WICHITA STATE (13-12, 4-9 AAC) at TULSA (9-18, 3-13)
Wednesday, Mar. 2, 2022 | 8:05 p.m. CT
Tulsa, Okla. | Donald W. Reynolds Center
 
Tickets: tulsahurricane.com
TV: ESPNU w/ John Schriffen & Sean Harrington
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM (GoShockers.com/Listen) w/ Mike Kennedy & Bob Hull
Live Stats: ShockerStats.com
Series: WSU leads 73-62 (30-36 in Tulsa); Last: Feb. 1, 2022 in Wichita (WSU, 58-48)
 

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OPENING TIPS:

• The Wichita State Shockers make the short ride to Tulsa Wednesday night to take on the Golden Hurricane inside the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
• Tyson Etienne scored his 1,000th career point and Craig Porter Jr. tied a school record with seven steals in Sunday's 81-57 setback at Memphis.
• WSU (4-9) could be anywhere from a No. 7 to a No. 11 seed in next week's American Athletic Conference Championship. The Shockers (who finish up Saturday at home against ECU) are no worse than No. 8 if they win out and could climb to No. 7 if Cincinnati loses its both road games at Houston and SMU. A loss in either of the next two drops WSU to No. 9. If the Shockers lose twice, they could still be overtaken by both Tulsa and USF, should either win (or both) win out.
• The Shockers are 4-4 in conference home games but are still in search of their first road victory (0-5). They defeated a pair of 2021 NCAA tournament teams during non-conference play (Mizzou and Oklahoma State).
• WSU and Tulsa square off for the 136th time since 1931.  Tulsa is WSU's third-most-played opponent behind Drake (151) and Bradley (142), and the teams have met in each of the last 12 seasons going back to 2010.
• The Shockers lead the series, 73-62 and have won four-straight and 16 of 18. They're 8-1 in the AAC era.
• WSU is 6-4 all-time at the Reynolds Center.
• Tulsa is at home for the first time since Feb. 12 after a stretch of four-straight road games. The Hurricane are 7-7 at home (vs. 1-10 on the road).
• KenPom has WSU 42nd in its defensive efficiency rankings.
• Etienne (team-high 14.9 ppg) ranks second in the AAC and among the top-50 nationally in threes (2.75). He needs just seven more treys to reach 200 for his career.
• Fourth-year guard Dexter Dennis is 29 points shy of 1,000 and would be just the eighth guard in school history with the combo of 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
• Council has led the Shocker scoring in three-straight and six of the last eight games. Over that stretch he's averaging 15.6 points.
• Porter leads the team in the unusual combo of assists (3.7), blocks (1.1) and steals (1.6).
• Morris Udeze (10.2 ppg) is the team's top rebounder at 6.0-per-contest. He had 11 at Memphis Sunday.

 
ON THIS DATE IN SHOCKER HISTORY: MAR. 2
1963 – No. 8 Wichita scored a 73-72 road upset at No. 3 Loyola Chicago on the final day of the regular season.
1987 – Two days removed from a 19-point comeback against Creighton, the Shockers summoned more magic to defeat Illinois State in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament semifinals at Levitt Arena. Down 15 with 14:32 remaining, WSU stormed back to win 56-53 and secured an automatic bid the NCAA tournament two nights later with an overtime upset at Tulsa.
 
ON THE WAY TO 1K:

• Tyson Etienne became the 48th member of WSU's 1,000-point club on Feb. 27 at Memphis.
• Dexter Dennis needs just 29 more to become No 49 and would be just the eighth Shocker guard with the combo of 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. He has 971 points and 545 boards heading into Tuesday.

Shocker Guards w/ 1,000 Points + 500 Rebounds:
Al Tate (1957-60) -- 1,139 pts, 774 reb
Kelly Pete (1963-66) -- 1,169 pts, 535 reb
Warren Armstrong (1965-68) -- 1,391 pts, 839 reb
Jason Perez (1996-00) -- 1,839 pts, 659 reb
P.J. Couisnard (2004-08) -- 1,303 pts, 685 reb
Toure' Murry (2008-12) -- 1,539 pts, 626 reb
Ron Baker (2012-16) -- 1,636 reb, 521 reb

• Etienne was the first new entry to the club since Markis McDuffie on Dec. 8, 2018.
• The nearly 39-month gap (1177) was the longest between 1,000-point scorers in program history, topping the three years and one day between Jason Perez (Jan. 9, 1999) and Terrell Benton (Jan. 10, 2002).
• Dennis now has a chance to set the opposite record. If he scores at least 29 at Tulsa, it would be the shortest gap between 1,000-point scorers (three days) and the first time that two Shocker teammates have joined the club in consecutive games.
• If Dennis reaches 1,000 on Saturday (six days) it would tie Xavier McDaniel (Jan. 30, 1984) and Aubrey Sherrod (Feb. 5, 1984).

TRENDING:

• Five of the Shockers' 13 conference tilts have been one-possession games at some point in the final 60 seconds. They've lost all five. The most-recent came Feb. 20 against No. 14 Houston. Craig Porter Jr. hit a game-tying three with 5 seconds left in double-overtime, but the Cougars went the length of the floor for a game-winning dunk with 1.2 seconds on the clock.
• WSU's 15 steals at Memphis were its highest output since forcing 16 in a Dec. 5, 2019 win over Central Arkansas. It marked the seventh time this season that the Shockers have forced double-digit steals.
• Porter has handed out at least four assists in 10 of his last 11 games. The exception was a three-assist effort against Tulsa on Feb. 1. Over this 11-game stretch, Porter is averaging 4.6 assists.
• Morris Udeze sank his 250th basket over the weekend and now qualifies for WSU's career field goal percentage list. He's in second place (.559), sandwiched in between a pair of Shocker legends: Xavier McDaniel (.564) and Antoine Carr (.557).

 
SHOCKERS ON THE AAC LEADERBOARDS:

• Ricky Council IV has been one of the AAC's top offensive weapons. In conference play, Council's KenPom offensive rating is second-best among the legue's high-usage players (those utilized on at least 24% of possessions).

KenPom Offensive Rating // AAC Games Only // Min. 24% Usage:
1. Josh Carlton (Houston) -- 120.7 (25.9% Usage)
2. Ricky Council IV (Wichita State) -- 111.5 (24.6%)
3. Dave DeJulius (Cincinnati) -- 108.6 (25.9%)
4. Kendric Davis (SMU) -- 106.7 (27.1%)
5. Jalen Cook (Tulane) -- 106.7 (27.0%)
Data Source: KenPom.com // As of Mar. 1, 2022

• Tyson Etienne ranks sixth on the AAC scoring chart (14.9 ppg) and is second in threes-per-game (2.8).
• Etienne got out to a slow three-point shooting start (31-of-104, .298 in his first 13 games) but has connected on 35.7%  (35-of-98) in the 11 games since.
• Morris Udeze is sixth on the AAC rebounding chart (6.0). Sunday's 11-rebound effort at Memphis was his second game this season with double-digit boards and the fourth of his Shocker career.
• Craig Porter Jr. leads the team and ranks among the league leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio (5th, 1.83), assists (7th, 3.7), blocks (8th, 1.09) and steals (6th, 1.61).
• More than 200 Division I players average at least a block-per-game, but the 6-foot-2 Porter is the shortest of them all.
• Per College Basketball Reference's Play Index, Porter enters the weekend as one of just five Division I players averaging at least 3.0 assists, 1.0 block and 1.0 steal. Only one player in AAC history has done it over a full season (Memphis' Dedric Lawson in 2016-17).

Division I Players Averaging 3.0 APG + 1.0 BPG + 1.0 SPG:
Omari Moore (San Jose St.) -- 4.7 APG, 1.0 BPG, 1.0 SPG
Jalen Slawson (Furman) -- 3.9 APG, 1.8 BPG, 1.7 SPG
Craig Porter (Wichita St.) -- 3.7 APG, 1.6 BPG, 1.1 SPG
Tyrn Flowers (Long Island U.) -- 3.2 APG, 1.4 BPG, 1.6 SPG
Vince Williams (VCU) -- 3.1 APG, 1.6 BPG, 1.1 SPG
as of Mar. 1, 2022

TYSON 3333333333333333333333TIENNE:

• Tyson Etienne has connected on at least one triple in 22-straight contests. That's the fifth-longest streak in school history.

WSU All-Time // Consecutive Games w/ a 3-Point Field Goal:
40 -- Conner Frankamp (1/1/2017 to 1/28/2018)
29 -- Landry Shamet (12/17/2016 to 11/22/2017)
27 -- Ron Baker (11/18/2014 to 2/22/2015)
25 -- Ron Baker (4/6/2013 to 2/5/2014)
22 -- Tyson Etienne (11/16/2021 to Current)
21 -- Dexter Dennis (2/2/2019 to 11/19/2019)

THREES COMPANY:

• Tyson Etienne (192 career threes) and Dexter Dennis (174) are both in the top-10 on WSU's career triples list. Etienne needs three more to break into the top-5.

WSU Career Leaders // 3-Point Field Goals Made:
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. Tyson Etienne (2019-Pr.) -- 193
7. Dexter Dennis (2018-Pr.) -- 174

 

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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 9-18 start to 2022, but KenPom.com considers the Hurricane one of the unluckiest teams in the nation (347th out of 358), based on a formula that compares expected win total (based on statistics) to actual production.
• The Hurricane are 1-10 in games decided by five points in either direction (0-7 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 leads the team in scoring (16.1), rebounding (6.7), blocks (20), steals (37) and minutes (33.3) and averages 2.1 threes on 41.3% accuracy.
• The 6-3 Griffin spent the last two seasons at UT Arlington. He's putting up 14.8 points. Griffin takes almost a third (32.5%) of the Tulsa shots when he's on the floor -- tops in the AAC and the 23rd-highest percentage nationally.
• Horne and Griffin have accounted for 46% of the Tulsa points this year and have combined to hit 114 of the team's 183 three-pointers.
• Opponents have made 36.6% of their threes against the Hurricanes this season. Compare that to 2020, when Tulsa won a share of the AAC title by holding foes to 29.9% from deep.
• Tulsa relies on a matchup zone defense. 39.7% of opponent points come from three-pointers (8th-most nationally).

 
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 14 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).
• Tulsa is WSU's shortest conference road trip (132 miles as the crow flies). SMU's Moody Coliseum (339) and Dickies Arena in Fort Worth (344) are the next two.

 

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A SHOCKER WIN WOULD….
... Make them 14-12 (5-9 AAC after an 0-4 start).
... guarantee no worse than a No. 9 seed in next week's AAC tournament.
... snap a three-game losing streak.
... end a five-game road losing streak (3-5) and be their first road win in AAC play (1-5).
... Give them a season sweep of Tulsa.
... Be their fifth straight vs. TLS and 17th in 19 tries.
... Make them 7-4 at the Reynolds Center.
 
A SHOCKERS LOSS WOULD…
... Drop them to 13-13 (4-10 AAC).
... Eliminate them from contention for the No. 8 or 9 seeds in next week's AAC tournament.
... Be their fourth-straight.
... Drop their AAC road mark to 0-6.
... Give Tulsa a split in the regular season series.
... Be their first to Tulsa since Feb. 1, 2020 and snap a four-game series winning streak.
... Be just their third to Tulsa in 19 games going back to 2003.
... Be less good than a win.
 

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UP NEXT:

• The Shockers wrap up the regular season this Saturday against East Carolina at Charles Koch Arena. The 2 p.m. CT tip airs on ESPNU. Tickets are available at goshockers.com/tickets or through the Shocker Ticket Office (316-978-FANS).
• WSU will open play in the Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Championship next Thursday, Mar. 10 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. For more information on the tournament and ticket packages, visit theamerican.org/MBB.