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Morris Udeze

Shockers Set to Turn Back the Clock Tuesday vs. Tulsa

1/31/2022 10:07:00 PM

TULSA (7-12, 1-7 AAC) at WICHITA STATE (10-8, 1-5 AAC)
Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022 | 8:05 p.m. CT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena (10,506)
 
Tickets: 316-978-FANS or goshockers.com/tickets
TV: ESPNU w/ Anish Shroff & Sean Harrington
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM (GoShockers.com/Listen) w/ Mike Kennedy & Dave Dahl
Live Stats: ShockerStats.com
Series: WSU leads 72-62 (41-23 in Wichita); Last: Jan. 13, 2021 (WSU, 72-53)
 
 
TICKETS:
Tickets are available for Tuesday night and all remaining home dates by calling 316-978-FANS or logging onto goshockers.com/tickets.
 
TELECAST:
The game will air on ESPNU with Anish Shroff (PxP) and Sean Harrington (Analyst) on the call.
Fans with ESPNU in their cable/satellite package can stream live and on demand via the ESPN App.
 
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. Pregame coverage begins one hour before tipoff.
 
 
OPENING TIPS:
  • WSU turns back the clock to the MTXE Era Tuesday night for a rivalry game against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
  • Shocker players will wear early 1980s replica uniforms.
  • MTXE (short for Mental Toughness Extra Effort) was a slogan coined by former Shocker head coach Gene Smithson (1978-86), whose teams included all-time greats such as Antoine Carr, Cliff Levingston, Xavier McDaniel and Aubrey Sherrod. Their chief rival during that time period was Tulsa, coached by Nolan Richardson and starring the likes of Steve Harris, Mike Anderson, Paul Pressey and Ricky Ross.
  • Tulsa is WSU's third-most-played opponent behind Drake (152 meetings) and Bradley (144). Tuesday marks the 135th game in a series that dates back to 1931. The Shockers have won three-straight and 15 of the last 17 to take a 72-62 lead.
  • It's been just over two decades since Tulsa last defeated the Shockers in Wichita (Dec. 8, 2001 in the final instalment at Henry Levitt Arena). The Hurricane have since lost nine-straight (8 at CKA, 1 at INTRUST Bank Arena).
  • Tuesday may be a throwback night, but both schools are eager to flip the calendar forward after a forgettable January, in which they combined to go 2-11.
  • Since 2012, WSU's .840 February winning percentage (63-12) is the third-highest in Division I behind Gonzaga (70-10, .875) and Vermont (61-11, .847).
  • This is the first of three games in five days for the Shockers who will travel to SMU for a Thursday makeup game then host the Mustangs on Saturday.
  • Tulsa picked up its first conference win on Saturday after an 0-7 start, blasting South Florida, 76-45 behind Jeriah Horne (23 pts) and Sam Griffin (21). The pair have combined for 48% of TU points this year.
  • Despite Tyson Etienne's 21 points and career-high seven threes on Saturday, WSU fell 67-66 at Tulane to drop to 1-5. The Shockers led by nine with 3:38 to go, but the hosts closed the game on a 10-0 run, capped by three Jalen Cook free throws with six seconds left.
  • WSU has held double-digit leads in five of its eight losses this year; three of them in conference play.
  • Craig Porter Jr. leads the team in assists (3.3) and has a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. He's averaging 10.2 points since the start of conference play
  • Leading rebounder Morris Udeze (11.2 ppg, 6.1 rpg) matched his career-high with 12 boards on Saturday.
  • Ricky Council IV was named to the AAC Honor Roll on Monday after scoring a career-high 31 points on 16-of-20 free throw shooting in Wednesday's win over UCF.
 
 
TRENDING:
  • Amazing, but true... WSU 6-5 (.545) this year when holding a lead of at least 10-points, compared to 4-3 (.571) in all other games.
  • Dexter Dennis is out to a slow start from three, hitting just 27% through the first three months of the season. That figure is nearly 75 points below his career average, but there's no need to panic. Dennis has traditionally at his best in February and March, where he's averaged 2.4 threes on 42.5% accuracy over the past three seasons. 

Dennis Career 3-Point Percentages, by Month:
November – 19 Games – 25/83 (.301)
December – 20 Games – 17/68 (.250)
January – 26 Games – 31/110 (.282)
February – 19 Games – 45/99 (.455)
March/April – 18 Games – 43/108 (.398)
TOTAL – 102 Games – 161/468 (.344)

  • Tyson Etienne has paced the Shocker scoring in 11 of his 17 games this year, including six of the last seven.
  • Etienne has connected on at least one triple in 15-straight contests. That's tied for the ninth-longest streak in school history.
  • WSU's 1-5 start to league play doesn't mean the season is over. The Shocker 2018-19 Shockers opened AAC play 1-6 but rallied for a 10-8 finish and reached the semifinals of the both AAC tournament at the NIT.
  • KenPom rates the Shocker defense 38th nationally in efficiency. WSU is holding opponents to low shooting percentages (48th in effective field goal percentage, 46.5%) and generating turnovers (69th, 18.8%) and blocks (31st, 13.4) at a high rate.
  • Over his last eight games, Craig Porter Jr. has a sparkling 3.09 assist-to-turnover ratio (34:11).
  • Dexter Dennis grabbed his 500th career rebound against Cincinnati and needs just 91 more points to reach 1,000. That would make him just the eighth Shocker guard with the combo of 1,000 points and 500 boards. Ron Baker was the last to do it back in 2016.
  • WSU's gang rebounding approach doesn't make for gaudy individual totals, but the Shockers are tied for the league lead in defensive rebound percentage (.722) after ranking last in 2020-21 (.674).
  • Seven different Shockers have taken a turn as leading rebounder this season and five have done it at least three times.
  • The Shockers are 6-0 when holding their opponent under 60 points but just 4-8 when surrendering 60+.
 
 
ON THIS DATE IN SHOCKER HISTORY: FEB. 1
1967 – After struggling to get into Des Moines, due to a blizzard, an apparently tired WSU team trailed Drake 60-56 with 3:56 to play, but then reeled off the final 15 points for a 71-60 win. The final margin was padded by two technical fouls on Drake in the final minute. Irate fans pelted the court with so much debris that officials halted the game with 11 seconds still on the clock.
 
 
SCOUTING TULSA:
  • Tulsa is in its eighth season under Frank Haith.
  • The Golden Hurricane won a share of the 2020 American Athletic Conference title with a 13-5 mark but slid to seventh-place last spring (7-9).
  • Tulsa is out to a 1-7 conference start in 2022, but KenPom.com considers the Hurricane one of the unluckiest teams in the nation (342nd out of 358), based on a formula that compares expected win total (based on statistics) to actual production.
  • The Hurricane are 1-8 in games decided by five points in either direction (0-5 in AAC play).
  • Tulsa has a powerful one-two scoring punch in senior forward Jeriah Horne and sophomore guard Sam Griffin.
  • The 6-7 Horne returned to Tulsa in the off-season after a year at Colorado where he helped the Buffs to an NCAA tournament appearance. He's the team's leading scorer (16.8 ppg) and rebounder (6.9).
  • The 6-3 Griffin spent the last two seasons at UT Arlington. He's putting up 16.1 points.
  • Horne and Griffin have accounted for nearly half of the Tulsa points this year and have combined to hit 86 of the team's 135 three-pointers on 39.4% accuracy.
  • Opponents have made over 38% of their threes against the Hurricanes this season and over 40% in conference play. Compare that to 2020, when Tulsa won a share of the AAC title by holding foes to 29.9% from deep.
  • 40.3% of opponent points come from three-pointers (9th-most nationally).
  • Haith's zone defense has had success producing turnovers. Per KenPom, opponents cough it up on 18.8% of possessions (26th nationally).
  • Tulsa is still in search of its first true road win. The Hurricane are 0-5 this year and have lost six-straight going back to last season.
 
 
MATCHUP MASHUP:
  • Tulsa freshman Sterling Gaston-Chapman is the younger brother of WSU walk-on guard Steele Gaston-Chapman. The duo helped lead Campus High School to an undefeated 2019-20 season. The Colts won their quarterfinal game at the Class 6A tournament (played at WSU's Charles Koch Arena) but the remainder of the event was canceled due to COVID-19.
  • Sterling has appeared in six games for Tulsa, while older brother Steele elected to redshirt this season.
  • Tulsa senior Darien Jackson was teammates with WSU's Joe Pleasant at Blue Valley Northwest High School. In 2017 (Jackson's senior year and Pleasant's junior year), the pair won the Class 6A state title (also played at WSU's Charles Koch Arena).
 
 
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD….
... Make them 11-8 with wins in 2-of-3.
... Make them 2-5 in AAC play after an 0-4 start.
... Up their home record to 8-5 (7-5 at CKA).
... Extend their series lead to 73-62 (8-1 AAC era).
... Be their fourth-straight vs. Tulsa and 16th in 18 tries.
... Be their 10th-straight vs. TLS in Wichita (42-23).
... Make them10-2 vs. Frank Haith.
 
A SHOCKERS LOSS WOULD...
... Drop them to 10-9.
... Match their worst AAC start at 1-6 (2018-19).
... Be their first loss to Tulsa in Wichita since 2001 and snap a nine-game home winning streak against the Golden Hurricane.
... Be less good than a win.
 
 
UP NEXT:
  • The Shockers continue a busy week with back-to-back games against SMU on Thursday in Dallas (6 pm. CT, ESPN+) and Saturday in Wichita (5 p.m. CT, ESPNU). The former is a makeup date for the Jan.23 contest which was postponed.
  • Call 316-978-FANS or visit gohockers.com/tickets to purchase seats.
  • WSU is 4-1 against the Mustangs since joining the AAC and leads the all-time series 8-6. The teams did not play last year due to multiple COVID-19 shutdowns at SMU.
  • The Shockers have won all three AAC era visits to Moody Coliseum, most recently on Mar. 1, 2020 when they rallied from a 24-point second-half deficit for an improbably 66-62 victory.
  • SMU's Feb. 5 visit to Wichita will be its first since Jan. 30, 2019 (1,102 days). WSU won that one, 85-83, on Samajae Haynes-Jones' last-second layup.
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