WICHITA STATE (8-6, 0-1) at TEMPLE (7-7, 0-1)
Sunday, Jan. 7 | 1:00 p.m. ET/12:00 p.m. CT
Philadelphia, Pa. | Liacouras Center
 
TV: ESPNU with Dave Leno & Mark Adams
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy & Bob Hull
 

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OPENING TIPS
• Wichita State hits the road for the first time in conference play with a trip out to the east coast vs. Temple on Sunday at 12 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
• Wichita State is 21-14 all time when playing on Jan. 7.
• The all-time series with Temple is tied at 6-6 with all but three of those coming as American Athletic Conference foes. Wichita State has won three straight over the Owls, including last year's meeting in Philly.
• Temple is 7-7 overall and 0-1 after dropping its conference opener at South Florida on Thursday.
• Temple's Hysier Miller ranks 2nd in the American Athletic Conference in scoring at 17.4 points per game. He's scored 10 or more in all but one game for the Owls.
• Wichita State is coming off a third straight loss after falling in the AAC opener on Thursday at home vs. North Texas, 74-62.
• Wichita State is 3-4 in conference openers since joining the American Athletic Conference, and has dropped its last three league lid-lifters.
• Bijan Cortes made his Wichita State debut Thursday vs. Kansas State after sitting out the first 11 games.
• 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 35 assists over his last eight games. Beverly now leads the team in assists with 46.
• Colby Rogers (16.4 ppg; leading scorer) has made a three-pointer in all 14 games this season and multiple in 12 of the 14. He leads the AAC in three-point percentage (39.8), three-pointers per game (2.79) and three-pointers made (39).
• In 10 of the 14 games Rogers has tallied 15 points or more - a team best.
• Xavier Bell and Rogers have scored in double figures in 12 of the 14 games.
• Wichita State ranks 13th nationally in defensive rebounds per game and rebounds per game.
• Quincy Ballard ranks 23rd nationally in blocks (30). He had a career-high 7 vs. Norfolk State on Nov. 25.
• Ballard has scored 10 or more points in each of the last three games. He had three total in the first 11 games of the season. In the last three games, he's 14-for-16 (87.5%) from the field.
• Wichita State posted a winning non-conference record for the 26th consecutive season, and has the league's seventh-best NET ranking.
• Per KenPom the American Athletic Conference is ranked the 9th best conference in the NCAA.
• 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 TEMPLE
• Led by first year head coach Adam Fisher, Temple enters the matchup at 7-7 and 0-1 in league play.
• Fisher helped lead Penn State to 23 wins and the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament as the program's Associate Head Coach.
• In 2021-22, his first year under then coach Micah Shrewsberry, he helped guide the Nittany Lions to a number of statement wins and a thrilling postseason run in the Big Ten Tournament. Penn State owned the best scoring defense in the Big Ten, as the Nittany Lions allowed just 65.0 points per game – Penn State's best defensive mark in 11 years.
• Fisher inherits a program rich in history, as Temple is nearing 2,000 all-time wins. The Owls have 1,984 wins - sixth most in NCAA history.
• Temple was picked to finish 12th out of 14 teams in the Preseason American Athletic Conference Coaches Poll.
• In the latest NET rankings, Temple checks in at No. 205, which is 10th in the American. Their non-conference strength of schedule is No. 242 is 8th in the conference.
• Temple is 1-4 against Quad 1 and 2 opponents so far this season and 5-2 against Quad 4 teams.
• The Owls concluded non-conference play at the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii over Christmas. Temple went 1-2 with losses to Nevada (56-80) and Old Dominion (63-78), and a win in its final game against Portland, 55-54.
• The Owls are not shy about shooting from long distance, the problem is they rank towards the very bottom of the NCAA in three-point percentage. Temple is converting on just 30.5 percent of its attempts, which ranks 291st nationally.
• The Owls boast one of the conference's top scorers in Hysier Miller. Miller ranks second in the American at 17.4 points per game. He leads the league in field goal attempts and three-point attempts. Miller is also the team's primary playmaker as he leads the team with 58 assists, which ranks 5th in the AAC.
• Miller has scored 10 or more points in every game but one this season and has five 20-point outings to his name. He scored a career-high 29 on Nov. 18 vs. Columbia.
• In last year's meeting against Wichita State, Miller had 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting.
• Jahlil White has played in only seven games this season for the Owls, but is averaging 12.4 points and 7.1 rebounds in those games.
• Jordan Riley rounds out the double figure scorers at 11.3 points, while adding 5.5 rebounds.
• Through 14 games, Temple has not been efficient on the offensive end. The Owls rank 347th in field goal percentage at 38.2 percent and 291st in three-point percentage at 30.5 percent.
• Temple averages only 11.6 assists per game, good for 308th nationally.

THE SERIES VS. TEMPLE
• The series is tied 6-6, but Wichita State has won six of the nine meetings since joining The American, including the last three meetings.
• This season marks just the third time in seven seasons that Wichita State and Temple will face off twice in the regular season with each team visiting the other. Temple makes the return trip to Wichita on Feb. 25 this season.
• Closely contested games have been the norm in this series. Seven of the 12 have been decided by five points in either direction and three have gone to overtime.
• Wichita State's win at Temple last season was the first in three tries since joining The American. At the time Temple was one of two AAC schools, the other being Houston, that the Shockers were winless against on the road.
• Wichita State won the lone matchup in 2023, 79-65, in Philadelphia. Four players finished in double figures, including a double-double for James Rojas with 11 points, 11 rebounds and 5 steals.
• Both teams made 10 three-pointers, combining to go 20-for-50.
• Wichita State led by 8 at halftime, but Temple fought back to behind a 13-0 run to take a 62-58 lead with 6:23 to go. From there Wichita State would close the game on a 21-3 run to win going away. Temple went more than 5:00 minutes without a score, as the Shockers scored 15 straight points.
• The Shockers have twice eliminated the Owls from the American Athletic Conference Championship with quarterfinal wins. They did it in back-to-back seasons (2018 and 2019).
• Behind 24 points from Landry Shamet (6-of-8 3FG), Wichita State knocked out Temple in the 2018 quarterfinals, 89-81.
• In the 2019 quarterfinals, 6th-seeded Wichita State upset 3rd-seeded Temple, 80-74, thanks to 34 points from Markis McDuffie.
• The teams played three times prior to Wichita State's move to The American, including twice in the 1980s under the late John Chaney. On Dec. 22 1983, Temple ended Wichita State's 22-game home winning streak (a school record that stood for more than three decades) with a 78-73 victory. Junior All-American Xavier McDaniel played all 40 minutes and tallied 24 points and 18 rebounds.
• A year later (Jan. 27, 1985), the Owls squeezed out a 62-60 win in the championship game of the Pizza Hut Shoot Out. The Shockers held a 51-42 advantage with 8:56 remaining, but Tim Perry's three-foot jumper at the buzzer capped a furious Temple comeback.
• In the 2011 Puerto Rico tipoff, the Shockers battled back from down eight at the 7:00-mark to force overtime, but Temple won 78-74 in extra time behind 23 points from Ramone Moore. • Toure' Murry scored a game-high 24 for the Shockers, who went on to win 25 of their next 27 games en route to an NCAA bid.
• A Wichita State player has topped 20 points all nine AAC era meetings with Temple. Jaykwon Walton is the eighth different Shocker to do it, scoring 21 in Wichita State's Feb. 16, 2023 win in Philly.

CONNECT THE DOTS
• Former Wichita State standout Toure' Murry now calls Philadelphia home after his professional career. Murry is a Player Development Associate Coach on the staff for the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. Murry had NBA stints during his playing days with the New York Knicks, Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards.

REINFORCEMENTS COMING
• Wichita State received an early Christmas present in the form of Ronnie DeGray III and Bijan Cortes being cleared to play by the NCAA for the remainder of the season.
• DeGray III made his long awaited Wichita State debut on Saturday, Dec. 16 vs. Southern Illinois. DeGray sat out the first 10 games due to NCAA two-time transfer rules, but is cleared to play the remainder of the season.
• DeGray played nearly 19 minutes off the bench and finished with two points and four rebounds - all offensive.
• Cortes (Academics) missed the first 11 games before making his Shocker debut on Dec. 21 vs. Kansas State. He played 24 minutes off the bench and finished with three assists and two rebounds.

LEAD GUARDS
• Colby Rogers and Xavier Bell have formed a potent 1-2 scoring attack for Wichita State through 14 games. Rogers leads Wichita State in scoring at 16.4 per game and Bell is right behind at 13.4.
• Rogers ranks 6th in the American in points and 7th in points per game.
• The duo of Rogers and Bell make up 40.0 percent of Wichita State's scoring as they've accounted for 416 points.
• Bell and Rogers have both scored in double figures in 12 of the first 14 games. They each have multiple 20-point outings to their name (Rogers - 4, Bell - 3).

COLBY ROG33333333333333RS
• Colby Rogers is riding a streak of 14 straight games with at least one made three-pointer to start the season.
• He has multiple three-pointers in 12 of the first 14 games, including nine of the last 10.
• 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 2.79 three-pointers made per game are currently the second-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 24 total games in his Shocker career. In those 24 games he has 44 blocked shots. Thirty of those have come in the first 14 games.
• Through 14 games his 30 blocks rank 23rd nationally and his 2.17 blocks per game rank 26th.
• He has multiple blocks in all but four games this season.

BOARD OF APPROVAL
• Through the first 14 games of the season Wichita State has been among the nation's top rebounding teams. Wichita State ranks 13th nationally in rebounds per game and defensive rebounds per game.
• Wichita State has three players averaging 6.7 or more rebounds per game (Kenny Pohto - 7.5; Dalen Ridgnal - 7.2; Quincy Ballard - 6.7).
• Wichita State has been outrebounded five times this season with three of those coming in each of the last three games.
• Wichita State has pulled down 40 or more rebounds in 8 of the 14 games, including three games of 50+.
• Wichita State has grabbed 73.8% of its possible defensive rebounds this season. That number would be the seventh best in school history.

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 9-6 this season.
... Make them 1-1 in AAC play for the first time since 2021.
... Make them 22-14 all time on Jan. 7.
... Give Paul Mills 115 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,666-1,251 all time.
... Make them 7-6 vs. Temple all time.
... Be their fourth straight win over the Owls.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 8-7 this season.
... Drop them to 0-2 in AAC play for the third straight season.
... Be their fourth straight loss.
... Make Paul Mills 8-7 as Wichita State head coach.
... Drop them to 21-15 all time on Jan. 7.
... Drop their record to 1,665-1,252 all time.
... Make them 6-7 all-time vs. Temple.
... Snap a three-game win streak vs. the Owls.

UP NEXT
GAME 16: MEMPHIS                                                      
• Memphis is 12-2 and under sixth year head coach Penny Hardaway.
• The Tigers swept both regular season meetings a season ago, 88-78 in Memphis and 83-78 in Wichita.
• Memphis leads the all-time series, 18-12, and has won each of the last six meetings.
• Wichita State is 8-6 against the Tigers in Wichita, but only one of those wins have come since joining the American Athletic Conference.