WICHITA STATE (9-3, 0-0 AAC) at EAST CAROLINA (9-3, 0-0 AAC)
Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021 | 6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET)
Greenville, N.C. | Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum
 
Tickets: ECUPirates.com
TV: ESPN+ w/ Patrick Johnson and Si Seymour
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM (GoShockers.com/Listen) w/ Mike Kennedy & Bob Hull
Live Stats: ShockerStats.com
Series: WSU leads 5-0 (2-0 in Greenville); Last: Jan. 1, 2020 in Wichita (WSU, 75-69)
 

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OPENING TIPS:

• Wichita State begins its American Athletic Conference title defense Wednesday at ECU (6 p.m. CT, ESPN+).
• The schools did not play at all 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 (2-0 in Greenville). This is their first visit to Minges Coliseum since Feb. 6, 2019.
• WSU capped a 9-3 non-conference slate with last Wednesday's 102-66 victory over Prairie View A&M. Tyson Etienne led a group of six double-digit scorers with 20 points and the Shockers reached the century mark for the first time since November, 2019. Kenny Pohto added 14 points, nine rebounds and three blocks to earn AAC freshman of the week honors for the second time this season.
• ECU (9-3) has a perfect 8-0 home record after last Tuesday's 68-67 win over Southern Miss and is led by sophomore guard Tristen Newton (17.9 ppg, 5.0 apg).
• WSU is 2-0 on the road with victories over 2021 NCAA tournament teams Mizzou and Oklahoma State.
• Second-year head coach Isaac Brown has continued WSU's tradition of road success (7-2). The Shockers' .778 percentage is tied for fifth-best nationally behind Gonzaga (7-0, 1.000), Baylor (8-1, .889), Drake (10-2, .833) and West Virginia (8-2, .800).
• WSU's four-game road winning streak is tied for the nation's fifth-longest, trailing only Gonzaga (7), West Virginia (7), New Mexico State (6) and NC State (5).
• The Shockers have been excellent on the defensive end (36th nationally, per KenPom). They force turnovers on 19.1% of opponent possessions (40th) and block 14.7% of all shots (25th). Foes average just 61.8 points and are shooting 39.4% from the field and 28.8% from three.
• AAC preseason player of the year, Tyson Etienne averages a team-high 14.7 points and just over 2.5 threes-per-game. He's topped 20 on three occasions, most recently against Prairie View A&M.
• Morris Udeze (14.7 ppg, team-high 5.9 rpg) has seven-straight double-figure scoring games and is averaging 15.9 points on 63% shooting over that span.
• Point guard Craig Porter Jr. (4.1 ppg, team-high 3.1 apg) has handed out 16 assists with just one turnover in his last three games but missed the Dec. 22 contest with a sprained ankle. His 2.12 ratio ranks among the top-100 nationally.
• Second-year guard Ricky Council IV will have a large cheering section. His hometown (Durham, N.C.) is less than two hours northwest of Greenville.

 

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TRENDING:

• Dexter Dennis matched a season-high with 14 points against Prairie View A&M (Dec. 22) and set another with nine rebounds. His 2-of-4 three-point shooting may be the most encouraging part of the stat line. Dennis had entered the day at just 24.4% from deep (11-of-45) after hitting nearly 36% in his first three seasons.
• Dennis needs just 12 more rebounds to reach 500 for his career. While less celebrated, there are fewer members of WSU's 500-rebound fraternity (42) than of its 1,000-point club (47).
• Joe Pleasant had started the first 11 games of the season before sitting out against PVAM (hamstring). Sophomore forward Monzy Jackson made his first-career start in place of Pleasant and responded with a career-high 15 points to go with eight rebounds and a pair of steals. Jackson's energy helped get the Shockers out to a fast start. He scored six points in a 9-2 run to open the game and had a team-high 13 in the first half as WSU built a 57-33 lead at the intermission.
• WSU outscored PVAM 69-34 (+35) during the 25 minutes, 38 seconds that Jackson was on the court, compared to 33-32 (+1) during the 14 minutes, 22 seconds he was on the bench.
• Jackson was both on and off the bench during the game's signature play. Midway through the first half, Jackson saved a ball in front of the WSU bench before bowling over three chairs and a couple of teammates. Within seconds he was back on his feet for a transition tip-dunk on the opposite end of the court.
• For the year, the Shockers are out-scoring opponents by an average of 20.6 points-per-40-minutes with Jackson on the floor.
• Tyson Etienne recorded his 15th career 20-point game against PVAM. WSU is 13-2 in those contests. Etienne topped 20 in 10 of the Shockers' 22 games last year (tied for the league lead).
• Etienne ranks fourth in the league leaderboard in minutes-per-game (35.4), fifth in threes-per-game (2.5) and tenth in scoring (14.7).
• With four steals against PVAM, Etienne matched his career-high set two years ago (Jan. 9, 2020 vs. Memphis).
• 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 fastbreak pass.
• Porter's ankle injury opened the door for Chaunce Jenkins to play a career-high 24 minutes. He responded with 11 points, three blocks and a steal in easily his most-impactful showing as a Shocker.
• Likewise, point guard Qua Grant shined with 8 assists in 30 turnover-free minutes. He became just the tenth Shocker in the last 25 seasons to bank eight-or-more assists without a giveaway. Fred VanVleet is responsible for three of those, highlighted by a triple-double performance against Missouri State (Feb. 7, 2015) that include 11 assists in just 24 minutes.

Most Assists w/o a Turnover // 1997-Pr.:
11 -- Fred VanVleet – Feb. 7, 2015 – Missouri St.
10 – Fred VanVleet – Jan. 8, 2014 – Illinois St.
9 – Fred VanVleet – Nov. 29, 2014 – Tulsa
9 – Joe Ragland – Feb. 23, 2011 – Creighton
8 – Qua Grant – Dec. 22, 2021 – Prairie View A&M
8 – Ricky Torres – Jan. 3, 2019 – at Memphis
8 – Rashard Kelly – Jan. 28, 2018 – Tulsa
8 – Ron Baker – Nov. 16, 2013 – Tennessee St.
8 – Clevin Hannah – Jan. 3, 2010 – Bradley
8 – Clevin Hannah – Nov. 30, 2009 – Alcorn St.

• Morris Udeze is the Shockers' leading scorer on a per-40-minute basis, averaging 20.0 points.
• Once upon a time, Udeze was one of the AAC's worst free throw shooters (46.4% in his first two seasons). This year he's one of the its best. The fourth-year forward ranks ninth on the league leaderboard at 72.5% (37-of-51). The turning point came during the COVID-19 pandemic. He used the down time to drill on free throw shooting and improved from 48.2% as a sophomore to 68% last season.
• Udeze dunked three times against PVAM to move into the top-10 on WSU's career list (45).
• WSU's 5.17 blocks-per-game is ahead of the school-record pace set by the 2013-14 Shockers who averaged 5.11-per-contest during their famous 35-1 season.
• Defense set in the tone in WSU road wins at Missouri (Nov. 26) and Oklahoma State (Dec. 1). The Shockers held the two hosts to an average of 53.0 points on 36% shooting, including 8-of-39 from three (.205).
• In each of WSU's nine wins, its opponent has finished with more turnovers than assists.
• K-State (11 A, 7 TO) and North Texas (13 A, 10 TO) both pulled out victories, in part by minimizing mistakes.
• The Shockers have held six of their last seven opponents under 40 percent from the field. It could have easily been seven-straight, but Alcorn State (Dec. 14) made an otherwise meaningless jumper with eight seconds remaining to finish at 40.4%.
• Six Shockers have earned an AAC freshman of the week honor in WSU's five seasons in the conference, but Kenny Pohto is the first to do it twice (Nov. 29, Dec. 27).
• WSU began the week as one of just 29 schools that haven't recorded a double-double this year. That streak nearly ended in the Prairie View game (Dec. 22), but Pohto (12 pts, 9 reb), Dennis (14 pts, 9 reb) and Jackson (15 pts, 8 reb) all came up short.
• The lack of double-doubles speaks, in part, to WSU's balance on the boards. Over the last six games, six-different Shockers have taken a turn as leading rebounder.
• Shocker teams have routinely dominated the defensive glass over the years. WSU led The American in defensive rebounding percentage two of its first three seasons after joining the league, finishing at .774 in 2018 and .759 in 2020. So it came as a surprise to see the Shockers slip to dead-last out of 11 teams in 2021 (.647). Brown placed a heavy emphasis on rebounding over the off-season and again has WSU atop the heap in 2021-22 with a league-best .745 percentage.
• The Shockers enjoyed one their best defensive rebounding performances of the year, snagging 83.9% of available boards against North Texas (Dec. 18) and followed it up with an 82.1% showing against PVAM.
• WSU has held 10 of its 12 opponents to less than a point-per-possession. North Texas (1.016) and UNLV (1.09) are the two exceptions.
• UNT's 16.4% turnover rate was the second-lowest of the season by a WSU foe behind K-State (10.1%). The Shockers have forced 20+% in nine of their 12 contests.
• The Prairie View A&M game helped restore from confidence. The Shockers set season-highs for both first-half (57) and second-half points (45) and reached the century mark for the first time since Nov. 16, 2019 when they hung 103 on UT Martin.
• WSU also set or tied season-bests for field goals (31), field goal percentage (.477), three-point field goals (12), free throws (28), free throw attempts (37), total rebounds (47), rebound margin (+17), assists (20), blocks shots (9) and steals (12).

THREES COMPANY:

• Tyson Etienne (155 career threes) and Dexter Dennis (154) are both in the top-10 on WSU's career triples list and have a chance to reel in recent Shockers Landry Shamet (8th, 159), Markis McDuffie (7th, 160) and Conner Frankamp (6th, 164) over the next few games.
• On Dec. 14, Etienne became the fastest Shocker to 150 threes (62 games), besting Shamet by seven games.

WSU Career Leaders // 3-Point Field Goals:
1. Randy Burns (2001-05) -- 248
2. Ron Baker (2012-16) -- 242
3. Sean Ogirri (2004-07) -- 200
4. Terrell Benton (1998-02) -- 197
5. Jason Perez (1996-00) -- 196
6. Conner Frankamp (2015-18) -- 164
7. Markis McDuffie (2015-19) -- 160
8. Landry Shamet (2015-18) -- 159
9. Tyson Etienne (2019-Pr.) -- 155
10. Dexter Dennis (2018-Pr.) -- 154

 

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SCOUTING THE PIRATES:

• Picked last in the preseason AAC poll, ECU (9-3) has already surpassed its win total from last year's COVID-shortened season when it finished 8-11 (2-10).
• ECU lost three-time all-AAC performer Jayden Gardner to the transfer portal but returned four other starters who averaged at least 8.0 points, including JJ Miles (9.8 ppg) and Brandon Suggs (9.6).
• Sophomore guard Tristen Newton has been a breakout performer, averaging 17.9 points (AAC No. 3) and 5.0 assists (AAC No. 5), up from 8.7 and 4.3 last year.
• ECU added an experienced transfer in 6-9 Vance Jackson (10.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg) who comes to Greenville by way of UConn, New Mexico and most recently Arkansas.
• 6-8 Freshman Brandon Johnson (6.3 ppg) is the team's leading rebounder at 7.5 per-contest after spending last season in the junior college ranks.
• 6-1 Garden City (Kan.) CC product Tremont Robinson-White averages a team-best 1.9 steals.
• ECU owes much of its improvement to three-point shooting (.365), an area where past Pirate teams consistently struggled. From 2017-18 to 2020-21 ECU finished 338th (.305), 348th (.284), 344th (.281) and 308th (.304) in three-point accuracy.
• ECU has also produced at the foul line. The duo of Newton (64) and Suggs (58) combined to sink 99 free throws during non-conference play on 81.1% accuracy.
• Joe Dooley's squad is sharing the ball with assists on 61.3% of their baskets (19th per KenPom).
• According to KenPom's roster height rankings, ECU has the AAC's tallest team, averaging 6-feet-5.3-inches.
• The Pirates have played the nation's 326th-toughest schedule (out of 350), according to the NCAA's NET calculations. ECU is 9-0 in Quadrant IV contests but missed out on a pair of potential signature wins in the Myrtle Beach Invitational with closely-contested losses to Oklahoma (No. 39 in the NET) and Davidson (44).
• Dooley is in his fourth and eighth year coaching ECU. He led the program from 1995-99 and returned in 2018. In between, he spent 10 seasons as a Kansas assistant under Bill Self (2003-13) before guiding Florida Gulf Coast to five-straight 20-win seasons (2013-18).

MATCHUP MASHUP:

• This is the sixth chapter of the "War on I-35 to I-435 to I-70 to I-77S to US-52S to I-40E to I-264E." Wichita and Greenville, N.C. are separated by 1,300 miles; an easy  20 hour drive (pit stops not included).
• ECU is one of four American rivals that WSU had never faced prior to joining the league (UCF, USF and Tulane).
• WSU is 5-0 against Joe Dooley. In December, 2017, Dooley's final FGCU team put a scare into the 11th-ranked Shockers at CKA, leading by seven points with 13:00 to go. WSU recovered to win 75-65.
• WSU second-time freshman Ricky Council IV is a Durham, N.C. native. Durham and Greenville are separated by less than two hours.
• Because the teams did not play last year, only three current Shockers have faced ECU. Dexter Dennis is the lone holdover from WSU's last visit to Greenville two years ago. He averaged 10.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg in three meetings with the Pirates during his freshman year but was inactive when the team's met the following year in Wichita (Jan. 1, 2020). Tyson Etienne scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds in that game and Morris Udeze came off the bench with nine points and four boards.
• Former Shocker Gabe Blair – a starter on the 2011 NIT Championship team – played his first two collegiate seasons at ECU before transferring to WSU.

THE SERIES WITH ECU:

• This is meeting No. 6 in a series that began with WSU's 2017 addition to the AAC. The Shockers are 5-0 and have won both trips to Greenville, N.C.
• The teams did not play in 2021 after to a pair of ECU COVID-19 shutdowns. Due to the league's unbalanced schedule, WSU last played at ECU in February, 2019.

Jan. 1, 2020 | Wichita | #24 WSU 75, ECU 69
An all-around effort from Erik Stevenson (17 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals, 1 block) helped WSU survive an ECU upset bid... Jayden Gardner scored 20 of his 29 points after halftime and the Pirates led 45-44 with less than 13:00 to play before WSU took control.
 
Mar. 14, 2019 | Memphis, Tenn. | WSU, 73-57
Markis McDuffie scored 15 points on 11-of-12 foul shooting to lead the sixth-seeded Shockers past No. 11 seed ECU in the first round of the AAC tournament... The Shockers led 39-27 at the break and by 26 near the 12:00-mark before resting the regulars... WSU outscored ECU 14-2 off turnovers and 23-4 on second-chances, helped by 17 offensive rebounds. WSU was +12 on the glass and its three centers combined for 27 points and 18 rebounds... Jayden Gardner led ECU with 16 points, six boards.
 
Mar. 5, 2019 | Wichita | WSU, 72-55
Using depth and defense, the Shockers overcame a cold shooting performance to win on senior night... McDuffie scored 16 points in his final home game... Isaac Fleming had 17 for ECU and Rico Quinton posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds... WSU shot 39% but held ECU to 36% on 3-of-15 three-point shooting and out-rebounded the Pirates 47-37... WSU used a 14-4 surge to go up 32-18 late in the first half and coasted.
 
Feb. 6, 2019 | Greenville | WSU, 65-49
Samajae Haynes-Jones hit his first seven shots on his way to a team-high 18 points, and WSU out-rebounded ECU by 19... Asbjørn Midtgaard grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds and Jaime Echenique provided 10... The Shockers won despite shooting just 39.7% but held ECU to 34.6%... They led 34-20 at halftime and extended the margin to as many as 21 points late in the second half.
 
Jan. 11, 2018 | Greenville | #5 WSU 95, ECU 60
WSU recorded 32 assists on 38 baskets to win the first-ever meeting between the programs. Landry Shamet finished with 11 points and a career-high 11 assists with just one turnover. Rauno Nurger scored a team-high 14 points. WSU shot 59.4% including 70% (21-of-30) after halftime. The Shockers trailed 14-9 at the 12:06-mark but outscored ECU 36-9 over the remainder of the first half. They led by as many as 41 points down the stretch.
 

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ON THIS DATE IN SHOCKER HISTORY (DEC. 29)
1962 – The largest crowd in Roundhouse history – 11,357 – watched the 16th-ranked Shocker upset No. 2 Ohio State, 71-54. Wichita shot 58.3 percent and limited OSU to 44 percent. Sophomore All-American Dave Stallworth scored 22 points for the Shockers, who jumped to a 19-9 lead and were never threatened.
 

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A SHOCKER WIN WOULD….
... Make them 10-3 on the year (1-0 AAC).
... Give them eight-straight conference wins.
... Extend their road winning streak to five.
... Make them 3-0 on the road this year and 8-2 in parts of two seasons under Isaac Brown.
... Give Brown the best 35-game start in WSU's modern era (26-9).
... Make WSU 6-0 all-time vs. ECU (3-0 in Greenville).
… Make WSU 6-0 vs. Joe Dooley (5-0 at ECU, 1-0 at FGCU).
... Give them a 4-1 record in AAC openers with three-straight wins.
 
A SHOCKERS LOSS WOULD...
... Drop them to 9-4 (0-1 AAC).
... Put them below .500 in league play for the first time since March, 2019.
... Snap a four-game road winning streak and make them 2-1 on the road this year and 7-3 under Brown.
... Be their first loss to ECU (5-1, 2-1 in Greenville).
… Be their first to Dooley (5-1).
... Be less good than a win.
 

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UP NEXT:

• 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