MBB Preview: Tulsa (Jan. 14)

1/12/2023 7:01:00 PM

TULSA (4-11, 0-4) at WICHITA STATE (8-8, 1-3)
Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023 | 3:02 p.m. CT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena

Tickets: goshockers.com/tickets
TV: ESPN+ w/ Shane Dennis & Bob Hull
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM (goshockers.com/listen) w/ Mike Kennedy & Dave Dahl
Live Stats: shockerstats.com
Series: WSU leads 74-63 (42-23 in Wichita); Last: Mar. 10, 2022 in Fort Worth (TLS, 73-67)

PROMOTION:
The first 5,000 fans in attendance will receive a set of winter gloves, courtesy of Koch Industries.

HALL OF FAME GAME:
At halftime, WSU will induct five new members into the Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame: Victor Everett (Track & Field), Casey Gillaspie (Baseball), Emily Hiebert (Volleyball), Nikki Larch-Miller (Track & Field) and Abbie Lehman Chaffin (Volleyball).

TICKETS:
Fans can purchase tickets online at goshockers.com/tickets, by phone at 316-978-FANS (3267) or in person at the Shocker Ticket Office, open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on game days beginning 90 minutes before tipoff.

TELECAST:
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 $9.99 monthly or $99.99 annually and can be packaged with Hulu and Disney+ streaming services. Visit plus.espn.com for more information.

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 42nd season together on radio. Kennedy is in his 43rd season as Voice of the Shockers. Pregame coverage begins one hour before tipoff.

OPENING TIPS:

It's a throw-back Saturday at Charles Koch Arena.
Wichita State will sport its MTXE replica uniforms and welcome five new members to the Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame during a clash with one of its oldest rivals, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
The hall of fame class of Victor Everett (Track & Field), Casey Gillaspie (Baseball), Emily Hiebert (Volleyball), Nikki Larch-Miller (Track & Field) and Abbie Lehman Chaffin (Volleyball) -- will be inducted during a special halftime ceremony.
The retro threads are an homage to early 1980s when WSU and Tulsa teams led by coaches Gene Smithson and Nolan Richardson battled annually for Missouri Valley Conference supremacy. The period is often referred to as the MTXE Era, after Smithson's trademark slogan (Mental Toughness eXtra Effort).
Tulsa is WSU's third-most-played opponent behind Drake (152 meetings) and Bradley (144). Saturday marks the 138^th meeting in a series that began in 1931. The Shockers lead 74-63 with wins in 17 of the last 20.
This is the 20th season since Charles Koch Arena's renovation and rededication (2003-04 to present). Excluding exhibition games, WSU has drawn 2,996,538 fans for 304 dates -- an average of 9,857. That number will roll over the three million-mark on Saturday. Shocker teams are 252-52 in that span (.829), including 9-0 vs. Tulsa.
Tulsa last defeated the Shockers in Wichita on Dec. 8, 2001 in the Roundhouse's final season as Levitt Arena, but WSU has won 10-straight in Wichita since then (one of them at INTRUST Bank Arena).
WSU swept last year's regular season series but struggled without injured point guard Craig Porter Jr. in a, 73-67, season-ending loss to Tulsa in the first round of the AAC tournament in Fort Worth.
Both sides are off to slow starts to the 2023 conference calendar. Tulsa is 0-4 under new head coach Eric Konkol and WSU is 1-3.
The Shockers are in action for the first time since last Sunday when they erased a 14-point second-half deficit to defeat South Florida, 70-66. Walk-on guard Melvion Flanagan scored 13 of his 16 points after halftime for WSU, which trailed 42-28 near the 17:00-mark before rallying.
WSU enters the weekend ranked among the nation's top-10 in field goal percentage defense (7^th, .372).
KenPom rates the Shocker defense 44^th in efficiency, but the team is still building chemistry on offense (235^th out of 366 teams).
Shocker redshirt Colby Rogers celebrates his 22^nd birthday Saturday.

ON THIS DATE: JAN. 14
1921 – The Shockers defeated Washburn, 43-30, in their first game at the new Memorial Gymnasium. Later known as Henrion Gymnasium, the 2,000-seat building would serve as the program's basketball hub for the next 35 seasons.

LAST TIME ON SHOCKER BASKETBALL:
Jan. 8 in Tampa | WSU, 70-66

Melvion Flanagan scored 13 of his career-high 16 points after halftime to help WSU pull off one of the largest second-half comebacks in school history.
Kenny Pohto added a double-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds and personal-best five assists.
Russell Tchewa (19 pts, 10 reb and Sam Hines Jr. (11 pts, 10 reb) secured double-doubles for USF, which used bridged halftime with a 13-0 run to go up 42-28 with 17:41 remaining.
The Shockers gradually chipped away. It was a 60-53 game at the 4:44-mark when Flanagan hit back-to-back threes to set off a 14-2 Shocker run. He finished 4-of-6 from deep.
Craig Porter Jr.'s floater knotted the game at 61, and James Rojas' three-point play put WSU in front with 2:20 left to play. Jaron Pierre Jr. padded the margin with a driving layup.
WSU missed 4-of-8 free throws in the final 48 seconds but delivered enough defensive stops to stay in front.
The Shockers shot 40% percent on 7-of-18 three-point shooting (.389). They were 4-of-7 after halftime.
USF finished at 37.3% (4-of-23 from deep). The Bulls were 5-of-19 from the field over the last 10 minutes.
WSU box scores go back to the mid-1970s. A 14-point deficit tied for WSU's ninth-largest second-half comeback in that span. It was the third-largest on the road.
The Shockers defeated the Bulls for a seventh straight time and upped their series lead to 8-1.

TRENDING

Kenny Pohto went his entire freshman year and the first half of his sophomore season without a double-double but now has two in the last three games. He set career-highs with 21 points and 11 rebounds against Cincinnati last week and put up 14 and 10 at USF.
Pohto also handed out a personnel-best five assists against the Bulls. His lone turnover came midway through the second half and ended an impressive run of more than four games without a miscue (spanning 125 minutes, 47 seconds of clock time). It was his first since the opening half of the Dec. 22 contest against TSU.
Pohto has committed just nine turnovers all season (compared to 22 assists and 12 steals). Per KenPom, his 8.7 turnover rate is third-best among AAC regulars.
WSU is 8-1 this season when out-shooting its opponent (27-5 overall under Isaac Brown) compared to 0-6 when out-shot (12-21 under Brown with nine-straight losses).
Prior to Sunday's comeback win at USF, the Shockers had lost 11-straight games when behind at the half (0-6 this season). It was their first such win since Feb. 1, 2022 when they trailed visiting Tulsa 30-29 at the break but outscored them 29-18 in the second half to secure a 58-48 victory.
We're barely past the midway point of the regular season and Xavier Bell is the only one of the 13 Shockers who have appeared in all 16 games. Due to a combination of injuries and inconsistent production, WSU used nine different starting lineups this year.
Gus Okafor is two rebounds shy of 500 for his NCAA career and needs just 41 more points to reach 1,000. The 6-6 graduate transfer played his freshman season at Longwood and two more at Southeastern Louisiana.
WSU has held 12 of its 16 opponents under 40% from the field. this year. Alcorn State shot a season-best .455 in its Nov. 12 upset.

NEW KID ON THE BLOCKS

6-foot-2 point guard Craig Porter Jr. swatted his 60th career shot in Sunday's win at USF in just his 59th game. He has a chance to move into the top-25 and catch a couple of MTXE era forwards on Saturday. 6-11 Ozell Jones (61 from 1979-81) is 25th on the list and 6-8 Cliff Levingston (62 from 1979-82) ranks 24th. Both bigs went on to play in the NBA.
Only seven players in school history have averaged more than a block-per-game in a career spanning three-or-more seasons. All of them were traditional big men: Antoine Carr (1.9), Robert Elmore (1.6), Gene Wiley (1.5), Ehimen Orukpe (1.1), Terry Benton (1.1) and Shaquille Morris (1.1).
Ron Baker's 76 career blocks are the most by a Shocker guard. Porter is 16 short of that number with 14 regular season games remaining.
Porter has been remarkably consistent. Over the last two seasons, he's blocked at least one shot in 33 of his 40 games (including 12 of 15 this year).
A year ago, Porter became the first player in AAC history to finish top-10 in both blocks and assists, and he's on track to do it again in 2022-23. This year he's high on the leaderboard for blocks (3rd, 1.67), assists (t-7th, .367), steals (8th, 1.53) and minutes (8th, 32.1).

SECRET WEAPON UNLEASHED

In the span of a month, 5-foot-10 walk-on Melvion Flanagan has gone from invisible to indispensable.
In conference play, Flanagan is averaging a team-high 12.7 points while shooting 8-of-14 from three (.571). He falls just short of the KenPom minutes minimum but would otherwise lead the conference in offensive efficiency.
Flanagan has scored in double-figures four times and is averaging a team-best 23.2 points-per-40-minutes. WSU stat sheets began tracking minutes sometime in the mid-70's. In that span, just six Shockers have posted a higher-points-per-40 average while appearing in at least half of the team's games.

WSU Season Leaders // Points-Per-40-Minutes // 1976-Pr.
1. Xavier McDaniel (1984-85) -- 29.54
2. Maurice Evans (1998-99) -- 28.00
3. Antoine Carr (1982-83) -- 27.35
4. Cleanthony Early (2013-14) -- 23.95
5. Darral Willis Jr. (2016-17) -- 23.85
6. Shaquille Morris (2017-18) -- 23.55
7. Melvion Flanagan (2022-23) -- 23.17
8. Darral Willis Jr. (2017-18) -- 23.04
9. Antoine Carr (1981-82) -- 22.88
10. Jason Perez (1999-00) -- 22.73
Player must have appeared in a minimum 50% of team games

SCOUTING TULSA

Tulsa (4-11, 0-4) has dropped its last five contests and is in search of its first victory since Dec. 16 (Mississippi Valley State).
The Golden Hurricane are 0-5 on the road with seven-straight losses. Their last win came Feb. 19, 2022 at South Florida.
Tulsa is in its first season under Eric Konkol, who posted six 20-win seasons during a seven-year run at Louisiana Tech and guided the Bulldogs to a spot in the 2021 NIT semifinals.
Konkol inherits a team that lost three of its top-4 scorers from a year ago when it finished 11-20 (4-14 AAC).
Tulsa's top returner, junior guard Sam Griffin, leads the scoring at 15.1 points. He's averaging 2.6 threes-on 32.8% accuracy and is 31-of-35 at the foul line (.886).
6-9 sophomore forward Bryant Selebangue (12.9 ppg) has been an impact addition to the front court. The Florida Southwestern State College transfer is the conference's leading rebounder (8.5) and his .675 field goal percentage is sixth on the NCAA leaderboard (minimum 5 FGM/game).
6-1 Chicago State transfer Brandon Betson (10.6 ppg) has been a three-point weapon off the bench, knocking down 35-of-73 (.479).
Griffin and Betson have combined for over half of Tulsa's league-high 25.2 three-point attempts. The pair are shooting 38.5% from deep, but the rest of the squad is shooting just 24.7%.
The Hurricane average a league-low 14.2 free throw attempts.
Blocks and boards also have been a bugaboo. Tulsa ranks among the bottom-10 nationally in rebound margin (-5.7) and block percentage (4.6% per KenPom).

MATCHUP MASHUP:

Tulsa guard Sterling Gaston-Chapman is the younger brother of former WSU walk-on Steele Gaston-Chapman. The duo helped lead Campus High to an undefeated 2019-20 season. The Colts won their 6A state quarterfinal game at Charles Koch Arena, but the remainder of the event was canceled due to COVID-19.
On Nov. 6, 2018, Eric Konkol led his LA Tech team to a 71-58 upset over the Shockers at CKA. It's the only season-opening loss by a WSU team in the past 21 years.
WSU is averaging 64.9 points and shooting just 41.5% as a team (both league-lows). Tulsa surrenders 75.9 points on 46.4%s hooting (both league-highs).

THE SERIES WITH TULSA:

The Shockers lead the series, 74-63, and have won 17 of the last 20. They're 9-2 in the AAC era.
Tulsa is WSU's third-most-played opponent behind Drake (151) and Bradley (142). This is meeting No. 138 in a series that began in 1931.
The teams have met at least once in each of the last 13 seasons going back to 2010-11 and will play home-and-home for the sixth year in a row.
Since joining the AAC, WSU has faced Tulsa more times than any other foe. Cincinnati (11) is second.
Eric Konkol is 20th-different Tulsa coach that WSU has faced in the series, while Isaac Brown is WSU's 15th.

IN TULSA // TLS, 36-31
The Shockers have narrowed the gap in recent years, thanks to a 7-4 mark at the Reynolds Center. WSU is 4-1 in its five AAC visits. The lone loss came on a long buzzer-beater (Feb. 1, 2020).

IN WICHITA // WSU, 42-23
The Hurricanes last won in Wichita on Dec. 8, 2001 (82-76). The Shockers have won the last 10 home meetings (nine at CKA, one at INTRUST Bank Arena)… WSU has won just over two-thirds of the games played inside the Roundhouse (1955-pr.), 36-16.

NEUTRAL SITES // TLS, 4-1
Four of the five games have come in conference tournament settings, most recently in 2022 when the team squared off in the first round of the AAC tourney… WSU's lone victory came in the 1988 MVC Tournament… Tulsa picked up a pair of Arch Madness wins in the 1990s and edged the Shockers in the 1958 All-College Tournament in Oklahoma City.

IN OVERTIME // WSU, 7-3 (Last: 1993 in Wichita)
WSU has won seven of the 10 overtime games in the series (2-2 in Wichita, 5-1 in Tulsa)… The most-notable came in the 1987 MVC championship game In Tulsa (79-74, WSU)… The last came in 1993 when WSU pulled out a dramatic, 77-76 win at Levitt Arena. Jimmy Bolden's triple with three seconds left forced overtime. Chad Elstun landed another game-tying three in the final minute of OT and sank a go-ahead free throw with six seconds left. Notably, Tulsa radio analyst JR Rollo was a freshman on that Hurricane team. It was his first-and-only loss to the Shockers in four seasons.

MEMORABLE SERIES MOMENTS:

WSU and Tulsa were conference rivals in the Missouri Valley from 1945 to 1996. Following Tulsa's exit, the schools played 14 non-conference games over a 21-year span before reuniting in The American in 2017.
Though the series dates back over nine decades, the rivalry truly blossomed in the early 1980s when Gene Smithson's teams battled Nolan Richardson and Tulsa for MVC supremacy. Three all-time WSU greats played in the "MTXE" Era (after Smithson's trademark slogan, Mental Toughness eXtra Effort): Cliff Levingston, Antoine Carr and Xavier McDaniel. Tulsa countered with a fearsome full-court press and the likes of Paul Pressey, Mike Anderson and Steve Harris.
WSU got the last laugh in its final game against Richardson in the MVC tournament championship (Mar. 9, 1985 at the Tulsa Convention Center). McDaniel (who led the nation in scoring and rebounding that year) scored 34 points on 15-of-19 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Shockers past No. 17 Tulsa, 84-82.
Despite coaching changes on both sides, the rivalry continued. On Mar. 4, 1987, WSU again stunned top-seeded Tulsa with a 79-74 overtime win in the MVC title game. The '87 tourney was the first with a three-point line, and the Shockers took full advantage of the new rule, knocking down 8-of-10 from beyond the arc.
On Feb. 27, 1988, Joe Griffin's corner three – in the air just before time expired – forced double-overtime where the Shockers claimed a 79-78 victory.
Tulsa dominated with 13-straight wins between 1993 and 2002, but the series took a dramatic turn following the completion of the Roundhouse Renaissance.
On Dec. 20, 2003 – the first meeting at the newly renovated CKA – WSU finally stopped the slide, winning 66-58 behind recent Jamar Howard's 23 points. That started a run of seven-straight Shocker victories.
The series returned in 2010 when Tulsa was guest of honor for the first-ever basketball game at downtown INTRUST Bank Arena (Dec. 21, 2010). Justin Hurtt hit six of Tulsa's 14 threes (both are still arena records), but the Shockers held on for an 82-79 win.

WSU-TULSA GAME-BY-GAME IN THE AMERICAN ERA

Jan. 13, 2018 (Tulsa, Okla.) | #5 WSU 72, TLS 69
A go ahead three by former Shocker Corey Henderson spun out with 11 seconds to go and Sterling Taplin missed another at the buzzer that would have forced overtime... Taplin finished with a game-high 26 points and seven assists to lead the Hurricane... Conner Frankamp and Landry Shamet had 16-each for the fifth-ranked Shockers who extended their nation-best road winning streak to 11 and improved to 5-0 in AAC play.

Jan. 28, 2018 (Wichita) | #17 WSU 90, TLS 71
WSU tallied 27 assists with just nine turnovers to notch its 700th win at the Roundhouse. Austin Reaves (23 points) made his first seven three-point tries to set a school record for triples in a half and Shaquille Morris (20 points) dunked five times… Tulsa whittled a 19-point lead down to four, 66-62, but missed five-straight shots and committed four turnovers during a 15-2 Shocker counter.

Feb. 2, 2019 (Wichita) | WSU 79, TLS 68
Down eight with 10:58 to go, WSU outscored Tulsa 27-8 the rest of the way…Markis McDuffie scored a game-high 27 for the Shockers… Jeriah Horne had 16 for the Hurricane, which lost despite shooting 53% from the field.

Feb. 20, 2019 (Tulsa, Okla.) | WSU 81, TLS 60
Freshman Dexter Dennis hit six of WSU's school-record-tying 15 three-pointers and Jamarius Burton handed out 10 assists in a road romp… The Shockers improved 6-7 on the heels of a 1-6 AAC start by shredding Tulsa's zone. They led by 14 at halftime and finished with 24 assists and just eight turnovers... Martins Igbanu (17 points) and Daquan Jeffries (10 pts, 10 reb) paced Tulsa, which shot just 30.2% including 4-of-22 from deep.

Feb. 1, 2020 (Tulsa, Okla.) | TLS 54, WSU 51
Playing in front of his father for the first time, Tulsa's Elijah Joiner had a night to remember with 22 points and five threes, including the game-winner at the buzzer… Tied at 50, Tulsa gained possession under its own basket with 3.3 seconds remaining after WSU committed a shot-clock violation. Joiner caught a 25-foot inbound pass and made a beeline across half-court before unleashing a guarded three from the right wing, just ahead of the horn.

Mar. 8, 2020 (Wichita) | WSU 79, TLS 57
The Shockers denied Tulsa an outright conference title with a 22-point victory on the final day of the regular season (and of the entire season, thanks to COVID-19). WSU shot 57% in the second half and pushed an eight-point halftime lead to as many as 22. Martins Igbanu scored 20 for Tulsa, which entered with a one-game lead over Cincinnati and Houston but settled for a three-way tie.

Dec. 15, 2020 (Tulsa, Okla.) | WSU 69, Tulsa 65
WSU built a 17-point first-half lead then did just enough to protect it. Playing for the first time in 10 days after a COVID-19 pause, Tulsa closed within two points with 28 seconds to play... Alterique Gilbert scored a team-high 13 points for the Shockers, who made 10-of-26 threes and committed just nine turnovers. The game was a coming out party for freshman Ricky Council IV (13 pts, 8 reb) and transfer Craig Porter Jr. (4 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast). Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler scored 10 first-half points... 31 of Tulsa's 55 shots were threes, but only eight went in the basket. Brandon Rachal's 17 points, 11 boards paced Tulsa.

Jan. 13, 2021 (Wichita) | WSU 72, Tulsa 53
Morris Udeze and Tyson Etienne each scored 20 points and Alterique Gilbert tallied eight assists to help WSU win a battle of red-hot teams... The Shockers made 11 threes and outscored the visitors 15-3 at the foul line to win for the seventh time in eight tries. They finished the game on a 12-0 run... Elijah Joiner scored 11 points for Tulsa, which was 4-of-29 from deep and saw its six-game winning streak come to an end.

Feb. 1, 2022 (Wichita) | WSU 58, Tulsa 48
Ricky Council IV scored all 11 of his points in the second half to help WSU pull away... Tied at 37 with 11:02 to play, the Shockers outscored the Golden Hurricane 21-4 over the next 10 minutes... Sam Griffin scored a game-high 17 points to lead Tulsa, which managed just 18 second-half points and lost for the 10th-straight time in Wichita... WSU shot a season-low 32.2% but held Tulsa to 32.6%, including 26.3% in the second half... The Shockers won the turnover battle, 17-10, and knocked down eight three-pointers to Tulsa's four... Morris Udeze accounted for four of WSU's nine blocks... Tyson Etienne scored all 10 of his points in the first 10 minutes to help WSU build a 21-11 lead. Griffin keyed a 12-0 Tulsa counterpunch and hit a jumper 4 seconds before halftime to give Tulsa a 30-29 edge... WSU's defense stepped up in the second half. Griffin had just three more points the rest of the way, while Dexter Dennis limited Tulsa leading scorer Jereiah Horne to two points on 1-of-11 shooting... WSU turned to Council in the second half to finally solve Tulsa's zone defense. The 6-6 guard scored seven of WSU's eight points over a two-minute stretch that pushed a three-point lead to 11 with 6:45 to go... WSU led by as many as 17 points. Tulsa had managed just 12 points on three field goals before nailing back-to-back threes in the final 34 seconds.

Mar. 2, 2022 (Tulsa) | WSU 72, TLS 62
WSU out-rebounded Tulsa, 43-19, and picked up its first conference road win in six tries.
Tyson Etienne scored a game-high 18 points for the Shockers, who led by three near the midway point of the second half before mounting a 10-0 run… Reserve guard Qua Grant scored the last two baskets in that push. He matched his season-high with 13 points in 18 minutes.
Morris Udeze sank all nine of his free throw attempts (a career-high) to finish with 15 points and eight rebounds… Jeriah Horne and Darien Jackson shared high-scoring honors for Tulsa (9-19, 3-13), which committed just three turnovers – all in the second half. The Hurricane shot 41 percent for the game but missed 15 of their 18 three-point attempts… WSU shot a season-best 49.1% from the field and knocked down 15-of-18 free throws… The Shockers shot 56% in the opening half despite playing the final 13 minutes without point guard Craig Porter Jr. (foul trouble). Grant filled in ably with nine first-half points on 4-of-4 shooting, including the final basket in a 9-1 run that sent the Shockers into halftime with a 38-29 cushion… Tulsa's 19 rebounds were fewest for a WSU foe in more than seven years (Loyola Marymount grabbed 19 in a Dec. 22, 2014 game in Honolulu)… WSU defeated its rival for the 17th time in 19 meetings and improved to 9-1 in AAC era matchups.

Mar. 10, 2022 (Fort Worth, Texas) | [10] Tulsa 73, [7] WSU 66 | AAC 1^st Round
Tenth-seeded Tulsa spanned halftime with a 19-3 run and held on to defeat WSU in a first-round AAC tournament matchup… Ricky Council IV scored 16 of his team-high 19 points in the second half for WSU, which trimmed a 16-point second-half deficit to three on Council's putback with 3:50 to play but could get no closer… Tyson Etienne added 14 points and five assists and become just the fourth Shocker with 200 career triples… Filling in for injured point guard Craig Porter Jr., who suffered a hip injury earlier in the week, Qua Grant matched his season-high with 13 points… Dexter Dennis tacked on 10 points to bring his career total to 991 and shared the team lead with six boards… Sam Griffin (21 points), Darien Jackson (20 pts, 9 reb.) and Jeriah Horne (17 pts, 10 reb.) paced Tulsa… Tulsa, which shot 45.3% from the field and made 7-of-20 three-point attempts… Looking to sweep three games from its rival for just the second time in series history, WSU shot just 36.7%... Eight days after out-rebounding Tulsa, 43-19, in a 10-point road victory, the Shockers were beaten on the boards, 38-36… Tulsa held a 15-2 edge in fastbreak points and converted 20 points off of 10 Shocker turnovers… WSU led 21-20 at the 6:39-mark of the first half on Etienne's 200th triple, but. Tulsa went into the half on a 14-3 run and scored the first five points of the second half to take a 15-point lead, 39-24.

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...

Make them 9-8 with back-to-back wins.
Up their conference mark to 2-3.
Be their 11th straight over Tulsa in Wichita.
Extend their all-time series lead to 75-63 (43-23 in Wichita and 10-0 since CKA's 2003 renovation).
Be Isaac Brown's 40th (40-27, .597).

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...

Drop them to 8-9 (1-4 AAC) with losses in four of their last five.
Make them 5-5 at CKA with three-straight losses.
Be their first to Tulsa in Wichita since December, 2001, snapping a 10-game winning streak.
Be just their third against Tulsa in 12 AAC era meetings and narrow their all-time series lead to 74-64.
Be less good than a win.

UP NEXT: @ MEMPHIS
Thursday, Jan. 19 | 6 p.m. CT | ESPNU/2
Memphis, Tenn. | FedExForum

The Shockers go in search of their first win over the Tigers at FedExForum since Feb. 6, 2018 (85-65). They've dropped their last four.
The Tigers (12-5, 2-2) enter the weekend at No. 54 in the NCAA NET Rankings and No. 36 in KenPom. They're coming off a 107-104 double-overtime loss at ICF and will travel to Temple this Sunday.

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MBB Preview: Tulsa (Jan. 14)