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Shockers Take Aim at First American Conference Title Saturday

3/5/2021 2:35:00 PM

SOUTH FLORIDA (8-11, 4-9 American) at rv/rv WICHITA STATE (14-4, 10-2 American)
SATURDAY, MAR. 6, 2021 | 12:01 P.M CT
WICHITA, KAN. | CHARLES KOCH ARENA (25% Capacity)
TV: ESPN+
RADIO: KEYN 103.7 FM (GoShockers.com/Listen)
SERIES: WSU leads 4-1 (2-0 in Wichita)
LAST: Dec. 22, 2020 in Tampa, Fla. (WSU, 82-77 ot)
 
 
TICKETS:
Charles Koch Arena is capped at 25% capacity (2,625 fans). Single-game tickets are not available.
 
DOUBLEHEADER:
Fans can redeem their men's basketball ticket stubs for free admissions to Wichita State's 3 p.m. Saturday baseball game against Dixie State.
 
#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 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. Division I college basketball's longest-tenured duo, Mike Kennedy (pbp) and Dave Dahl (analyst) are in their 40th season together on radio. Kennedy is in his 41st season as Voice of the Shockers.
 
THE ISAAC BROWN SHOW:
Join Kennedy and 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).   Next:  March 8
 
 
OPENING TIPS:
  • The American Athletic Conference regular season title is on the line Saturday afternoon when the Wichita State Shockers play host to the South Florida Bulls.
  • A win would give WSU its first AAC title and the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament (Mar. 11-14 at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas).
  • A loss drops the Shockers into second-place and the tournament's No. 2 seed.
  • Win or lose, WSU will honor its four seniors afterward: Brycen Bush, Alterique Gilbert, Jacob Herrs and Trey Wade.
  • This is second time in four years that WSU has played for the AAC title on the final day of the regular season. The 11th-ranked Shockers fell to No. 10 Cincinnati, 62-61, on Mar. 4, 2018.
  • WSU is in search of its 12th modern era conference title (1945-pr.). The Shockers won at least a share of the regular season crown in five of their last six seasons in the Missouri Valley Conference (2012, 2014-17).
  • WSU plays at home for the first time since removing the interim tag from head coach Isaac Brown (Feb. 26).
  • As an assistant, Brown won conference titles in the MVC, WAC, Conference USA and Sun Belt.
  • The Shockers are 4-1 against South Florida, including 2-0 in Wichita. WSU is looking for a season sweep after winning the Dec. 22 matchup in Tampa (82-77 in OT) behind 25 points from Tyson Etienne.
  • WSU is riding the longest six-game winning streak in school history, last losing Jan. 21 at Memphis. During that stretch, eight conference games have been canceled or postponed by opposing schools.
  • Saturday's game was arranged earlier this week after WSU's originally-scheduled road game was scuttled due to a shutdown at Temple. The Bulls had been slated to play at Tulane.
  • WSU has had 10 AAC postponements due to COVID-19 protocol -- all of them the fault of the opposing team.
  • WSU has won eight-straight at CKA and also owns a 10-game conference home winning streak.
  • WSU is receiving votes in both major polls. Its 21 Coach es Poll points is the equivalent of No. 30 nationally.
  • The Shockers are coming off a 78-70 win at Tulane on Wednesday. Trey Wade scored a career-high 23 points and Alterique Gilbert recorded 12 assists (most by a Shocker in more than 30 years. Dexter Dennis (20 pts, 13 reb) and Morris Udeze (12 pts, 10 reb) both added double-doubles.
  • Etienne is averaging 17.2 points and 2.9 threes on 39.2% accuracy. He's the AAC's three-time player of the week.
  • Udeze (9.5 pts) is on pace to set a school record for field goal percentage (.636).
  • Gilbert (10.1 pts) leads the team in assists (4.1) and steals (1.4).
 
 
TRENDING:
  • At 14-4 Isaac Brown has tied Gary Thompson for the best start ever by a first-year Shocker head coach. Thompson, a longtime Ralph Miller assistant, made an immediate splash by leading WSU to the 1965 MVC title the Final Four.
  • WSU is once again receiving top-25 votes when it matters most. Shocker teams have earned March AP points in nine of the last 10 seasons.
  • WSU will finish the year with a 5-2 true road record. It's the 11th straight year that the Shockers finished .500-or-better on the road.
  • Tyson Etienne has made at least one free throw in every game this season and in 20-straight going back to last year.
  • Dexter Dennis needs just 12 more three-point field goals to move into the top-10 on WSU's all-time list. He has 132 currently (14th).
  • At Tulane on Wednesday, Dennis (20 pts, 13 reb) and Morris Udeze (12 pts, 10 reb) became the first Shockers to record double-doubles in the same game since Mar. 15, 2019. Dennis had 19 points and 12 rebounds in and Markis McDuffie put up 34 points and 12 boards in an AAC quarterfinal upset of Temple.
  • Dennis has come on strong of late. His 20 points at Tulane were a season-high and he's cleared double-doubles in two of the last three contests. 
  • Dennis has scored in double-figures five times during the Shocker's six-game winning streak and is averaging 13.0 points while shooting 37.5% from three (12-of-32).
  • The Shockers have made at least 40% of their threes in four straight games after doing so just twice in in their first 14 contests.
  • Alterique Gilbert's 12 assists at Tulane were a career-high and the most by a Shocker in just over 30 years. Robert George logged 12 in a win over Drake on Feb. 3, 1991. It's also the most assists ever tallied by a WSU player in a true road game.
  • Gilbert recorded his 300th career assist Wednesday and enters Saturday just one shy of USF's David Collins for the conference's active lead. 

American Athletic Conference // Active Career Assist Leaders:
302 -- David Collins (USF)
301 -- Alterique Gilbert (UConn/Wichita St.)
301 -- Dejon Jarreau (Houston)
299 -- Alex Lomax (Memphis)
290 -- Elijah Joiner (Tulsa)
287 -- Kendric Davis (SMU)
^=As of 3/6/2021; Stats accumulated while playing for an AAC school

 
 
SCOUTING USF:
  • USF is in its fourth year under Brian Gregory and won the 2019 CBI championship.
  • The Bulls are led by a highly-decorated senior, DavidCollins (12.1 ppg, 3.7 apg). He needs just four more points to become the seventh 1,500-point scorer in USF history. Collins is also fourth on USF's all-time steals list and is the AAC's all-time leader in free throws makes and attempts.
  • Alexis Yetna was conference freshman of the year in 2019 but has battled injuries the past two seasons. He's averaging 9.5 points and 7.3 rebounds.
  • Complementing Yetna are a pair of 7-foot center in Michael Durr (7.8 pgg, 7.3 rpg) and Texas Tech transfer Russel Tchewa.
  • Freshman guard Caleb Murphy is the team's third-leading scorer (8.8 ppg).
  • 6-6 senior wing Justin Brown (8.3 ppg) has appeared in 120 games (fourth-most in USF history).
 
 
MATCHUP MASHUP:
  • Two of the nation's best offensive rebounding teams clash. USF ranks 22nd (12.8) and WSU (12.7) is 27th.
  • David Collins and Justin Brown are the only players from either side who have logged time in all five series games between WSU and USF.
  • WSU does have a player who has faced USF five times -- UConn grad transfer Alterique Gilbert is averaging 8.8 points against the Bulls. He had 10 points and five assists in the Dec. 22 game in Tampa.
  • Both sides have a Frenchman. WSU redshirt freshman Josaphat Bilau is from La Roche-sur-Yon and USF's Alexis Yetna hails from Paris.
  • WSU sophomore Tyson Etienne and USF Sophomore Russell Tchewa spent the 2018-19 school year together at Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut.
 
 
ON THIS DAY IN SHOCKER HISTORY…
1964 – Tied atop the MVC standing with Drake, the Shockers won a one-game playoff at Allen Fieldhouse, 58-50, to secure the program's first NCAA tournament berth.
1965 -- Gary Thompson became the first (and so far only) Shocker head coach to win a conference title in his fist year on the job. The Shockers took a one-game lead into the final day of the regular season and won the title outright with a 76-74 victory over Drake.
2009 – WSU didn't go down without a fight. Trailing by 22 points with 16:41 to play in their MVC quarterfinal matchup against Creighton, and by eight points with 1:30 remaining, the Shockers roared back to take the lead, 62-61, on Toure' Murry's corner three. With 1.3 seconds to play, Creighton inbounded to Booker Woodfox, who dropped the pass, then took two dribbles and released a 15-footer (all in 1.3 seconds) for the game-winner.
2015 – Tekele Cotton became the 44th member of WSU's 1,000-point club, and the top-seeded Shockers dispatched Southern Illinois, 56-45, in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament in St. Louis.
 
 
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...
... clinch the AAC regular season title and the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament.
... make them 15-4 (11-2 AAC).
... extend their winning streak to seven with victories in 14 of their last 16 games.
... close out a 10-2 home slate and mark the 13th consecutive year that they've posted 10+ wins at CKA.
... up their home winning streak to nine and give the 11-straight AAC home wins.
... give them a series sweep of USF and a 5-1 lead in the all-time series (3-0 in Wichita).
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...
... drop them to 14-5 (10-3 AAC).
... snap a six-game winning streak.
... give them a second-place finish and the No. 2 seed in next week's conference tournament.
... snap an eight-game home winning streak and a 10-game conference home winning streak.
... give USF a series split and narrow WSU's lead in the all-time series to 4-2 (2-1 in Wichita).
 
 
UP NEXT:        
The Shockers will be in Fort Worth, Texas next weekend for the American Athletic Conference Championship (Mar. 11-14) at Dickies Arena.
 
IF WSU is the No. 1 seed:
Friday, Mar. 12 (11 a.m. CT, ESPN2) vs. the winner of [8] USF and [9] Temple.
 
IF WSU is the No. 2 seed:
Friday, Mar. 12 (6 p.m. CT, ESPNU) vs. the winner of [7] Tulsa and [10] Tulane.
 
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