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Wichita State during the Memphis vs. Wichita State Men’s Basketball game on 01192023.
Matthew A. Smith

MBB Preview: at SMU (Jan. 22)

1/20/2023 7:31:00 PM

WICHITA STATE (9-9, 2-4) at SMU (7-12, 2-4)
Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023 | 2 p.m. CT
Dallas, Texas | Moody Coliseum
 
TV: ESPN+ w/ John Liddle & Brian Burton
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM (goshockers.com/listen) w/ Mike Kennedy & Bob Hull
Live Stats: shockerstats.com
Series: WSU leads 9-6 (3-4 in Dallas); Last: Feb. 5, 2022 in Wichita (WSU, 72-57)
 
 
OPENING TIPS:
  • Three years later, Wichita State returns to the scene of the crime.
  • 1,057 days ago (Mar. 1, 2020) at Moody Coliseum the Shockers stole victory from the jaws of defeat, rallying from 24 down in the final 14:48 to stun SMU, 66-62. It was the largest second-half comeback in both school and AAC history.
  • A combination of winter weather and COVID-19 canceled subsequent WSU road games in 2021 and 2022.
  • The Shockers lead the all-time series 9-6 (5-1 American Athletic Conference games) and have won five straight. They're 3-4 all-time against the Mustangs in Dallas but have won all three AAC era visits to Moody.
  • SMU is in its first season under Rob Lanier and is led by sophomore guard Zhuric Phelps (17.2 ppg, 2.2 spg). The Mustangs stopped a four-game losing streak on Wednesday night with a 79-76 overtime win at Tulsa.
  • WSU rallied from second-half deficits of 14 and 16 in back-to-back wins over South Florida and Tulsa last week but ran out of magic Thursday in an 88-78 loss at Memphis. James Rojas scored a career-high 19 points, but the Tigers shot 53% and drilled 11-of-21 threes.
  • Memphis' shooting performance countered a season-long trend of stout Shocker defense. WSU has collectively held its opponents to 38.6% from the field (11th nationally).
  • 11 of the 13 Shockers who have seen action are newcomers (nine transfer, two redshirt frosh).
  • Fifth-year senior Craig Porter Jr. (12.2 ppg) is one of just two holdovers from last year's active roster. The 6-2 point guard leads the team and ranks among the conference leaders in rebounds (5.9), blocks (3rd, 1.76), steals (9th, 1.47) and assists (7th, 3.76).
  • The other returner – sophomore big man Kenny Pohto – has come on strong of late, averaging 10.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 2.0 steals in conference play.
  • Four of the top-5 scorers are transfers, led by Jaykwon Walton (a former top-100 recruit at Georgia) who averages a team-best 12.4 points along with 5.9 rebounds.
  • The team's spark plug off the bench is a 5-foot-10 walk-on. Melvion Flanagan is averaging 4.3 threes-per-40-minutes on 44.7% accuracy.
 

ON THIS DATE: JAN. 22
  • 2011 -- In the longest game in Roundhouse history, WSU held off Indiana State, 93-83. The Shockers trailed 83-81 early in the third overtime before launching a 12-0 run. J.T. Durley's layup tied it with just over 2:00 to play and Ben Smith hit a three to put the hosts ahead for good. Garrett Stutz led the way with 16 points.
 
 
HOT POHTO:
  • After a slow start to his sophomore season, big man Kenny Pohto has come on strong over the past month. In conference play he's averaging 10.8 points and has led the team in rebounds (6.7) and steals (12).
  • Pohto's 7.9% turnover rate is best among AAC regulars and among the top-50 nationally. He's committed just two turnovers in six conference contests.
 
 
JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH BASKET:
  • Senior forward James Rojas has been scoring well of late. He's reached in double-figures three straight times (after doing so twice in the first two months of the season.
  • Rojas keyed the comeback against Tulsa last Saturday with his first career double-double, pairing 11 points with personal-bests for rebounds (10) and assists (5).
  • Rojas followed it up Thursday with another assertive effort at Memphis, charting a career-high 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He drew nine fouls and converted 8-of-10 free throw attempts.
  • Rojas becomes the eighth different Shocker to take a turn as leading scorer this year.
 
 
TRENDING:
  • WSU has trailed at halftime in all six of its American Athletic Conference games.
  • Thursday's loss at Memphis marked only the fifth time under third-year head coach Isaac Brown that the Shockers have lost a game when scoring 70+ points in regulation (27-5). They're 6-2 this year when reaching that threshold.
  • WSU is 8-1 this season when out-shooting its opponent (27-5 overall under Isaac Brown), compared to 1-7 when being out-shot. The lone victory came last Saturday against Tulsa.
  • Tulsa shot 46.6% last Saturday. Memphis hit 53.6% on Thursday. Prior to that, WSU had held 12 of its first 16 opponents under 40% (.372 collectively).
  • WSU's bench averages a league-best 22.7 points.
  • The Shockers average a league-low 14.3 fouls. Opponents average just 10.3 free throw makes on 14.2 attempts (both also league-lows).
  • 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 18 games.
  • Last Saturday's game against Tulsa marked the first time that WSU had its two leading scorers, Jaykwon Walton and Craig Porter Jr., in the starting lineup together since the Dec. 22 non-conference finale against Texas Southern. Porter missed the first two AAC games to an injury and Walton missed the Jan. 5 and 8 games against Cincinnati and South Florida.
  • Porter has twice gone wire-to-wire this year. He played the full 40 minutes against Cincinnati (Jan. 5) and did it again Jan. 14 against Tulsa.
  • Gus Okafor is two rebounds shy of 500 for his NCAA career and needs just 38 more points to reach 1,000. The 6-6 graduate transfer played his freshman season at Longwood and two more at Southeastern Louisiana.
 
 
SCOUTING SMU:
  • SMU is in its first season under former Siena and Georgia State coach Rob Lanier, who replaces the retired Tim Jankovich.
  • The Mustangs lost four double-digit scorers from last year's conference regular season runner-up -- Kendric Davis and Emmanuel Bandoumel to the portal and brothers Marcus and Michael Weathers to graduation -- but Lanier has rebuilt the roster with seven new transfers.
  • 6-9, 240-pound senior Efe Odigie (Troy/UTEP) is averaging 10.4 points and 6.7 rebounds,
  • 6-7 forward Samuell Williamson (Louisville) is the team's top rebounder (7.6) and shot-blocker (20 in 19 games).
  • A couple of returning guards have also stepped up:
  • Sophomore guard Zuric Phelps is one of the league's most-improved players. He ranks fourth on the AAC scoring chart (17.2 ppg) -- up from 3.8 last year -- and is third in steals (2.2). Per KenPom, Phelps' shot percentage (35.2%, 6th) and offensive usage rates (32.1%, 8th) both rank among the top-10 nationally.
  • SMU's lone returning starter, senior guard Zach Nutall, averages 13.7 points. He's hit a team-best 36 threes on 31.6% accuracy.
  • WSU's James Rojas and SMU's Keon Ambrose-Hylton were teammates at Alabama the past two years (2020-22).
  • SMU is 7-12 but has played the nation's 37th toughest schedule, per NCAA NET. The Mustangs have played six Quadrant I (1-5) and four Quadrant II (1-3) games already this year.
  • SMU finished the non-conference strong with a runner-up finish at the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Mustangs defeated Iona and Utah State in the first two round before dropping a 58-57 heartbreaker to host Hawaii in the title game.
  • SMU is 2-4 in conference play. Both wins have come against Tulsa -- the first by 25 points and the second in overtime.
  • 12 of the 16 players on SMU's roster have at least two more years of eligibility beyond this one.
 

 NEW KID ON THE BLOCKS:
  • With his three blocks, Craig Porter Jr. (65 career swats) jumped six spots to 18th on WSU's all-time list. He needs five more to catch former teammate Dexter Dennis (70 from 2018-22) for 17th and 11 to match Ron Baker (76 from 2012-16) for the most by a Shocker guard.
  • More impressive, still, is that Porter has amassed his total in just 60 career contests. Only seven Shockers 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).
  • Porter has been remarkably consistent. Over the last two seasons, he's blocked at least one shot in 35 of his 42 games (including 14 of 17 this year).
  • The website RealGM breaks down stats by position. Porter's 1.8 blocks are most among the nation's point guards. He's No. 4 in rebounding (5.9).
 
 
THE SERIES WITH SMU:
  • This is meeting No. 16 in the series. WSU leads 9-6 with five-straight wins.
  • The Shockers are 3-4 in Dallas but have won all three visits to Moody Coliseum since joining The American.
  • The series' most-important game took place on a neutral floor in Manhattan, Kan. in the 1965 Midwest Regional Semifinal. Behind 31 points from Kelly Pete, the Shockers knocked off SMU 86-81 on their way to the FInal Four.
  • WSU's move to The American ended a 22-year series hiatus. The teams split a four-game non-conference series from 1993-96. The Shockers won twice in Wichita. SMU held serve with two wins in Dallas.
 
Jan. 17, 2018 (Wichita) | SMU 83, #7 WSU 78
Behind 33 points from Shake Milton, SMU snapped the Shockers' 27-game Roundhouse winning streak and saddled them with their first AAC loss following a 5-0 start. The Mustangs shot 63.8% from the field and 11-of-22 from three in a low-possession game.  Milton was 11-of-14, including 5-of-6 from distance. Landry Shamet finished with 20 points and 10 assists to lead WSU, which had won 67 of its last 68 games on campus coming in.
 
Feb. 24, 2018 (Dallas) | #13 WSU 84, SMU 78
Markis McDuffie scored 26 points and Shaquille Morris added 21 to help the Shockers win for the first time ever at Moody Coliseum. It was their fifth visit all-time and first since 1994. Against an SMU team that came in ranked fifth nationally in scoring defense (62.9 ppg), the Shockers put up 84, led by McDuffie's 11-of-14 shooting. Jahmal McMurray paced SMU with 28 points and hit six of the Mustangs' 15 threes. With Milton and others injured, SMU used just seven players, and eventually wore out. The Shockers expanded a 37-35 halftime lead to as many as 17, helped by a 41-23 rebounding edge and 17 offensive boards.
 
Jan. 30, 2019 (Wichita) | WSU 85, SMU 83
Samajae Haynes-Jones scored 17 including the game-winning basket (a driving, twisting, reverse-layup) with 1.0 second remaining to break an 83-all tie. It was a major turning point for the 2018-19 Shockers who came in 8-11 and riding a three-game winning streak but went on to win 14 of their next 17 on their way to the NIT semifinals. SMU's Isiaha Mike (24 points) hit four three-pointers.
 
Mar. 3, 2019 (Dallas) | WSU 67, SMU 55
The Shockers put away short-handed SMU early behind Markis McDuffie's 15 points and nine rebounds. WSU never trailed using first-half runs of 11-0 and 10-0 to pull away. The Shockers led by 13 at halftime and by as many as 21 in the second half. Ferron Hunt scored 14 points off the bench for the Mustangs, who hit just 3-of-26 from three-point range.
 
Mar. 2, 2020 (Dallas) | WSU 66, SMU 62
The Shockers posted the largest comeback in school and conference history, rallying from 24 down... SMU led 50-36 with 14:48 to play, at which point ESPN's win probability calculator gave the Mustangs a 99.8% chance. Instead, WSU outscored the hosts 40-12 the rest of the way, helped by Dexter Dennis' seven threes and career-high 25 points.
 
Feb. 5, 2022 (Wichita) | WSU 72, SMU 57
Tyson Etienne and Ricky Council scored 20 points-each to propel WSU past SMU in their first meeting in nearly two years. Six matchups were postponed or canceled due to weather or COVID-19 protocols... The Shockers used an 18-2 first-half run to build a 32-13 lead after 13 minutes of play. They were up 16 at halftime and by as many as 21 early in the second half... The Shockers won the turnover battle 17-12, helped by 10 steals. Dexter Dennis (three steals) limited AAC player of the year Kendric Davis to a season-low eight points on 1-of-7 shooting.
 
 
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…
  • Make them 10-9 with wins in three of the last four.
  • Up their AAC mark to 3-4.
  • Be their sixth straight win over SMU and boost their series lead to 10-6 all-time.
  • Make them 4-0 at Moody in the AAC era and 4-4 overall against the Mustangs in Dallas.
  • Even their road record at 3-3 and make them 11-10 in enemy territory under Isaac Brown.
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
  • Drop them to 9-10 (2-5 AAC).
  • Snap a five-game series winning streak against SMU and narrow their all-time lead to 9-7.
  • Be their first AAC era loss at Moody Coliseum (3-1) and make them 3-5 all-time against the Mustangs in Dallas.
  • Drop their road record to 2-4.
  • Be less good than a win.
 
 
UP NEXT: TULANE
Wednesday, Jan. 25 | 8 p.m.  CT | ESPNU/2
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
  • Tulane earned a pair of one-point victories over the Shockers in 2021-22.
  • WSU leads the all-time series 6-2 (4-1 in Wichita).
  • Tulane (12-6, 5-2) earned a vote in this week's USA Today Coaches Poll but saw its five-game winning streak snapped Tuesday night at Houston.
  • The Green Wave are one of the nation's fastest-paced teams, averaging 73.5 possessions-per-game (seventh nationally per-KenPom).
  • Seats are available online at goshockers.com/tickets, by phone at 316-978-3267 (FANS) or in person at the Shocker Ticket Office, open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the southwest corner of Charles Koch Arena.
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