NORFOLK STATE (4-2) at WICHITA STATE (5-1)
Saturday, Nov. 25 | 6:00 p.m. CDT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
 
TV: ESPN+ (Shane Dennis & Bob Hull)
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy & Dave Dahl

Promotions:
Family Day & Teddy Bear Toss - Join us for a day of youthful fun including our halftime Teddy Bear Toss benefiting students in Shocker Neighborhood Schools.
Ticket Offer - Upper Reserved tickets are $20 during our Fansgiving Sale (Mon. Nov. 20 - Sat. Nov. 25)
Ticket Offer - All WSU students can receive one guest ticket at no additional charge
Ticket Offer – All college students with a valid student ID from their institution can receive a free GA ticket as a part of our Home for the Holidays initiative. 
 

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OPENING TIPS
• Wichita State returns to action following Thanksgiving with a home matchup against Norfolk State on Saturday at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
• A win would move the Shockers to 6-1 and would be the best start since 2019-20 when they also started the season 6-1.
• Wichita State is 1-0 all-time vs. Norfolk State with the lone meeting coming just two years ago.
• Norfolk State is 4-2 this season after a 1-2 weekend at the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam.
• Wichita State is coming off a third place finish at the Myrtle Beach Invitational, going 2-1. The Shockers defeated Saint Louis in the third place game.
• Wichita State is 5-3 all time when playing on Nov. 25.
• Colby Rogers dropped a career-high 28 points in the final game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational. He averaged 19.7 points and shot 44 percent from the field and 36 percent from beyond the arc in three games.
• Rogers ranks Top 30 nationally in field goals and field goal attempts.
• Xavier Bell averaged 19.3 points and 6.7 rebounds in three games of the Myrtle Beach Invitational. He scored a career-high 24 and grabbed a career-best 9 rebounds vs. Liberty.
• Bell was named to the Myrtle Beach All-Tournament Team and to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll.
• Bell is the team's second leading scorer at 16.5 points per game and has handed out a team-best 21 assists.
• Bell and Rogers have scored in double figures in all six games this season, and they both have a pair of 20-point games to their name.
• Kenny Pohto recorded his second double-double of the season vs. Saint Louis with 23 points and 12 boards.
• Dalen Ridgnal ranks 40th nationally in total rebounds (42).
• Wichita State ranks 3rd nationally in defensive rebounds per game and 10th in rebounds per game.
• Quincy Ballard ranks 20th nationally in blocks (13).
• 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 rankings and 52nd defensively.
• With a win, Mills would move to 6-1 and tie the best seven-game start to a Wichita State coaching career since Harry Miller in 1971.
• 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.

BELL NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
• Xavier Bell was named to the Myrtle Beach Invitational All-Tournament Team after averaging 19.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists.
• He was 22-for-47 (46.8 percent) from the field and 12-for-14 (85.7 percent) from the free throw line.
• He scored 20-plus in two of the three games.
• Bell was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Kyle Rode (Liberty, MOP), Brody Peebles (Liberty), Shamir Bogues (Vermont), Sam Griffin (Wyoming), Marcus Foster (Furman) and Terrence Hargrove Jr. (Saint Louis).

BELL PICKS UP WEEKLY HONOR ROLL NOD
• Xavier Bell was named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll on Nov. 20.
• It is the first weekly honor for Bell since arriving in Wichita last season. He averaged 19.3 points in three games of the Myrtle Beach Invitational.

LEAD GUARDS
• Colby Rogers and Xavier Bell have formed a potent 1-2 scoring attack for Wichita State through six games. Rogers leads Wichita State in scoring at 17.8 per game and Bell is right behind at 16.5.
• The duo of Rogers and Bell make up 42.7 percent of Wichita State's scoring as they've accounted for 206 points.
• Both players have scored in double figures in each of the first six games and they each have a pair of 20-point outings to their name.

SCOUTING NORFOLK STATE
• Led by 11th year head coach Robert Jones, Norfolk State enters the matchup at 4-2. The Spartans are coming off a 1-2 showing at the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam. They closed the tournament with a 69-66 win over Florida Gulf Coast.
• Jones led the program to its second-consecutive MEAC title in 2021-2022 and an NCAA Tournament First Four win over Appalachian State in 2021.
• The MEAC Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2021, Jones has led NSU to a .754-win percentage in MEAC play – fifth in the nation among coaches with at least 100 games coached – and made seven postseason appearances in eight years of postseason play.
• In 2022-23, Norfolk State won 22 games and came up one point shy in the MEAC Championship game against Howard.
• Norfolk State was picked to finish second in the MEAC Preseason Coaches Poll, 11 points behind first place pick, Howard.
• The Spartans placed three on the Preseason All-MEAC Teams: Christian Ings (First Team), Jamarii Thomas (Third Team) and George Beale Jr. (Third Team).
• Beale was named to the MEAC All-Rookie Team a season ago.
• Through six games in 2023-24, Jamarii Thomas is putting up a team-high 17.3 points per game to go with 17 assists and 14 steals. Thomas ranks third in the nation in free throws made with 41 and ranks 11th in free throw attempts (47). He also ranks 15th nationally in steals.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. NORFOLK STATE
• Saturday's matchup marks just the second all-time meeting between Wichita State and Norfolk State. The Shockers defeated the Spartans in the only other meeting on Dec. 11, 2021, 71-58, in Charles Koch Arena.
• Kenny Pohto is the only Shocker who was on the roster during that matchup, while Norfolk State brings back five players who appeared in the game in 2021.
• Tyson Etienne and Morris Udeze scored a team-high 16 points each to lead the Shockers, while Dexter Dennis added 10.
• Dana Tate drilled five three-pointers to the tune of a game-high 22 points for Norfolk State.
• Wichita State shot 45.5 percent for the game and committed only 8 turnovers in the contest.
• Wichita State is 10-1 all-time vs. current members of the MEAC. The lone loss came in 1993 against Coppin State, 65-64, in Wichita.

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 16 total games in his Shocker career. In those 16 games he has 27 blocked shots. Thirteen of those have come in the first six games of this season.
• Through six games his 13 blocks rank 20th nationally.
• He's registered multiple blocks in half the games he's played.

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 6-1 and would be the best start since 2019-20 when the Shockers started 6-0.
... Make them 6-3 all time on Nov. 25.
... Give Paul Mills 112 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,663-1,246 all time.
... Make them 2-0 vs. Norfolk State all time.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 5-2 this season.
... Make Paul Mills 5-2 as Wichita State head coach.
... Drop them to 5-4 all time on Nov. 25.
... Drop their record to 1,662-1,247 all time.
... Make them 1-1 all-time vs. Norfolk State.