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Dexter Dennis

Shockers Close Out Non-Conference Slate Wednesday

12/20/2021 5:08:00 PM

PRAIRIE VIEW A&M (0-9, 0-0 SWAC) at WICHITA STATE (8-3, 0-0 AAC)
Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2021 | 6:02 p.m. CT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena (10,506)
 
Tickets: GoShockers.com/Tickets or 316-978-FANS (3267)
TV: ESPN+ w/ Shane Dennis & Bob Hull
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM (GoShockers.com/Listen) w/ Mike Kennedy & Dave Dahl
Live Stats: ShockerStats.com
Series: WSU leads 3-0 (3-0 in Wichita); Last: Nov. 27, 1999 in Wichita (WSU, 93-69)
 

OPENING TIPS:
  • Wichita State closes out the non-conference portion of its schedule Wednesday against Prairie View A&M (6 p.m. CT, ESPN+).
  • This is the fourth meeting between the schools and the first in 22 seasons. The Shockers swept three games from the Panthers over a four-year span (1996-99) under former head coach Randy Smithson.
  • WSU is looking to bounce back from Saturday's 62-52 loss to North Texas -- its first at the Roundhouse in over a year. Morris Udeze scored 17 points to go with a career-high 12 from Craig Porter Jr. The Shockers led by as many as 10 points early in the second half before fading against a UNT team that ranks among the national leaders in scoring defense.
  • PVAM (0-9) is still in search of its first win but has played the nation's second-toughest schedule, per NCAA NET. The Panthers have won a share of three-straight Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) titles.
  • The Shockers have been excellent on the defensive end (No. 41 nationally, per KenPom). They force turnovers on 19.2% of opponent possessions (44th) and block 14.0% of all shots (32nd). Foes average just 61.4 points (50th) and are shooting 39.5% (64th) from the field and 28.8% from three (52nd).
  • Morris Udeze has scored in a double-figures in each of the last six games (a career-best). He's averaging 15.8 points on 61.8% shooting over that span.
  • Over his last three games, Craig Porter has 16 assists  (nine of them to Udeze) with just 1 turnover.
  • Porter's 2.12 assist-to-turnover ratio now ranks among the top-100 nationally (93rd as of Monday).
  • With three triples on Saturday, Tyson Etienne leap-frogged teammate Dexter Dennis on the all-time three-point list. Etienne (153) is tied with David Kyles for ninth -- one ahead of Dennis. The duo are closing in on recent grads Landry Shamet (159, 8th), Markis McDuffie (160, 7th) and Conner Frankamp (164, 6th).
 
 
LAST TIME OUT:
Dec. 18 in Wichita | North Texas 62, WSU 52
  • UNT held WSU scoreless for nearly 13 minutes during a 20-0 second-half run that flipped a 10-point deficit into a 10-point lead.
  • Morris Udeze's basket gave the Shockers a 39-29 edge with 18:09 to play in the game, but the hosts missed their next 12 shots and turned the ball over nine times. His three-point play with 5:24 left ended the drought, but by then it was too late.
  • A Mean Green squad that ranked among the national leaders in scoring defense (55.4 ppg coming in) salted the game away at the foul line, sinking 11-of-12 shots over the last 3:00.
  • Tylor Perry scored 23 points off the bench to lead UNT, which snapped the Shockers' 14-game Roundhouse winning streak.
  • For WSU, Udeze finished with 17 points and Ricky Council IV pulled nine rebounds.
  • Craig Porter Jr. scored 10 of his career-high 12 points in the first half to give WSU a 34-27 halftime lead. Both the game and Porter's ankle took a turn near the 16:00-mark of the second half. With its junior point guard on the bench nursing a sprain, the WSU offense sputtered.
  • The Shockers averaged 1.26 points-per-possession with three turnovers in the first half compared to 0.51 points and 12 turnovers on 35 second-half possessions.
  • The former MVC rivals (1957-75) met for the first time since 1982. UNT won in Wichita for the just the fourth time in 20 trip.
  • WSU lost for the first time under Isaac Brown when out-rebounding its opponent (14-1, 6-1 this year).
 
 
TRENDING:    
  • Heading into Wednesday, Craig Porter Jr. has gone 46 minutes, 21 seconds without a turnover (compared to 10 assists). His last came with 4:57 to go in the Dec. 11 win over Norfolk State when he forced a steal but threw an errant fast break pass.
  • The Shockers are coming off one of their best defensive rebounding performances of the year, snagging 83.9% of available boards against North Texas.
  • Unfortunately, UNT made the most of its limited opportunities Saturday. The Mean Green were only the second Shocker opponent to average more than a point-per-possession (1.016), joining UNLV (1.09).
  • UNT's 16.4% turnover rate was the second-lowest of the season by a WSU foe behind Kansas State (10.1%). The Shockers have forced 20+% in eight of their 11 contests.
  • As of Monday, WSU is one of just 30 teams that have not recorded at least one double-double this season.
  • Morris Udeze is averaging a team-best 13.1 points at home this year.
  • Udeze needs two more dunks to move into the top-10 on WSU's all-time list. He has 42 currently.
  • The Shockers are outscoring opponents by an average of 14.6 points-per-40-minutes with reserve forward Monzy Jackson on the floor. Porter (7.3, Ricky Council IV (5.6) and  Kenny Pohto (5.5) have the next-highest marks.
  • A victory on Wednesday would make Isaac Brown the fastest to 25 wins in the program's modern era -- tied with Gary Thompson.
 
 
THE SERIES WITH PRAIRIE VIEW A&M:        
  • This is the fourth meeting between the schools. WSU leads 3-0.
  • The Shockers faced the Panthers three times in a four-year span (1996-99) under former head coach Randy Smithson, all in Wichita. Average margin of victory was 24.0 points.
Dec. 21, 1996 at Levitt Arena | WSU 95, PVAM 62
The Shockers raced to a 20-point halftime lead and created further separation with a 15-0 run early in the second half. Freshman Darrin Williams led a group of five double-digit scorers with 16 points, and Jamie Arnold had a double-double (15 points, 12 rebounds). James Bunch enjoyed his best game as a Shocker with 12 points and seven boards in just 11 minutes. WSU held a 54-37 edge on the glass and outscored the visitors 33-8 at the free throw line, helped by 34 Panther fouls.
 
Nov. 22, 1997 at Levitt Arena | WSU 67, PVAM 52
Prairie View A&M returned all five starters from the first meeting and pushed the Shockers for 40 minutes. Jason Perez (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Williams (10 points, 10 rebounds) each had double-doubles to lead the Shockers. WSU committed 22 turnovers but forced 24. Likewise, the hosts shot just 40% but held the visiting Panthers to 33%. WSU led by six points with 2:30 to go but finished on an 11-2 run.
 
Nov. 27, 1999 at Levitt Arena | WSU 93, PVAM 67
Perez scored 24 points and Williams added 17 (all but one of them in the first half to give WSU a 44-24 halftime lead) to go with 12 rebounds. Gregory Burks accounted for 32 of the Panthers' 67 points on 12-of-24 shooting and also handed out six assists.
 

SCOUTING PRAIRIE VIEW A&M:
  • Prairie View A&M has won at least of share of three-straight SWAC regular season crowns. Their 2019 NCAA tournament appearance was the program's first in 21 years.
  • The Panthers return three starters from last year's squad which finished 16-5 (13-0 SWAC) but stumbled in the SWAC title game.
  • PVAM is picked second in this year's preseason poll behind Texas Southern, which earned 11 first-place votes to PVAM's nine.
  • SWAC preseason player of the year Juwaun Daniels is the team's leading scorer (13.9) and rebounder (4.0).
  • 6-7 super senior D'Rell Roberts averages 13.6 points to go with 10.3 from SMU transfer Will Douglas.
  • Fifth-year senior DeWayne Cox (7.7 ppg) is the team's defensive stopper, averaging 3.0 steals-per-game in just 23.3 minutes.
  • The Panthers are 0-9 but have faced the nation's second-toughest schedule, per NCAA NET, They've played six Quadrant 1 and two Quadrant 2 contests.
  • Eight of their nine games have been on the road. The exception was a neutral court matchup with Michigan in Washington D.C.
  • That schedule has put a damper on some of PVAM's team statistics. Out of 350 teams, the Panthers rank 346th in field goal percentage defense (.498), 347th in scoring margin (-20.8), 347th in rebound margin (-10.6), 348th in scoring defense (86.9 ppg), 349th in assists (7.9) and dead last in assist-to-turnover ratio (0.45).
  • PVAM makes its home debut Jan. 1 against Jarvis Christian and hosts its first Division I opponent a week later (Mississippi State). The Panthers have the nation's third-longest home winning streak (35), last losing Feb. 10, 2018 to Grambling State.
 
MATCHUP MASHUP: 
  • PVAM coach Byron Smith played collegiately at Houston and had a big game against the Shockers in the 1989-90 season opener at then-Levitt Arena. He scored 29 points on 13-of-21 shooting, including the go-ahead basket with 1:05 to play in a 67-66 Cougar victory.
  • PVAM assistant Spencer Robertson is a Wichita native and 2015 Wichita State graduate. He played with former Shocker Conner Frankamp at Wichita North High School.
 
 
ON THIS DATE: DEC. 22
  • WSU has played on Dec. 22 in nine of the last 10 years.  That's no coincidence. Players get a day to travel and can spend Christmas Eve and Day with family before returning to campus.
  • WSU is 18-12 all-time on this date, including 8-1 in this most-recent stretch. The lone loss came at VCU in 2018.
  • 1997– Freshman Maurice Evans scored 22 points on just eight shots in an 80-55 win over Drake at Levitt Arena. Evans was 7-of-8 from the field and 5-of-6 from three. His only miss came in the final minute.
  • 2003 – Fridge Holman finished with 10 points and nine assists and the host Shockers jumped out to a 16-2 lead in a 75-61 victory over Texas Arlington.
  • 2012 -- Playing at INTRUST Bank Arena, Wichita State overcame a 12-point second-half deficit against a Southern Miss team that would go on to win 27 games. The Final Four-bound Shockers held the Eagles to just four points over the last eight minutes of a 59-51 victory.
  • 2013 -- WSU notched win No. 12 in a 35-0 start, defeating  visiting NC Central, 77-66. Darius Carter scored 19 and Cleanthony Early paired 16 points with 10 rebounds.
  • 2014 -- Eight different Shockers made a three (a school record) and WSU routed Loyola Marymount, 80-53, in a quarterfinal matchup at the Diamond Head Classic in Honlululu, Hawaii. The Shockers were 11-of-24 from deep.
  • 2015 -- Helped by 38 Nevada fouls, WSU sank a school-record 44 free throws and tied another with 62 attempts in a 98-69 win. Fred VanVleet (10-of-12), Zach Brown (11-of-12)  and Ron Baker (7-of-7) did most of the work.
  • 2016 -- Landry Shamet made 6-of-10 threes for 21 points and the Shockers "held" South Dakota State's Mike Daum (the nation's leading scorer) to 20 points in an 89-67 win.
  • 2021 -- In the wildest of road wins, the Shockers rallied from 13 down in the first half, squandered a five-point lead in the final five seconds of regulation, then regrouped to beat South Florida in overtime, 82-77.
 
 
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…
... Make them 9-3 heading into conference play.
... Make them 6-2 at home (6-1 at CKA).
... Extend their series lead to 4-0 over PVAM.
... Give Isaac Brown his 25th win -- tied with Gary Thompson for the fastest that milestone in the program's modern era.
... Make WSU 16-0 against current SWAC members.
 
A SHOCKERS LOSS WOULD...        
... Drop them to 8-4 with consecutive losses.
... Be their first to PVAM in four tries.
... Be their first to a member of the SWAC.
... Be less good than a win.
 
 
UP NEXT:                              
  • WSU opens its American Athletic Conference title defense on Dec. 29 at East Carolina (6 p.m. CT, ESPN+).
  • WSU and ECU did not play in 2020-21. Scheduled games in December and February were called off due to COVID-19 issues within the ECU program.
  • The Shockers lead the series 5-0. They last played in Greenville on Feb. 6, 2019.
NEXT HOME GAME:
  • The Shockers return home New Years Day to take on Memphis. Seats are still available at goshockers.com/Tickets or 978-FANS
  • Fans are asked to help "stripe" Charles Koch Arena for the Memphis game by wearing their designated color:
    • YELLOW: Sections 101, 102, 105, 106, 110, 111, 114, 115, 118, 120, 122, 124
    • BLACK: Sections 103, 104, 107, 108, 109, 112, 113, 116, 117, 119, 121, 123, 125, 126
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