RICHMOND (4-2) at WICHITA STATE (6-1)
Wednesday, Nov. 29 | 6:30 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:
20 Years in Charles Koch Arena
 

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OPENING TIPS
• Wichita State closes out the month of November and a two-game homestand vs. Richmond Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
• A win would move the Shockers to 7-1 and would be the best start since 2019-20 when they also started the season 7-1.
• Wichita State is 14-6 all time when playing on Nov. 29.
• Wichita State is 1-0 all-time vs. Richmond with the lone meeting coming last season.
• Richmond is 4-2 this season after back-to-back wins over UNLV and Queens.
• Wichita State is coming off an 80-67 win over Norfolk State on Wednesday. Wichita State dished out a season-high 20 assists in the contest.
• Kenny Pohto poured in a season-high 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting, 8 rebounds and 5 assists vs. Norfolk State on Nov. 25. He has two 20-point games this season.
• Colby Rogers has made a three-pointer in all seven games this season and multiple in six of the seven.
• 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 is the team's second leading scorer at 15.1 points per game and has handed out a team-best 26 assists.
• Bell and Rogers have scored in double figures in six of the seven games this season, and they both have a pair of 20-point games to their name.
• Wichita State ranks 3rd nationally in defensive rebounds per game and 10th in rebounds per game.
• Quincy Ballard ranks 3rd nationally in blocks (20). He had a career-high 7 vs. Norfolk State. Ballard's 7 blocks were the most since Ehimen Orupke vs. Southern Illinois on Jan. 9, 2013.
• Ballard also had 5 dunks vs. Norfolk State - the most since Shaq Morris vs. Tulsa on Jan. 28, 2018. The five dunks are tied for the second most in school history.
• Wichita State ranks 3rd nationally in defensive rebounds per game, 10th in rebounds per game, 15th in FG percentage defense and 18th in fouls per game.
• Wichita State currently has 10 players on scholarship eligible to play in 2023-24 and two walk-ons.
• KenPom ranks the Shockers 107th nationally in its rankings and 76th defensively.
• With a win, Mills would move to 7-1 and tie the best eight-game start to a Wichita State coaching career since Gary Thompson in 1964.
• 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.
• 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.
• Ronnie DeGray III is another transfer who is currently sitting out due to NCAA transfer rules. The former Missouri Tiger  and UMass Minuteman is a two-time transfer  and awaiting a decision on an NCAA waiver to see if he will be eligible to play this season in the Black and Yellow.

POHTO TABBED FOR AAC WEEKLY HONOR ROLL
• Kenny Pohto picked up his first American Athletic Conference weekly honor roll selection of the season on Nov. 27.
• Pohto tallied season highs in points (25), field goals made (9), field goal attempts (13) and assists (5). He also added a team-high 8 rebounds.
• He scored 16 of his 25 points after halftime.

LEAD GUARDS
• Colby Rogers and Xavier Bell have formed a potent 1-2 scoring attack for Wichita State through seven games. Rogers leads Wichita State in scoring at 16.1 per game and Bell is right behind at 15.1.
• The duo of Rogers and Bell make up 39.0 percent of Wichita State's scoring as they've accounted for 219 points.
• Both players have scored in double figures in six of the first seven games and they each have a pair of 20-point outings to their name.

SCOUTING RICHMOND
• Led by 19th year head coach Chris Mooney, Richmond enters the matchup at 4-2. The Spiders are 0-1 in true road games this season with a 68-61 loss at Boston College.
• Mooney is all-time wins leader at Richmond with 329 career wins in 19 seasons.
• Mooney enters the 2023-24 season tied for the ninth-longest tenured coach in Division I. The only coaches who have been at their current schools longer than Mooney are Tom Izzo (Michigan State), Greg Kampe (Oakland), James Jones (Yale), Mark Few (Gonzaga), Randy Bennett (St. Mary's), Leonard Hamilton (Florida State), Bill Self (Kansas), and Scott Drew (Baylor).
• The 2023-24 Spiders roster includes eight newcomers: five freshmen and three transfers. That's tied for the most newcomers Mooney has ever had at Richmond in his 19 years with the Spiders (also eight in 2017-18). Richmond's eight returning players are the second-fewest Mooney has ever had at Richmond, trailing only the 2006-07 team (seven).
• Richmond was picked to finish 11th in the Preseason Atlantic 10 Poll.
• Richmond finished the 2022-23 campaign at 15-18 overall and 7-11 in the A-10.
• Jordan King powers the Richmond offense, averaging 20.3 points on 52/47/85 shooting splits. He's had three 20-point games and a 34-point outburst in the season opener.
• Neal Quinn leads the Spiders in rebounding (6.2 rpg) and assists (25) to go with 14.2 points.
• Isaiah Bigelow is shooting 62 percent and 46.7 percent from beyond the arc and 10.2 points per game. Bigelow led the Spiders in last year's meeting with 16 points.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. RICHMOND
• Wednesday's matchup marks just the second all-time meeting between Wichita State and Richmond. The Shockers defeated the Spiders in the only other meeting just over a year ago on Nov. 17, 2022, 56-53, in Richmond.
• A low-scoring, defensive battle saw Wichita State pick up a huge road win early in the season. The Shockers held Richmond to just 37.7 percent shooting and 8-for-29 from three-point range.
• Jaykwon Walton accounted for 20 of Wichita State's 56 points on a night when only six players found the scoring column.
• James Rojas added 15 and Craig Porter Jr. chipped in 11 points, 9 rebounds and 5 steals. The trio of Walton, Rojas and Porter combined for 46 of the team's 56 points.
• Isaiah Bigelow posted 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead Richmond.

NORFOLK STATE LEFTOVERS
• Four Shockers scored in double figures (Kenny Pohto - 25, Quincy Ballard - 13, Harlond Beverly - 13, Dalen Ridgnal - 11). Wichita State is 4-0 this season when 4+ Shockers reach double figures.
• Wichita State dished out a season-high 20 assists and committed only 8 turnovers - second fewest this season.
• Beverly's 8 assists were one off a career high which he set at Miami in 2021 vs. Wake Forest.
• Ballard's seven blocks tied the 9th most in school history and were the most since Ehimen Orupke had 7 vs. SIU on Jan. 9, 2013.
• Ballard's five dunks tied the second most in a game in school history, dating back to the 1976-77 season.

POHTO POWER
• Kenny Pohto has produced back-to-back 20-point outings, including a season-high 25 on 9-of-13 shooting vs. Norfolk State on Nov. 25. He scored 23 in a win over Saint Louis on Nov. 19 to close the Myrtle Beach Invitational.
• He also dished a season-high five assists in the Norfolk State victory and was a perfect 6-of-6 at the line.
• Pohto is shooting 65.4 percent (17-for-26) from the field over his last two games and is 13-for-14 on free throws.
• He's averaging a career-high 14.4 points per game this season on 52.8 percent shooting.

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 17 total games in his Shocker career. In those 17 games he has 34 blocked shots. Twenty of those have come in the first 7 games.
• Through 7 games his 20 blocks rank 3rd nationally and his 2.86 blocks per game rank 6th.
• He has multiple blocks in all but one game this season.

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 7-1 and would be the best start since 2019-20 when the Shockers started 7-1.
... Make them 5-0 at home this season.
... Make them 15-6 all time on Nov. 29.
... Give Paul Mills 113 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,664-1,246 all time.
... Make them 2-0 vs. Richmond all time.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 6-2 this season.
... Be their first home loss of the season.
... Make Paul Mills 6-2 as Wichita State head coach.
... Drop them to 14-7 all time on Nov. 29.
... Drop their record to 1,663-1,247 all time.
... Make them 1-1 all-time vs. Richmond.

UP NEXT
GAME 9: AT MISSOURI                                                                  
• Missouri is 5-2 in Dennis Gates' second year at the helm of the Tigers.
• This is the fourth and final matchup in a four-year series between the Shockers and Tigers. Wichita State is 0-2 vs. Missouri in the last three years at home, but the Shockers defeated the Tigers in Columbia in 2021.
• Missouri leads the all-time series, 5-1.