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Walton at Tulsa

MBB Preview: UCF (Feb. 8)

2/7/2023 6:12:00 PM

UCF (13-9, 4-6) at WICHITA STATE (12-11, 5-6)
Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023 | 7:02 p.m. CT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena (10,506)
 
Tickets: goshockers.com/tickets
TV: ESPN+ w/ Shane Dennis & Bob Hull
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM (goshockers.com/listen) w/ Mike Kennedy & Dave Dahl
Live Stats: shockerstats.com
Series: WSU leads 8-2 (5-0 in Wichita); Last: Dec. 28, 2022 in Orlando (UCF, 52-45)
 
 
JOINING THE #FIGHT4LITERACY:
WSU hosts its sixth annual #Fight4Literacy game. Coaches will wear green pins ito raise awareness and funds for local reading programs through United Way of the Plains. Visit unitedwayplains.org/literacy to join the fight.
 

OPENING TIPS:
  • The Wichita State Shockers entertain the UCF Knights Wednesday evening in American Athletic Conference action at Charles Koch Arena (7 p.m. CT, ESPN+).
  • The Shockers lead the all-time series 8-2 (5-0 in Wichita) but have lost back-to-back meetings.
  • The teams met five weeks ago in their AAC opener in Orlando). Playing without point guard Craig Porter Jr., WSU set a season low for points in a 52-45 setback.
  • UCF opened league play 4-1 but has since dropped five straight. The Knights have one of the league's most-talented freshmen in forward Taylor Hendricks (14.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.8 bpg) and enter the week ranked No. 70 in the NCAA NET and No. 63 in KenPom.
  • After an 0-3 AAC start, WSU has a chance to reach .500.
  • The Shockers are coming off a convincing, 86-75 road win at Tulsa. Jaron Pierre Jr. scored 14 of his 19 points in the first half to spot WSU a 45-26 halftime cushion. The Shockers shot 51% for the game and led by as many as 24 points down the stretch.
  • James Rojas totaled 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting at Tulsa to earn his first AAC weekly honor roll nod. He's scored in double-figures in each of the last eight games.
  • Rojas' surge has played a major role in WSU's dramatic offensive improvement. The Shockers have topped 70 in seven of their last eight outings after doing so just five times in the first 15 contests. Over this stretch, WSU is averaging 76.8 points (up from 64.5).
  • One of nine new transfers on this year's active roster, junior wing Jaykwon Walton is averaging a team-best 14.0 points, along with 5.6 rebounds.
  • Per KenPom, Walton's 63.2% true shooting percentage is the AAC's second-highest behind Houston's J'Wan Roberts (65.2). TS% is an advanced statistic that measure a player's overall shot efficiency, weighing 2-point and 3-point percentage along with free throw accuracy. Porter – one of just two holdovers from last season – averages 12.1 points and ranks among the AAC leaders blocks (3rd, 1.6) , assists (8th, 4.0), steals (10th, 1.4) and rebounds (11th, 6.2)
  • The Shockers rank among the national leaders in field goal percentage defense, limiting foes to 39.5% (16th).
  • WSU is an uncharacteristic 1-4 in AAC home games after going a combined 32-11 in its first five seasons.
  • In the Shockers' five AAC home games, opponents have shot a combined 40.5% from three.
 
 
ON THIS DATE: FEB. 9
  • 1956 – Bob Hodgson became the second Shocker to score 1,000 career points (three years after Cleo Littleton) in WU's 56-50 home win over Drake. Hodgson finished the season averaging a double-double with 17.5 points and 11.5 rebounds.
  • 1976 – WSU fell behind 17-0 and 31-10 at Loyola Chicago before roaring back for a 79-77 win. The Shockers took their first lead of the night with 5:13 left on Robert Elmore's three-point play. Robert Gray finished with 20 points and seven assists.
  • 2016 – WSU finished the first half on a 27-5 run to bury host Drake, 74-48. The Bulldogs shot 25% for the game and had more turnovers (15) than field goals (11).
 
 
LAST TIME ON SHOCKER BASKETBALL…
Feb. 5 (Tulsa, Okla.) | WSU 86, Tulsa 75
  • Jaron Pierre Jr. scored 14 of his team-high 19 points in the first half for WSU, which led 45-26 at halftime and by as many as 24 down the stretch.
  • Craig Porter Jr. added 10 rebounds and seven assists.
  • James Rojas (17 pts, 7/8 FG), Jaykwon Walton (17 pts) and Kenny Pohto (12 pts, career-high six assists) also put up big numbers.
  • Tulsa scored 28 in the last 6:00 to thin the final margin.
  • Tim Dalger finished with 24 points and hit five of Tulsa's 12 three-pointers. The Hurricane shot 40% from three but were outscored 46-24 in the paint.
  • The Shockers shot 51.5% from the field and outrebounded the hosts, 43-32.
  • Tulsa went the first 29 minutes of game action without an offensive rebound and didn't record a second-chance point until the 3:44-mark of the second half.
  • The Shockers used a 14-1 run midway through the first half to go up double-digits and closed the period with another 13-2 flurry. They made 19-of-33 shots in the half (.576) and were +15 on the glass.
  • Tulsa scored the first two buckets out of the half before another Shocker salvo. Pohto found Walton for a dunk and a 61-37 lead with 13:28 to play and threw an alley-oop to Isaac Abidde with 6:07 left for a 71-47 edge.
  • Tulsa's followed that dunk with runs of 7-1 and 15-2. Dalger's tip dunk with 36 seconds left cut the margin to 81-73, but that's as close as the Hurricane would get.
 
 
A CRAZY EIGHT:
  • WSU has averaged 76.8 points over its last eight games (up from 64.5 through the first 15 contests). The Shockers could go scoreless Wednesday night and their nine-game trend (68.2) would still be almost four points ahead of their first half pace.
  • Five Shockers are averaging double-figure points over the last eight games: Jaykwon Walton (18.6 pts, 61.8% FG), James Rojas (14.3 pts, 8.0 reb), Craig Porter Jr. (11.5 pts, 7.0 reb, 4.6 ast), Kenny Pohto (10.4 pts, 7.0 reb, 3.1 ast) and Jaron Pierre Jr. (10.1 pts).
  • The Shockers are shooting only slightly better but have gotten to the foul line with more regularity (22.5 FTA) and are playing at a much faster pace.
  • WSU was statistically one of the nation's worst passing teams in the first half of the season but has reversed that trend with an excellent assist-to-turnover ratio (1.22), assist rate (57.0) and assist-per-game average (15.3) over these past four weeks.
 
 
SCOUTING UCF:
  • UCF lost four starters and all but three lettermen from last year's sixth-place team (18-12, 9-9) but went 9-3 in the non-conference season with wins over Oklahoma State, Ole Miss and Florida State.
  • The hot start continued into conference play. A double-overtime home win over Memphis on Jan. 11 moved UCF to 4-1, however the Knights have dropped five-in-a-row since then.
  • UCF is 1-4 in AAC road games with its lone victory coming at ECU.
  • UCF is one of the nation's most-methodical teams, averaging just 65.5 possessions (320th out of 363 teams, per KenPom). The Knights are limiting foes to 66.3 points on 41.0% shooting. Offensively, they're the conference's best three-point shooting team, by percentage (.363) and are elite on the glass, grabbing 35.4% of their own missed (17th-best nationally).
  • 6-9 true freshman Taylor Hendricks – a consensus four-star, top-100 recruit -- leads the team in points (14.3) and rebounds (7.2) and is tied for the AAC lead in  blocks (39). He's won the AAC's Freshman of the Week award six different times (tied with Houston's Jarace Walker for the league lead).
  • 6-1 sophomore point guard Darius Johnson has built on last year's AAC All-Freshman campaign, averaging 11.6 points, 2.2 steals and 4.1 assists. Per KenPom, Johnson's 4.2% steal rate ranks 37th on the national leaderboard.
  • A pair of 6-5 senior transfers have given the Knights some additional firepower out on the perimeter. Ithiel Horton (Pittsburgh) averages 11.8 points and has hit a team-high 47 threes (.346). C.J. Kelly (UMass) has putt up 11.6 points and 46 triples (.414).
 
 
MATCHUP MASHUP:
  • Newcomers have accounted for 84.4% of the UCF minutes and 81.2% of Shocker minutes this season. Those are the two-highest marks in the conference and both rank among the top-40 nationally.
  • UCF (0-5) is one of three American rivals that are still in search of their first AAC win in Wichita. Tulsa is 0-6 and South Florida is 0-4. UConn went 0-2 in its brief overlap wit the Shockers.
  • The Shockers are 3-2 vs. UCF under Isaac Brown.
  • WSU is 8-3 all-time vs. Johnny Dawkins (8-2 during his tenure at UCF). Dawkins' Stanford team defeated the Shockers, 70-56, in the 2009 CBI quarterfinals.
 
 
THE SERIES WITH UCF:
  • The Shockers are 8-2 all-time against the Knights but have lost the last two meetings.
  • Five of the 10 games have been decided by five points in either direction.
  • WSU is a perfect 5-0 in Wichita and is 3-2 at UCF's Addition Financial Arena.
  • Barring an encounter next month in Fort Worth, this will be the last WSU-UCF matchup of the AAC era. The Knights are headed to the Big 12 next fall.
  • The teams split last year's home-and-home. The Shockers won 84-79 at the Roundhouse behind Ricky Council IV's 31-point performance but fell 13 days later in Orlando. Brandon Mahan supplied 19 points, including a crucial three-point play with 26 seconds left to give the Knights their first series win, 71-66.
  • The Shockers survived a pair of nailbiters in 2020-21 on their way to the AAC regular season title. On Jan. 30 in Wichita, they overcame an eight-point deficit with less than 4:00 to play to win in overtime (93-88). Less than two weeks later in Orlando, WSU survived, 61-60, after Darius Perry's potential game-winning jumper missed the  mark.
  • Two WSU-UCF games have gone to overtime -- both Shocker wins. In addition to the 2021 thriller at Charles Koch Arena, the Mar. 1, 2018 clash in Orlando saw bonus basketball when UCF's A.J. Davis banked in a three-pointer at the buzzer to end regulation. The 11th-ranked Shockers regrouped for a 75-71 victory.
 
 
LAST MEETING:
Dec. 28, 2022 in Orlando (UCF, 52-45)
  • Minus its go-to-guy, WSU struggled to get much going offensively in its AAC opener.
  • Walk-on Melvion Flanagan finished with a team-high 11 points for WSU, which struggled in the absence of injured point guard Craig Porter Jr., scoring a season-low 45 points on 35% shooting.
  • Timely three-pointers (7-of-20) and another gritty defensive effort kept the Shockers in the game.
  • Jaron Pierre Jr.'s trey pulled them to within a point, 46-45, at the 4:50-mark of the second half, but WSU came up empty on each of its last seven offensive possessions to finish the game.
  • Two defensive-minded teams played at a slow tempo (just 53 offensive possessions).
  • 19 WSU possessions ended with points, 19 with missed shots and 15 on turnovers.
  • The Knights overcame their own offensive struggles. They shot 35.8% and went the final 8:16 without a field goal, but Darius Johnson (game-high 15 points) made six straight free throws in the last two minutes to secure the victory.
  • UCF won the rebounding (34-27) and turnover (15-9) battles and held WSU to just one second-chance point.
  • UCF jumped to an 18-11 lead and never trailed. The Shockers scored the last five points of the first half to pull within 26-23 and narrowed the margin to a single point on three different occasions in the second half.
 
 
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…
  • Make them 13-11 with wins in six of nine.
  • Make them 6-6 in AAC play after an 0-3 start.
  • Be their first home win since Jan. 14 and just their second in AAC play (2-4).
  • Salvage a season split with UCF.
  • Up their series lead with UCF to 9-2 (6-0 Wichita) and snap a two-game skid.
 
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...
  • Drop them to 12-12 (5-7 AAC)
  • Make them 6-7 at home (1-5 in AAC home games).
  • Give UCF a regular season sweep and three straight series wins.
  • Narrow WSU's all-time series lead to 8-3.
  • Be less good than a win.
 
 
UP NEXT:  SMU
Sunday, Feb. 12 | 3 p.m.  CT | ESPN2
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
  • WSU plays host to SMU in the day's biggest game.
  • WSU lost its first AAC era matchup with SMU (January, 2018 in Wichita) but has won each of the last five since.
  • The Shockers took the Jan. 22 matchup in Dallas by a score of 71-69. Jaykwon Walton scored nine of his 18 points during a pivotal 15-0 run that put the Shockers ahead by 13 with just under 4:00 to play... SMU reeled off the next 15 points, forcing turnovers on five of the next seven Shocker possessions to take the lead... WSU's Craig Porter Jr. sank three free throws for a 70-69 lead with 35 seconds left, and the the Shockers closed it out with back-to-back defensive stops.
  • SMU (8-16, 3-8 in its first year under former Georgia State coach Rob Lanier) hosts Temple on Wednesday night before traveling to Wichita.
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