WICHITA STATE (4-0) vs. LIBERTY (3-0)
Myrtle Beach Invitational
Friday, Nov. 17 | 8:00 p.m. CDT
Conway, S.C. | HTC Center
 
TV: ESPNU (Rich Hollenberg & Daymeon Fishback)
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy & Bob Hull
 

Date	Time (ET)	Matchup	Network
Fri, Nov. 17	12 p.m.	Vermont vs. Saint Louis	ESPN2
	2:30 p.m.	Charleston vs. Wyoming)	ESPNU
	6:30 p.m.	Coastal Carolina vs. Furman	ESPN+
	9 p.m.	Wichita State vs. Liberty	ESPNU
Sun, Nov. 19	10:30 a.m.	Fifth Place Game	ESPNU
	1 p.m.	Seventh Place Game	ESPN+
	5:30 p.m.	Championship Game	ESPN or ESPN2
	8 p.m.	Third Place Game	ESPN2

 

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OPENING TIPS
• Wichita State faces Liberty in the Myrtle Beach Invitational semifinals Friday night at 8 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
• Wichita State is seeking its 17th 5-0 start in program history.
• This marks the first-ever meeting between Wichita State and Coastal Carolina.
• This is Wichita State's first appearance in the Myrtle Beach Invitational. The Shockers are 20-20 in Multi-Team Events since 2007 and 81-70 all time.
• Wichita State is seeking its third MTE (Multi-Team Event) championship and first since 2013 when the Shockers won the CBE Classic in Kansas City.
• The Shockers will play Furman or Liberty on Friday either in the semifinals or in the consolation bracket.
• Wichita State is 4-2 all time when playing on Nov. 17.
• Wichita State's 95 points against Friends were the most since the Shockers scored 102 against Prairie View A&M on Dec. 22, 2021.
• Xavier Bell had a career night vs. Coastal Carolina, going for 20 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.
• Kenny Pohto scored all 16 of his points after halftime in the opening round win against Coastal Carolina.
• Colby Rogers scored a game-high 20 points and Quincy Ballard notched his first career double-double against Lipscomb. Rogers made his long-awaited Shocker debut after sitting out last season due to the NCAA's transfer rules.
• Rogers' 20 points tied for the 5th most in a Shocker debut in school history.
• Rogers leads Wichita State in scoring (15.8 ppg), 3-pointers made (9) and 3-point attempts (26).
• Wichita State ranks 2nd nationally in defensive rebounds per game and 17th in FG% defense.
• Wichita State is averaging 47.8 rebounds per game after three games - good for 9th nationally. Three different Shockers average 8.0 rebounds or more (Ballard, 8.8), Pohto (8.8) and Dalen Ridgnal (8.0).
• Ballard is the first Shocker since Jaime Echinque in 2020 to have three straight 10+ rebound games.
• First-year head coach Paul Mills has only four returning letterwinners, and welcomes seven newcomers to the 2023-24 roster.
• Wichita State currently has 10 players on scholarship eligible to play in 2023-24 and two walk-ons.
• KenPom ranks the Shockers 101st nationally in its preseason rankings and 54th defensively.
• First-year head coach Paul Mills has only four returning letterwinners, and welcomes seven newcomers to the 2023-24 roster.
• Wichita State currently has 10 players on scholarship eligible to play in 2023-24 and two walk-ons.
• KenPom ranks the Shockers 109th nationally in its preseason rankings and 52nd defensively.
• Wichita State returns only 20.3 percent of its scoring from a season ago, having lost its top four scorers. Pohto is the only returner to average more than 4.0 points per game. Craig Porter Jr., James Rojas, Gus Okafor and Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler exhausted their eligibility, and four others exited via the transfer portal.
• Wichita State has only two true freshmen on the roster in Joy Ighovodja (Nigeria) and Yanis Bamba (Canada).
• The 2022-23 Shockers ranked 230th in adjusted tempo, but that will most certainly change under Mills' leadership. His Oral Roberts squad was 40th in tempo last season.
• Wichita State ranked near the very bottom in the NCAA when it came to 3-point shooting a season ago. Converting on just 30.9 percent of its attempts from beyond the arc, that ranked 324th nationally. Mills' Oral Roberts squad on the other hand attempted nearly 400 more and shot 36.5 percent, which ranked 56th in the country.
• Oklahoma transfer, Bijan Cortes, had his NCAA waiver denied and will sit out at least the first semester. There is still a chance he could have a waiver approved for the second semester. In two seasons at Oklahoma, Cortes averaged 2.6 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. He appeared in 59 career games with the Sooners and was a career 50 percent 3-point shooter. In his final season he posted career highs of 3.2 points, 2.0 assists and was 13-of-27 from beyond the arc.

WICHITA STATE IN MULTI-TEAM EVENTS
• The Shockers are in search of their first title at a Multi-Team Event since winning the 2012 Cancun Challenge and the 2013 CBE Classic in consecutive years. They've been runner-up four times since then: 2014 Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu), 2017 Maui Invitational, 2019 Cancun Challenge, 2022 Hall of Fame Classic.
• The 2012 Cancun title was WSU's first at a neutral site event since winning the 1963 All-College tournament in Oklahoma City.
• Shocker teams have won a total of 15 regular season tournaments in the modern era, with 10 of those coming on their home court.
• Wichita State was scheduled to take part in the 2020 Battle 4 Atlantis, but the event was canceled due to COVID-19. A replacement event took place in Sioux Falls, S.D. with many of the same teams, but the Shockers had to withdraw when two players tested positive during a pre-tournament COVID screening.
• Wichita State took third-place in the 2021 Roman Main Event in Las Vegas. Both games had memorable finishes. Against an Arizona team that would eventually go on to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, WSU rallied from 16 down in the second half before falling in overtime. The Shockers staged a similar second-half comeback against UNLV in the consolation game. 
• Down a point, Tyson Etienne drew a foul near midcourt with 3.5 seconds remaining and sank two game-winning free throws.

SCOUTING LIBERTY
• Led by 11th year head coach Ritchie McKay, Liberty enters the 2023-24 campaign with a lot of buzz. The Flames are coming off a 27-9 record a season ago and were picked to win the CUSA in the preseason poll.
• This is the third straight year Liberty has been picked to finish first in its league's preseason polls.
• Flames redshirt senior forward Kyle Rode has been tabbed to the 2023-24 CUSA Men's Basketball Preseason All-Conference team.
• Liberty has been one of the most successful programs in the country over the last five seasons. During that span, Liberty has won 131 games, which ranks fourth most in the country. The Flames are 131-37 overall in those five years for a .780 winning percentage.
• In 11 seasons, McKay has compiled a 229-113 record and an overall record of 394-271 in 22 seasons with stops at New Mexico, Oregon State, Colorado State and Portland State.
• Liberty is 3-0 entering the Myrtle Beach Invitational with wins over Mid-Atlantic Christian (103-43), Charlotte (71-59) and Furman (88-74)
• Preseason All-Conference selection Kyle Rode is shooting 50.0 percent from 3-point range to go with a team-best 17.0 points per game.
• Brody Peebles is averaging 16.3 points per game off the bench and shooting 42.1 percent from beyond the arc.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. LIBERTY
• This will be the first meeting between the two schools.

ABOUT THE MYRTLE BEACH INVITATIONAL
• Now in its fifth year, the Shockers are making their first-ever appearance at the Myrtle Beach Invitational. The inaugural Myrtle Beach Invitational took place in 2018 with UCF defeating WKU in the championship.
• The HTC Center is hosting an ESPN Events' in-season tournament for the sixth straight season starting with the 2017 Puerto Rico Tip-Off that was relocated to the Coastal Carolina University due to Hurricane Maria.
• UMass won the 2022 title, edging new American Athletic Conference foe, Charlotte, 60-54.

NON-CONFERENCE NOTABLES
• Wichita State could potentially face three first-time foes in the non-conference slate, all three are in the Myrtle Beach Invitational field (Coastal Carolina, Liberty and Vermont).
• Liberty (CUSA), College of Charleston (CAA), South Dakota State (Summit League) and Kansas (Big 12) were all picked to win their respective leagues. Norfolk State (MEAC) and Western Kentucky (CUSA) were picked second and third in each of their preseason polls.
• The Shockers' will play three road or neutral site games against teams that finished inside the Top 50 of last year's NCAA NET Rankings (at Missouri - 47, vs. K-State - 19 and vs. Kansas - 9).
• Wichita State has won eight of its last nine non-conference true road games, dating back to the 2019 NIT run. The Shockers only loss came a year ago in Manhattan vs. Kansas State.
• Wichita State's non-conference slate sends the Shockers to Columbia on Dec. 3 to face Missouri.

ACCESS DENIED
• Wichita State has an elite rim protector in Quincy Ballard. His season was cut short in 2022-23 due to injuries, so he's only played 14 total games in his Shocker career. In those 14 games he has 25 blocked shots. Eleven of those have come in the first four games of this season.
• Through four games his 11 blocks rank 9th nationally.
• He's registered multiple blocks in half the games he's played.

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 5-0 for the 17th time in the program's 117 seasons.
... Make them 6-2 all time on Nov. 17.
... Give Paul Mills 111 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,662-1,245 all time.
... Make them 1-0 vs. Liberty all time.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 4-1 this season.
... Make Paul Mills 4-1 as Wichita State head coach.
... Drop their record to 1,661-1,246 all time.
... Make them 0-1 all-time vs. Liberty.