WICHITA STATE (5-8) at RICE (6-5)
Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2023 | 7 p.m. CT
Houston, Texas 
TV: ESPN+ with Matt Pederson and ShaVonne Herndon
Radio: Audacy.com/KFH with Steve Strain  OPENING TIPS
> Wichita State heads to Houston, Texas to take on Rice for the first time as an American Athletic Conference foe.
> The teams meet for the 2^nd time with Rice leading 1-0 with a 1986 win.
> Senior transfer from Miami (OH) Sierra Morrow made her long-awaited Shocker debut against Kansas after her NCAA transfer waiver was finally approved. She tied for a team-high 12 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds off the bench. In her third game of the season, she scored a career-high 29 points against Oral Roberts to land herself on the AAC Weekly Honor Roll.
> Morrow is averaging 13.3 points per game through her first four games of the season, leading the team in scoring in two of three games.
> Three Shockers are averaging double-digit scoring (Morrow 13.3 ppg, Tre'Zure Jobe 12.5, Daniela Abies 11.9 ppg).
> Jobe has started all 124 games of her collegiate career, including her five years at Emporia State.
> Jobe is ranked 120^th in the nation, fourth in the conference in steals with 26 and 137^th in the nation, fourth in the conference in steals per game with 2.0.
> Abies is the team's leading rebounder, averaging 7.0 rebounds per game with one double-double (18 pts, 11 reb) against Akron. Morrow is also recording 5.0 rebounds per game.
> Abies has finished in double figures in eight of 13 games with three 18-point games and a career-high 19 against Oral Roberts.
> Wichita State ranks in the top 100 nationally in the following categories: No. 38 in free throw attempts per game (21.0), No. 38 in three-point percentage defense (26.4), No. 79 in free throws made per game (13.6), No. 87 in offensive rebounds per game (13.5), and No. 100 in bench points per game (22.6).
> The Shockers are ranked second in the American Athletic Conference in free throw attempts per game and fourth in three point percentage defense.
> First-year head coach Terry Nooner has only one returning starter, DJ McCarty.
> Wichita State returns just 34.7 percent of its scoring from a season ago, having lost its top two leading scorers and three other triple-digit point scorers. Trajata Colbert and Curtessia Dean exhausted their eligibility, and three of the top six scorers departed through the transfer portal.
> Wichita State has only two true freshmen on the roster in Salese Blow (Texas) and Sophia Goncalves (California).
> Blow has scored in double figures four times with a career-high 20 points against Dayton and got her first collegiate start at Belmont. She has led the team in scoring in three games, most recently tying Abies with 18 points against Missouri State.
> Blow claimed the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week award on Nov. 27 following her 19 points in the win over Omaha and career-high 20 points against Dayton, leading the team in scoring in both contests.
> DJ McCarty is 120 points away from 1,000 career points.
> Morrow is 12 blocks away from 100 career blocks.

SCOUTING RICE
> Led by third-year head coach Lindsay Edmonds, Rice (6-5) is coming off a 71-63 overtime loss at Houston on Dec. 20 and has yet to open AAC play.
> The Owls opened their season with a 70-38 win over Houston Christian, a team the Shockers fell to, 49-44.
> Dominique Ennis is the only Owl averaging double-digit scoring with 13.0 points per game.
> Ennis landed on the AAC Weekly Honor Roll on Dec. 4 following a career-high 25 points in Rice's 74-44 win over Texas Southern.
> Maya Bokunewicz ranks 44^th in the nation and third in the AAC in three point percentage (.429).
> Rice was picked third of 14 teams in the American Athletic Conference preseason poll and currently sit in eighth at 6-5.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. RICE
> Wichita State and Rice have met just once before when Rice won, 55-52 in 1986.
> This marks the first time the two teams meet as conference foes.

NON-CONFERENCE NOTABLES
> Wichita State faced three first-time foes in the non-conference docket, Presbyterian, Belmont and Dayton.
> The Shockers opened their season against No. 23 Oklahoma.
> Belmont (MVC) and Southeastern Louisiana (Southland) were picked to win their respective leagues.
> The Shockers' played two games against teams that finished inside the Top 50 of last year's NCAA NET Rankings (Kansas – 30 and Oklahoma – 38).

LAST TIME OUT
> Wichita State snapped its four-game losing streak with a 63-60 win over Tulane in the American Athletic Conference opener in Charles Koch Arena.
> In a game with 15 lead changes, the Shockers outlasted the Green Wave as Tre'Zure Jobe led the scoring with 21 points and tallied a career-high eight assists, playing all 40 minutes.
> Wichita State held the Green Wave, a team which averages .337 from three, to just 4-for-21 (.019) from behind the arc, while the Shockers shot 7-for-21 to tie for the most made three pointers this season.
> The game was close from wire to wire with the biggest lead for either team being the Shockers' five-point lead in the fourth quarter.
> Jobe scored the Shockers' last eight points in the fourth quarter, hitting six free throws down the stretch to regain the lead.
> Daniela Abies led the team in rebounding for the eighth time this season with nine and scored seven points.

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...                                                                     
... make them 6-8 on the season
... give them their first true road win of the season
... improve their record to 1-1 all-time against Rice
... bring Terry Nooner's record to 6-8 at Wichita State
... make Wichita State 656-748 all-time

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... make them 5-9 on the season
... make them 0-4 on the road this season
... drop their record to 0-2 all-time against Rice
... bring Terry Nooner's record to 5-9 at Wichita State
... make Wichita State 655-749 all-time

UP NEXT
Wichita State continues its Texas road trip in San Antonio, taking on UTSA on Jan. 6 at 2 p.m.