WICHITA STATE (8-3) vs. KANSAS STATE (8-3)
Thursday, Dec. 21 | 7:30 p.m.
Kansas City, Mo. | T-Mobile Center
 
TV: ESPN+ with Ted Emrich & Kevin Lehman
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy & Bob Hull
 

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OPENING TIPS
• Wichita State heads up the turnpike to the T-Mobile Center for the first of two straight Sunflower State showdowns.
• Wichita State is 18-8 all time when playing on Dec. 21.
• Kansas State leads the all-time series, 22-11, and has won the last four meetings.
• K-State is 8-3 this season with four of those victories coming in overtime. K-State had its 10-game home win streak snapped on Sunday, falling to Nebraska.
• The Wildcats are 9-0 in overtime games under second-year head coach Jerome Tang.
• Wichita State won its 10th straight vs. Southern Illinois following a thrilling 69-68 win over the Salukis on Saturday in Charles Koch Arena.
• Ronnie DeGray III made his Wichita State debut Saturday vs. Southern Illinois after sitting out the first 10 games due to NCAA transfer rules.
• Harlond Beverly has 27 assists over his last five games. Beverly now leads the team in assists with 38.
• Colby Rogers (17.3 ppg; leading scorer) has made a three-pointer in all 11 games this season and multiple in 10 of the 11. He leads the AAC in field goals made (62), three-point percentage (42.9), three-pointers per game (3.00) and three-pointers made (33).
• Rogers eclipsed 1,000 career points on Nov. 29 vs. Richmond with a game-high 19 points.
• Xavier Bell and Rogers have scored in double figures in 10 of the 11 games this season, and they both have multiple 20-point games to their name.
• Bell and Rogers each went for 20 points in their last game against SIU.
• Wichita State ranks 5th nationally in defensive rebounds per game, 7th in rebounds per game, 21st in rebound margin and 25th in fouls per game.
• Wichita State is the only team in the country that has three players averaging 6.9 or more rebounds per game (Kenny Pohto - 8.3; Dalen Ridgnal - 7.3; Quincy Ballard - 6.9).
• Quincy Ballard ranks 10th nationally in blocks (27). He had a career-high 7 vs. Norfolk State.
• Paul Mills is only the seventh coach in school history to start 8-3 or better in his first 11 games. Only three coaches have won nine of their first 11 games at Wichita State.
• Wichita State celebrated the 20th anniversary of Charles Koch Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 29.
• Wichita State is guaranteed to have a winning non-conference record for the 26th consecutive season.
• 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.

SCOUTING KANSAS STATE
• Led by second year head coach Jerome Tang, Kansas State enters the matchup at 8-3.
• All Tang accomplished in his first year as a head coach in 2022-23 was lead the Wildcats to 26 wins, an Elite Eight appearance and Naismith Coach of the Year honors.
• Tang became the 11th first-year head coach to direct his team to the Elite Eight since 1996-97, while joining North Carolina's Bill Guthridge in 1997-98 and Hubert Davis in 2021-22 and Kent State's Stan Heath in 2001-02 as one of four first-time head coaches to accomplish the feat.
• The Wildcats went 26-10 a season ago and 11-7 in the Big 12 Conference. K-State was picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 Preseason Coaches Poll.
• K-State returns only two starters from last season's Elite Eight squad and welcomes eight newcomers (four transfers, three true freshmen and one walk-on).
• Through only 11 games, the Wildcats have already played four of those in overtime - all wins. K-State is 9-0 in overtime games under Tang.
• The Wildcats have three players averaging better than 15.0 points per game, led by Cam Carter at 16.5. To go with his 16.5 points, Carter adds 5.3 rebounds and a team-high 23 steals.
• Creighton transfer Arthur Kaluma checks in at 15.7 points and a team-leading 8.4 rebounds. Kaluma is coming off Big 12 Player of the Week honors on Dec. 11 after posting back-to-back games of 26 points, 9 rebounds and 17 points, 11 rebounds vs. Villanova and LSU. Kaluma has scored in double figures in all but two games this season.
• North Texas transfer Tylor Perry adds 15.7 points and has dished out 61 assists. Perry has four games with 20 or more points and has scored 10 or more in every game.
• Perry has made a basket to either win a game or send the game to overtime seven times in his career.  In back-to-back games against North Alabama and Villanova, Perry hit a three-pointer to either send it to OT or win the game.
• K-State is only 1-2 in neutral site games this season.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. KANSAS STATE
• K-State leads the all-time series, 22-11, including winners of the last four meetings. Thursday's matchup will be the first-ever neutral court game between the two Sunflower State schools.
• The two schools reignited the series in 2021 after an 18-year hiatus. Next season the Wildcats are slated to appear in Charles Koch Arena in the fourth year of a four-year contract.
• Dating back to 2003, the last three games have been decided by a total of 15 points: 4 (50-54), 6 (59-65) and 5 (50-55)
• The most notable series meeting came in the 1964 Midwest Regional Final, played inside the Roundhouse. Dave Stallworth (37 points, 16 rebounds) outdueled fellow All-American Willie Murrell (28 pts, 10 reb), but the Wildcats escaped Wichita with a 94-86 win.
• A year later, WSU again advanced to the regional final round, this time defeating Oklahoma State to punch its first Final Four ticket. That game was played at K-State's Ahearn Fieldhouse
• For years it was WSU's lone bright spot in Manhattan. The Shockers lost its first 12 road games at K-State before finally breaking through in 1996 and again in 2001.

CONNECT THE DOTS
• Wichita State head coach Paul Mills and Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang have a well-documented history that traces back to their years at Baylor under head coach Scott Drew. For 14 years, Mills and Tang were on the staff together at Baylor, helping turn the Bears from a laughingstock into a perennial power. The two remain very close friends and talk almost daily.
• Current assistant coach Quincy Acy played for both Mills and Tang from 2008-12, earning All-Big 12 honors multiple times in his career.
• Wichita State Athletic Director Kevin Saal is a Manhattan native and former K-State staffer (2000-05). He spent a year as administrative assistant for the K-State men's and women's golf and rowing programs before transitioning into an event management role.
• K-State Executive Associate A.D. Casey Scott began his career in 1985 as Wichita State's Sports Information Director. A native of Wichita, Scott spent 12 years at Wichita State before departing for Colorado State in 1998.

BETTER CALL PAUL
• Head Coach Paul Mills has the Shockers at 8-3 through his first 11 games on the bench.
• His eight wins are tied for the second most by a Wichita State head coach in his first season. Only Wilmer Elfrink, Gary Thompson and Randy Smithson have had more wins in their first 11 games.

LEAD GUARDS
• Colby Rogers and Xavier Bell have formed a potent 1-2 scoring attack for Wichita State through 11 games. Rogers leads Wichita State in scoring at 17.3 per game and Bell is right behind at 14.9.
• The duo of Rogers and Bell make up 41.5 percent of Wichita State's scoring as they've accounted for 354 points.
• Both players have scored in double figures in 10 of the first 11 games and they each have multiple 20-point outings to their name.

COLBY ROG33333333333RS
• Colby Rogers is riding a streak of 11 straight games with at least one made three-pointer to start the season.
• He has multiple three-pointers in 10 of the first 11 games, including seven straight.
• Rogers is attempting 7.0 three-pointers per game, which currently stands as the third most in school history behind Tyson Etienne (8.30 in 2021-22; 7.55 in 2020-21).
• His 3.00 three-pointers made per game are currently the most in school history.

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 21 total games in his Shocker career. In those 21 games he has 41 blocked shots. Twenty-seven of those have come in the first 11 games.
• Through 11 games his 27 blocks rank 10th nationally and his 2.45 blocks per game rank 12th.
• He has multiple blocks in all but two games this season.

BOARD OF APPROVAL
• Through the first 11 games of the season Wichita State has been among the nation's top rebounding teams. Wichita State ranks 7th nationally in rebounds per game, 5th in defensive rebounds per game and 21st in rebound margin.
• Wichita State is the only team in the country that has three players averaging 6.9 or more rebounds per game (Kenny Pohto - 8.3; Dalen Ridgnal - 7.3; Quincy Ballard - 6.9).
• Wichita State has been outrebounded just twice this season by a total of three rebounds (-2 vs. WKU; -1 vs. Coastal Carolina).
• Wichita State has pulled down 40 or more rebounds in 8 of the 11 games, including three games of 50+.
• Wichita State has grabbed 76.0% of its possible defensive rebounds this season. That number would be the third best in school history, trailing only the 2017-18 team's 77.4% and 2015-16 team's 76.2%.

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 9-3 this season.
... Snap a four-game losing streak vs. K-State.
... Make them 19-8 all time on Dec. 21.
... Give Paul Mills 115 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,666-1,248 all time.
... Make them 12-22 vs. K-State all time.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 8-4 this season.
... Be their fifth straight loss in the series vs. K-State.
... Make Paul Mills 8-4 as Wichita State head coach.
... Drop them to 18-9 all time on Dec. 21.
... Drop their record to 1,665-1,249 all time.
... Make them 11-23 all-time vs. K-State.

UP NEXT
GAME 13: VS KANSAS (T-MOBILE CENTER)                                                             
• Kansas is 10-1 and ranked No. 2 under 21st year head coach Bill Self.
• The last meeting came in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament in 2015 - a 78-65 win for Wichita State.
• Kansas leads the all-time series with Wichita State, 12-3.
• This will be the fifth meeting on a neutral court with both teams winning two games apiece.