WICHITA, Kan. -- Wichita State unlocked the awesome power of passing in a 71-58 win over Norfolk State, Saturday evening at Charles Koch Arena.
 
The Shockers (7-2) banked a season-high 18 assists on 25 baskets and committed a season-low eight turnovers.
 
Morris Udeze and Tyson Etienne tallied 16 points-each to lead the scoring, while Craig Porter Jr. and Ricky Council IV both set new career-highs for assists with seven and six respectively.
 
"It's good to see that," head coach Isaac Brown said. "I like the fact that those guys are sharing the ball. We talked about that after our last loss (to K-State). We wanted to execute at a high level on offense."
 
Dana Tate, a transfer from Rhode Island, scored a game-high 22 points on 5-of-6 three-point shooting to lead defending MEAC champion, Norfolk State (9-3).
 
WSU shot 45.5 percent from the field and held the visiting Spartans to 37.0 percent.
 
Five Shockers combined for a season-high seven dunks. Udeze and Council had two-apiece and Dexter Dennis, Joe Pleasant and Kenny Pohto added one-each.
 
WSU entered the game ranked among the bottom-50 nationally in both assists (11.1) and assist-to-turnover ratio (0.76) and had finished with more assists than giveaways just once through the first eight games of the season (Nov. 13 vs. South Alabama; 13 assists, 12 turnovers).
 
The Shockers' assist number could have been much higher were it not for an 0-for-12 stretch late in the first half.
 
WSU used a 14-0 run to build up a 22-7 lead with 11:27 to play in the period but went the next 10 minutes without a field goal against NSU's matchup zone.
 
The Spartans crawled back to within half-a-dozen at the intermission, 29-23.
 
Brown made a key halftime adjustment against the zone by putting the ball in the hands of Council inside the key hole.
 
"He was matched up against a bigger guy, and he was able to drive the basketball and make some plays and get other guys shots," Brown said.
 
WSU shot 53.6 percent in the second half and came away with points on nearly 60 percent of its possessions to rebuild the lead. Council scored seven of his nine points and dished out four assists in that span.
 
Udeze made 5-of-7 shots and all six free throw attempts to go with a team-high seven rebounds.
 
"Mo is really scoring it on the block. The guards are getting him the ball, and he's doing a good job of staying out of foul trouble and making free throws"
 
Etienne busted out of his shooting slump to knock down 6-of-11 shots, including 4-of-9 three-point tries. He was +17
 
"The guys did a good job of getting him some wide-open looks, especially in transition," Brown noted. "When he can make shots, we can really start to score the basketball."
 
Dennis also finished in double figures with 10 points. He drilled his 150^th career three-pointer early in the game, becoming just the 10^th Shocker to reach that milestone.
 
Defensively, Dennis limited NSU's leading scorer Joe Bryant (14.7 points coming in) to nine points on 2-of-13 shooting.
 

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NOTABLE:
 
Dennis tied Jason Perez as the seventh-fastest Shocker to 150 career threes (94 games).
 
Etienne (149 career threes) has a chance to join the club on Tuesday night in what will be just his 62^nd game. Landry Shamet holds the record for fewest games to 150, doing so in his 69^th contest.
 
WSU clinched a winning non-conference record for the 23^rd consecutive season.
 
The Shockers improved to 3-0 against 2021 NCAA tournaments teams. The other two came on the road at Missouri and Oklahoma State. They'll look to make it 4-0 next Saturday when North Texas comes to town.
 
WSU extended its Roundhouse winning streak to 13 games – tied for the 10^th longest in the building's 66 seasons of use.
 
WSU is 107-10 in non-conference regular season games at Charles Koch Arena since its 2003 renovation.
 
This was the first-ever meeting between WSU and Norfolk State.
 
WSU has held six of its first nine opponents to less than 60 points.
 
Isaac Brown improved to 24-7 in parts of two seasons as head coach. It's the best 31-game start in the program's modern era (1945-pr.).
 
Udeze has scored in double-figures in each of his last four contests. He's averaging 15.8 points and 5.8 rebounds over that span while shooting 64.9 percent from the field (24-of-37).
 
Official attendance was 8,742 people and 553 teddy bears. Fans took turns flinging their stuffed animals onto the court at halftime as part of a special "Teddy Bear Toss." The toys will be donated to a local children's hospital.
 

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UP NEXT:
The Shockers continue their December homestand with dates against Alcorn State (Tuesday, Dec. 14, 7 p.m.), North Texas (Saturday, Dec. 18, 3 p.m.) and Prairie View A&M (Wednesday, Dec. 22, 6 p.m.). Tickets are still available for all three dates. The games will air on ESPN+.