#14/15 HOUSTON (21-4, 10-2 AAC) at WICHITA STATE (13-10, 4-7 AAC)
Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022 | 12:01 p.m. CT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena (10,506)
 
Tickets: 316-978-FANS or goshockers.com/tickets
TV: ESPN w/ Mike Corey & Mark Adams
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM (GoShockers.com/Listen) w/ Mike Kennedy & Dave Dahl
Live Stats: ShockerStats.com
Series: WSU leads 18-16 (13-3 in Wichita); Last: Jan. 8, 2022 in Houston (UH, 76-66)
 

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TICKETS:
Purchase online at goshockers.com/tickets or through the Shocker Ticket Office at 316-978-FANS. WSU is offering a special flash sale through midnight Saturday. General Admission tickets have been marked down to $5 and reserved seats are just $10.
 
TELECAST:
The game will air on ESPN with Mike Corey (PxP) and Mark Adams (Analyst) on the call.
Fans with ESPN 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.
 

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OPENING TIPS:

• Wichita State prepares for a high-Noon showdown with 14th-ranked Houston, Sunday at the Roundhouse.
• WSU will suit-up in its road jerseys as part of a BLACKOUT theme. Fans are encouraged to wear black, as well.
• Five of the last six foes that have brought AP rankings to Wichita have left with a loss.
• Houston was the most-recent victim. On Feb. 18 of last year, the Shockers upset the sixth-ranked Cougars, 68-63, to take over first-place in the AAC race.
• The Shockers are looking to bounce back from Thursday's 85-76 loss at Cincinnati. Ricky Council IV scored 17 points, but WSU was unable to keep pace with the Bearcats' offensive onslaught, which included an 11-of-19 performance from three-point range. The hosts made 7-of-8 threes to take a 32-11 lead after just 9:00. WSU cut it to three before halftime but got no closer.
• WSU has won its last four home games, including an a 72-57 win over second-place SMU.
• Helped, in part, by that Shocker win, UH (10-2) enters the weekend with a one-game lead over SMU (9-3) in the AAC standings. The Cougars lead the nation in field goal percentage defense (.365) and rank fifth in fewest-points allowed (58.0).
• Some good news: The Shockers lead the all-time series with Houston, 18-16. Bad news: They're just 2-7 in AAC era games. But more good news: WSU has won two of the three AAC meetings in Wichita (13-3 all-time).
• UH took the Jan. 8 game in Houston, 76-66, behind Josh Carlton's 22 points and 12 rebounds. Tyson Etienne had 11 points and three steals to lead WSU.
• A pair of Shockers teammates are closing in on 1,000 career points. Etienne needs 17 more, and Dexter Dennis is 38 point shy.
• Etienne (189 threes) needs just seven more to catch Jason Perez (196) for fifth-place on WSU's career list.
• Morris Udeze (10.7 ppg, team-high 6.0 rebounds) recorded his 50th career dunk on Thursday. Since 1976 -- when the NCAA unbanned the slam dunk -- just eight other Shockers have reached that milestone.
• Council is the league's highest-scoring reserve (11.5 ppg). He's been the Shockers' leading scorer in five of the last seven games, averaging 15.7 points during that stretch.
• Point guard Craig Porter Jr. leads WSU in the unusual combo of assists (3.6), blocks (1.05) and steals (1.0). He's one of just seven players nationally who are averaging at least 3.0 assists, 1.0 block and 1.0 steal.

 

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NOW SERVING NUMBER...

• Going back 20 years, WSU is 9-2 at home against AP top-25 teams.

WSU at Home vs. AP Top-25 Team // 2000-Pr.:
2/15/2003 -- #12 Creighton -- W, 80-74 (at Kansas Coliseum)
12/19/2009 -- #16 Texas Tech -- W, 85-83
1/19/2010 -- #20 Northern Iowa -- W, 60-51
12/4/2011 -- #18 UNLV -- W, 89-70
12/31/2011 -- #21 Creighton -- L, 61-68
1/19/2013 -- #12 Creighton -- W, 67-64
2/28/2015 -- #10 Northern Iowa -- W, 74-60
12/12/2015 -- #25 Utah -- W, 67-50 (at INTRUST Bank Arena)
3/4/2018 -- #10 Cincinnati -- L, 61-62
1/9/2020 -- #21 Memphis -- W, 76-67
2/18/2021 -- #6 Houston -- W, 68-63
2/20/2022 -- #14 Houston     

• Over the last 10 seasons, WSU has the nation's third-best home winning percentage against nationally-ranked opponents (5-1, .833) -- minimum five games played. A win over UH would move them into a tie for first.

Home Winning Percentage vs. AP Top-25 Opponents // Last 10 Seasons // Min. 5 GP:     
1. Kansas (36-6) -- .857          
2. Oregon (11-2) -- .846         
3. Wichita St. (5-1) -- .833     
4. Villanova (19-4) -- .826      
5. San Diego St. (8-2) -- .800  
6. Duke (16-6) -- .727 
7. Virginia (18-7) -- .720         
t8. Gonzaga (5-2) -- .714        
t8. New Mexico (5-2) -- .714 
10. Kentucky (14-6) -- .700    
As of 2/18/2022 // Data Source: College Basketball Reference PlayIndex

 

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ON THIS DATE IN SHOCKER HISTORY: FEB. 20         
2019 – Visiting WSU rained down 15 threes on Tulsa's zone defense to tie the school's single-game record in an 81-60 thrashing at the Reynolds Center. Dexter Dennis (6-of-9) and Samajae Haynes-Jones (5-10) combined for 11 of them.
 
TRENDING:

• Despite not having a true rim protector, WSU averages 4.9-per-game as a team and ranks among the top-40 nationally. Only one Shocker team has averaged more over a full season: the 2013-14 undefeated team, which swatted a school-record 5.11 shots-per-night.
• In the 42 years that WSU has tracked season block totals just four sets of teammates have both averaged over a block-a-game. Antoine Carr was a part of three of those pairings. Craig Porter Jr. (1.05), Morris Udeze (1.00) and Dexter Dennis (1.00) have a chance to be the first trio.
• Porter has averaged 5.3 assists over his last four games. Seven of his 21 dimes over that stretch have gone to Tyson Etienne.
• Council's four steals vs. Cincinnati were a new personal-best.

 
SCOUTING HOUSTON:

• Houston lost four starters from last year's team which finished 28-4 and advanced to the program's first Final Four since 1984. The other – first team all-conference guard Marcus Sasser – suffered a season-ending toe injury in December. Prior to his injury, Sasser was averaging 17.7 points and leading the conference in steals (2.2), three-pointers (3.75) and three-point percentage (.437).
• Still, the Cougars (21-4, No. 5 in the NCAA NET ratings) keep churning out wins. They hold a one-game lead over SMU in the conference standings and are ranked 14th in the latest AP top-25 poll and 15th in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
• 6-8 forward Fabian White is two years removed from a torn ACL that sidelined him for a large chunk of last season. He's averaging 11.9 points, 6.0 rebounds and is tied for the team lead with 31 blocks.
• A handful of impact transfers have also helped elevate the team:
• Former UConn forward Josh Carlton (12.0 ppg is the Cougars' leading rebounder (6.4) and averages a league-best 3.16 offensive rebounds-per-game.
• 6-foot-4 Kyler Edwards is a physical defender and the team's new leading scorer (14.0 ppg). The former honorable mention All-Big 12 pick led Texas Tech in threes last season and is averaging 2.8 on 37% accuracy in his first go-around with Houston.
• 6-5 shooting guard Taze Moore was a first team All-Big West selection last year at CSU Bakersfield and twice made the league's all-defensive team.
• True freshman point guard Jamal Shead leads the conference and ranks among the top-25 nationally in in assists (5.4) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.73).
• The Cougars have outscored foes by an average of 21.7 points (fourth nationally) and rank among the national leaders in scoring defense (8th, 57.0), field goal percentage defense (10th, 37.2) and turnover margin (11th, 5.9). They also lead the AAC in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.48), rebound margin (+8.0) and steals (9.5).
• Houston boasts three of the league's top-10 rebounders in 6-7 redshirt freshman J'Wan Roberts (5th 6.53), White (7th, 6.00) and Edwards (10th, 5.86).

 
THE SERIES WITH HOUSTON:

• The teams have played 33 times. WSU leads 18-16.
• One (or both) teams have been nationally-ranked for all 10 AAC era clashes (WSU 4x, UH 7x).
• The Shockers are 2-7 in AAC era matchups with UH but have won two of the three games in Wichita.
• The former Missouri Valley Conference rivals faced off 20 times during a 10-year overlap from 1950-60.  (1950-60). The Shockers won 13.
• WSU is 8-2 against UH at the Roundhouse (1955-pr.). The Shockers are 13-3 overall against UH in Wichita with two of the three losses coming by a single point.
• The Cougars have played NCAA tournament games in Wichita on five occasions (1966, '67, '71, '73 and 2018), going a combined 4-3... In 1968, senior Elvin Hayes scored 74 points in Midwest Regional wins over Louisville and TCU to send the UH to the Final Four... In 2018, WSU hosted First & Second round games at INTRUST Bank Arena. The Cougars opened with a win over San Diego State but lost to national runner-up Michigan at the buzzer on Jordan Poole's halfcourt heave, 64-63.

 
LAST MEETING IN WICHITA:
Feb. 18, 2021 (Wichita) | WSU 68, #6 Houston 63
Dexter Dennis provided the signature play in Wichita State's signature win of the 2020-21 season... Tyson Etienne and Alterique Gilbert scored 16-each for the Shockers, who took over first-place in the AAC standings (on their way to the regular season crown) and bolstered their postseason resume en route to an eventual at-large bid. Within the week, WSU removed coach Isaac Brown's interim tag... Dennis tallied 12 points, six rebounds and two steals – the last with 15 seconds to play and WSU clinging to a one-point lead. He took a hard flagrant-2 foul from Houston's Justin Gorham on the ensuing fastbreak but converted two free throws with 11 seconds left. WSU kept possession and Etienne nailed two more for the final margin... WSU defeated a top-6 opponent at home for the first time since Feb. 25, 1967 (No. 2 Louisville)... DeJon Jarreau scored 16 points to lead Houston, which wouldn't lose again until the Final Four... WSU made 10-of-22 threes and won the rebounding battle, 35-33, and outscored UH 18-5 off of free throws... WSU trailed by as many as 12 at the 5:37-mark of the first half but made seven-straight three-point attempts over the next eight minutes. Gilbert buried the last for a 44-34 advantage with 16:57 to play... UH rallied to within a possession on six occasions but never again led. Grimes banked in a three with 21 seconds left to make it 64-63. Etienne missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but Dennis' steal saved the day.
 
LAST MEETING:
Jan. 8, 2022 (Houston) | #12 Houston 76, WSU 66
Houston held off WSU's late charge to extend its home winning streak to 34 games... The Cougars converted 11 of WSU's 14 turnovers into points (26 total)...Tyson Etienne (11 points) and Dexter Dennis (10) paced WSU, which who saw its four-game road winning streak snapped... UH's Josh Carleton led the way with 22 points and 12 rebounds and Jamal Shead tallied seven assists and four steals, including a game-changer with 4:00 left that snapped a 9-0 WSU run... The Shockers had clawed to within six and had a chance to make it a one-possession game. Instead Shead jumped a perimeter pass and turned it into a layup on the opposite end... Carlton converted a three-point play on the next trip down to ice the game for Houston... Monzy Jackson added nine points and a team-high eight rebounds off the bench for WSU, and Craig Porter Jr. paired eight points with a team-best four assists... WSU shot 40.4% and sank 14-of-17 free throw tries. Houston finished at 45.3% and knocked down 12-of-17 freebies... The Cougars won the battle of the boards, 40-35, and turned 17 offensive rebounds (10 of them by Carleton) into 19 points... UH opened the game on an 8-0 run and never trailed...  The game aired nationally on CBS.
 

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A SHOCKER WIN WOULD….
... Make them 14-10 (5-7 AAC after an 0-4 start).
... Make them 6-1 at home vs. AP top-25 teams over the last 10 years (tied with Kansas for the best winning percentage in that span) and 10-2 since 2000.
... Make them 33-32 at the Roundhouse (1955-pr.) vs. AP top-25 teams.
... Make them 19-16 all-time vs. UH (3-7 AAC era).
... Make them 14-3 vs. UH in Wichita (3-1 AAC era).
... Up their home record to 11-5 w/ 5-straight wins.
 
A SHOCKERS LOSS WOULD...
... Drop them to 13-11 (4-8 AAC).
... Snap a four-game home winning streak.
... Give UH the season sweep.
... Narrow their series lead over UH to 18-17.
... Be less good than a win.
 

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UP NEXT:

• The Shockers have the mid-week off before returning to action next Sunday, Feb. 27 at Memphis. Tipoff for that game has been moved up 30 minutes to 1:30 p.m. CT. and the game will air on ESPN2.