're 57-8 at the Roundhouse and 96-18 all-time.
• Between 2011 and 2020, WSU won 57 of 58 non-conference games at the Roundhouse, but went 3-2 last season while playing at greatly-reduced capacity.
• The Shockers have won their last nine home games. A victory Tuesday will give them a double-digit home winning streak for the 20th time since 1955 when the building first opened.
• WSU (16-6, 11-2 AAC last season) has played in eight of the last nine NCAA tournaments.  The defending AAC champions welcome back three starters: AAC co-player of the year Tyson Etienne and fourth-year veterans Morris Udeze and Dexter Dennis. They're joined by four other returning lettermen, including AAC All-Freshman pick Ricky Council IV. A group of six newcomers includes Division II All-American Qua Grant as well as Joe Pleasant, an All-Southland Conference forward who helped Abilene Christian to a pair of NCAA tournament appearances.
• Etienne was one of 40 players named last week to the Lute Olson Award preseason watch list.
• Coach Isaac Brown is back for a second year after acing a four-month test as the program's interim leader.
• Dennis needs three triples to move into the top-10 on WSU's career list (141). If he makes at least two on Tuesday he'll tie a school record for consecutive games with multiple treys (10), currently shared by Ron Baker, Landry Shamet, Aaron Hogg and Maurice Evans.

 

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THE SHOCKS, IN SHORT:

• Wichita State returns four of the top-five scorers, including American Athletic Conference co-Player of the Year, Tyson Etienne, from a team that came out of nowhere to win the league's regular season title and earn at-large berth to the NCAA tournament.
• Etienne (6-2, So., G), Dexter Dennis (6-5, Jr., G) and Morris Udeze (6-8, Jr., F) started every game.
• Also back from last year's rotation are Ricky Council IV (6-6, Fr., G), Craig Porter Jr. (6-2, Jr., G) and Clarence "Monzy" Jackson (6-7, So., F).
• Council was an AAC All-Freshman pick last spring. He, Porter and Jackson are poised for larger roles with the departure two other starters: third team All-AAC selection Alterique Gilbert (10.2 ppg, team-high 4.1 apg) and forward Trey Wade (6.7 ppg, team-high 5.7 rpg).
• Brown also added a pair of experienced transfers at those positions in Division II All-American Qua Grant (6-1, Jr., G, West Texas A&M) and All-Southland forward Joe Pleasant (6-7, Jr., F, Abilene Christian).
• His first recruiting class includes a trio of high-upside freshmen in Kenny Pohto (6-11, Fr., F, Sunrise Christian Academy), Jalen Ricks (6-7, Fr., G, Oak Hill Academy) and Isaac Abidde (6-9, Fr., F, Westover HS).

EXHIBITION REWIND:
Nov. 1, 2021 (Wichita) // WSU 91, Missouri Southern St. 58

• Ricky Council IV scored 15 points and WSU dominated the final six minutes of both halves for an exhibition win over Division II Missouri Southern State.
• The Shockers held a slim 26-24 advantage with 6:33 to play in the opening period but turned the tide with their full-court pressure and a 20-2 run.
• The teams traded baskets for much of the second half, but WSU held MSSU without a field goal over the final 6:02 and finished the game on another 15-3 push.
• The Shockers shot 52.4% and knocked down 15-of-18 free throws. They held the visiting Lions to 32.8% from the field and outscored them 46-24 in the paint.
• Morris Udeze (11 points) and Tyson Etienne (10) did all of their scoring in the first half.
• The bench accounted 49 points, led by Council, who scored 11 of his 15 after halftime. He was 5-of-6 from the field and snagged six rebounds in 20 minutes.
• West Texas A&M transfer Qua Grant chipped in 11 points, four assists in 19 turnover-free minutes.
• True freshman Kenny Pohto put up nine points, six boards and a pair of blocks in his Shocker debut.
• R.J. Smith paced MSSU with 15 points, eight boards.
• WSU won its 27th-straight preseason exhibition.

SCOUTING THE GAMECOCKS:

• JSU has had an eventual last 12 months on the conference realignment carousel. The school jumped to the Atlantic Sun Conference this summer after an 18-year run in the Ohio Valley but announced on Friday that it had accepted an invitation to join a reconfigured Conference USA in 2023.
• The Gamecocks return of 96% of the scoring from last year's team, which finished 18-9 and took fourth in the OVC standings at 13-6.
• JSU is picked third in the ASUN preseason poll behind Liberty and Eastern Kentucky.
• 6-3 senior guard Darian Adams (First Team All-OVC) was named to the ASUN preseason all-conference team. He averaged a team-high 15.7 points.
• Brandon Huffman (OVC All-Newcomer) was the team's leading rebounder (6.6) and shot-blocker (33).
• JSU won a Nov. 3 exhibition against Georgia Southwestern (82-63). Five Gamecocks scored in double-figures, led by Adams' 17 points and 14-each from Huffman and Jalen Finch.
• Coach Ray Harper has averaged over 20 wins in each of his first five years on the job (98-65). He led the Gamecocks to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 2017 (after being picked to finish last in the OVC coming into the year) and added a CBI bid in 2018. The 2019 squad set a school record with 24 wins.
• Harper coached his alma mater, Kentucky Wesleyan, to six-straight Division II national title games. In addition to two D-II national championships, he also captured two more at the NAIA level in a three-year run at Oklahoma City University.
• JSU has some championship history of its own, having won the D-II national title in 1985. In the semifinal round, the Gamecocks defeated a Kentucky Wesleyan team led by senior All-American... Ray Harper.

MATCHUP MASHUP:

• WSU is 2-0 against Harper. In November, 2013, the Shockers defeated Harper's former team, Western Kentucky 66-49. That game featured the latest home start time in Shocker history (11:50 p.m.) as part of ESPN's 24-Hour Tipoff Marathon.
• Mark Turgeon started his head coaching career at JSU (1998-00) before helping revitalize WSU's program (2000-07).

LAST MEETING WITH JACKSONVILLE STATE:

• This is the second meeting all-time between the programs. The other came three years ago (Dec. 12, 2018) in Wichita when WSU defeated the Gamecocks, 69-65.
• Dexter Dennis (3 pts, 8 reb, 28 min) and Morris Udeze (8 pts, 8 reb, 15 min) are the only Shocker holdovers from that game. Both were freshmen. Junior big man Maros Zelinak (2 pts, 1 reb, 15 min) is the only current Gamecock who saw time.
• The Shockers trailed 60-59 with 5:47 to play but held JSU scoreless for a 5-minute stretch as part of an 8-0 run. Dennis provided one of the game's signature plays with an offensive rebound and kickout to Samajae Haynes-Jones (game-high 17 points) for a three-pointer and a 64-60 advantage with 1:40 left.
• The game pitted one of college basketball's least experienced teams (WSU) against its polar opposite. Six of the nine Gamecocks who saw action were seniors. Six of the 10 Shockers were freshmen.
• WSU's size made all the difference. The Shockers were +11 on the board, outscored JSU 42-18 in the paint and secured 14 offensive rebounds. 6-foot-11 Jaime Echenique scored 10 of the first 12 Shocker points to begin the game – the last at the 13:42-mark of the first half – but spent the remainder of the night in foul trouble. Udeze stepped up in his place with one of the best games of a freshman season but suffered a season-ending shoulder inury soon after.

 OPENING STATEMENTS:

• WSU has won just under three-quarters of its season-openers all-time (85-29, .746), and over 80% (61-15, .803) in the modern era.
• WSU is 17-1 in home openers since Charles Koch Arena's 2003 renovation. The lone loss came in 2018 against Louisiana Tech.
• WSU is starting its 66th season at the Roundhouse (1955-pr.). The Shockers have lost just eight openers in that span (57-8, .877).
• Antoine Carr holds the school record for most points by a freshman in his Shocker debut (19). He dunked a school-record six times on Northern Michigan to help WSU to a 76-61 on Nov. 30, 1979.
• WSU's highest-scoring varsity debut came Dec. 1, 1972 at Oregon State when Bobby Wilson – a transfer from, Northeastern (Colo.) Junior College put up 29 points. Wilson went on to play parts of four NBA seasons with the Bulls, Celtics and Pacers.
• WSU opened its 2020-21 season behind closed doors with an 85-80 over eventual Sweet 16 participant Oral Roberts. Max Abmas -- the nation's leading scorer -- busted loose for 28 points on 6-of-11 three-point shooting, but WSU's Tyson Etienne was even better down the stretch, scoring 21 of his 26 points after halftime to help the Shockers overcome a nine-point deficit with 10:48 to play.
• As many as six Shockers could make their official debut s on Tuesday night: junior transfers Joe Pleasant and Qua Grant and freshmen Jalen Ricks, Kenny Pohto, Steele Gaston-Chapman and Isaac Abidde.
• Just three Shockers (Dexter Dennis, Tyson Etienne and Morris Udeze) have experienced a "normal" regular season home game with no capacity restrictions. The rest are in their first or second seasons.

TRENDING:

• Etienne made at least one free throw in every game during the 2020-21 season and has done so in 24-straight going back to his freshman year. That's the longest Shocker streak since Cleanthony Early's 27-gamer during the 2013-14 undefeated season.

WSU Players // Consecutive Games with a Free Throw (1996-Pr.)
58 -- Jamar Howard (2001-02 to 2003-04)
30 -- Maurice Evans (1997-98 to 1998-99)
29 -- Randy Burns (2002-03 to 2003-04)
27 -- Cleanthony Early (2013-14)
25 -- Jason Perez (1997-98)
24 -- Tyson Etienne (2019-20 to Present)

• Dexter Dennis opens the season as the American Athletic Conference's active leader in career threes. Etienne is fourth.

AAC Active Career Leaders // 3-Point Field Goals Made:
1. Dexter Dennis (Wichita St.) -- 141
2. Tyler Harris (Memphis) -- 138
3. Marcus Sasser (Houston) -- 135
4. Tyson Etienne (Wichita St.) -- 127
5. Darin Green (UCF) -- 121

 

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A SHOCKER WIN WOULD….

• ... Make them 1-0 for the 86th time in 115 seasons.
• ...Make them 58-8 in home openers at the Roundhouse including 18-1 since the renovation.
• ...Give them a 2-0 lead in the all-time series with JSU.
• ... Make WSU 60-3 at the Roundhouse against non-conference foes since Fall, 2011.
• ...Give them eight-consecutive regular season wins going back to last January.
• ...Extend their home winning streak to 10 games.

 
A SHOCKERS LOSS WOULD...

• ... Drop them to 0-1 for just the third time in the last.
• ... Be just the second time since 1996 that WSU team has lost its home opener (24-2).
• ... Be their first regular season loss since Jan. 21 at Memphis.
• ... Even the all-time series with JSU at 1-1.

 
UP NEXT:

• WSU meets South Alabama 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon at Charles Koch Arena (ESPN+) in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.