NORTHERN IOWA (2-1) at WICHITA STATE (2-0)
Thursday, Nov. 14 | 6:30 p.m. CT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
 
TV: ESPN+ with Shane Dennis & Bob Hull
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy & Dave Dahl
 

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Throwback Thursday: We're throwing it back in Charles Koch Arena with fun throwback-themed videoboard content and music hits from over the decades. At halftime, we'll recognize Mark Turgeon for his recent induction into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.
Giveaway: The first 500 students will receive the official 2024-25 vintage-style Shock Block t-shirt.
 

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OPENING TIPS
• Old Missouri Valley rivals clash Thursday night in Charles Koch Arena when UNI comes to town.
• Wichita State welcomes back former head coach Mark Turgeon to the Roundhouse after his recent induction into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.
• The series between Wichita State and Northern Iowa is tied at 28-28.
• Wichita State jumped 18 spots to No. 80 in the latest KenPom rankings.
• Wichita State defeated Montana State in its home opener last Saturday, 89-69. Five Shockers finished in double figures behind Justin Hill's game-high 17 points.
• Hill leads the team in scoring (24.0 ppg), rebounding (6.5 rpg) and assists (5.5 apg) through the first two games of the season.
• The Houston native scored a career-high 31 in the season opener at Western Kentucky. His 31 points were the most ever in a Shocker debut.
• Six Shockers are averaging 10.0 or more points per game after the first two games.
• In the program's history, Wichita State is 100-18 in home openers. They have won 28 of their last 30 home openers, including six in a row.
• Wichita State ranks 9th nationally in blocks/game (7.5) and FTM/Game (24.0), and 15th in FTA/Game (31.0).
• Wichita State is 3-0 all time on Nov. 14. The Shockers haven't played on Nov. 14 since 2014.
• Wichita State returns three starters and seven letterwinners from the 2023-24 roster, including three of its top five scorers.
• Fifty-one (51.0) percent of the scoring from last year's team is back for the Shockers, led by second leading scorer Harlond Beverly (11.2 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 3.2 APG).
• An experienced backcourt features a total of 353 combined starts between Beverly, Xavier Bell (11.3 PPG), Bijan Cortes (4.3 PPG) and transfers Justin Hill (Georgia) and AJ McGinnis (Lipscomb).
• Quincy Ballard shattered the single season school record for field goal percentage and also had top five marks in blocks per game and total blocks in 2023-24.
• Ballard needs one block to move into a tie for 9th on the Wichita State career blocks list. He's on pace to shatter the WSU career record for blocks per game at 2.02.
• Wichita State was picked to finish 4th in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll - its highest projected finish since 2021. The league's coaches project UAB to win the conference.

WE > ME
• With the late arrival of Matej Bošnjak to the roster this summer, Wichita State had no scholarships remaining. Enter redshirt senior Harlond Beverly. Beverly volunteered to give his scholarship to Bošnjak and classify as a walk-on during his final season of collegiate basketball.
• In an interview with the Wichita Eagle, Beverly said: "I'm just grateful to be in this position where I can play Division I basketball while getting my Bachelor's and working toward my Master's degree. It's really just a blessing to be in college. I've been to two really good schools and that's really going to be helpful for my future, so I understand how helpful college can be. If I can help someone else get a full-ride scholarship, like one of my teammates, then I don't mind being the one to sacrifice when it's beneficial to our team."
• Head Coach Paul Mills said in that same interview: "In order to be a part of it, you have to make sacrifices and this is a pretty substantial one on his part. I would tell you that he not only volunteered to do it, he was eager to do it, to be honest with you."

OPENING NIGHT
• Wichita State has won 75 percent of its season openers all time (89-29, .754) and over 80 percent (65-15, .813) in the modern era.
• Wichita State is 21-1 in home openers since Charles Koch Arena's 2003 renovation. The lone loss came in 2018 to Louisiana Tech.
• Wichita State is starting its 69th season at the Roundhouse (1955-Pr.). Shocker teams have lost just eight home openers during that span (61-8, .884).
• Forty seasons ago (Nov. 30, 1972), Antoine Carr set the school record for most points by a freshman in his Shocker debut (19 points). He dunked five times in the first half of a 76-61 win over Northern Michigan.
Wichita State's highest-scoring varsity debut came Dec. 1, 1972 at Oregon State when Bobby Wilson put up 29 points. Wilson went on to play parts of four NBA seasons with the Bulls, Celtics and Pacers.

MONDAY MADNESS
• Wichita State has won 12 straight games that happen to fall on a Monday. The Shockers were 1-0 on Mondays a season ago and haven't lost on a Monday since Nov. 22, 2010 against UConn in the Maui Invitational.
• Since 2017, Wichita State has played just five games on a Monday.
• The Shockers win at WKU in the season opener is the first of four Monday games in 2024-25.

SCOUTING NORTHERN IOWA
• With already three games under their belts, the Northern Iowa Panthers are 2-1 to open the 2024-25 campaign. They own wins over Dubuque and Milwaukee, but come in following a loss at home to UC Irvine.
• Entering his 19th year at the helm of the Northern Iowa program, Ben Jacobson is the school's all-time winningest coach. He boasts an overall record of 356-233 (.604 winning percentage).
• He has guided the Panthers to four NCAA Tournament appearances and four NCAA victories. Jacobson is a five-time MVC Coach of the Year and ranks third all time in the MVC coaching victories. He also ranks first in the league record book for MVC-only wins with 195 triumphs.
• Under Jacobson, UNI placed in the top half of the MVC during 13 seasons. Prior to him joining the staff in 2001, the Panthers had only finished in the upper half twice since joining the conference in 1991. At one point, UNI rolled off 16 consecutive top half finishes beginning in 2003.
• Jacobson is the only coach in the history of the Missouri Valley Conference to have recorded two wins over two different No. 1-ranked teams (Kansas, North Carolina).
• UNI returns nine members of last season's roster including three key starters in Tytan Anderson, Trey Campbell and Jacob Hutson.
• The Panthers bolstered its roster by signing four players out of the transfer portal last spring, including Cael Schmitt, the second leading scorer all-time in Coe College history (Division III), 2024 GLIAC Player of the Year Max Weisbrod, Loyola-Chicago guard/forward Ben Schwieger and former Virginia Cavalier Leon Bond III.
• While UNI added four via the portal, it also saw the departure of a number players, including Nate Heise (Iowa State), Cole Henry (Wyoming), Ege Peksari, Landon Wolf (Illinois State), • Bowen Born (Colorado State), Michael Duax (Florida Gulf Coast) and Drew Daniel (Minnesota State Mankato).
• Northern Iowa was picked second in the MVC preseason poll as voted on by the league's head coaches, sports information directors and media. In the last 11 seasons, UNI has been picked in the top-three in the preseason poll nine times, ultimatley finishing in the top-three at the end of the regular season four times (2014, 2015, 2020, 2022).
• Tytan Anderson was named to the five-man Preseason All-MVC First Team, while Trey Campbell and Jacob Hutson were selected Second Team Preseason AllMVC.
• Anderson started all 33 games a season ago and averaged 11.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game on 50.2 percent shooting.
• Hutson put up 9.5 points and 3.7 rebounds, while shooting 56.8 percent from the field and 45.8 percent from three-point range.
• Campbell converted on nearly 40 percent of his three-point attempts to go with 9.0 points and 3.6 rebounds.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. NORTHERN IOWA
• A series that dates back to 1977, Wichita State and Northern Iowa have a storied history that has seen both teams win 28 times. Thursday's meeting will be the 57th all-time meeting and will break a tie in the series.
• Saturday's contest will be just the third ever meeting  outside of Missouri Valley Conference competition.
• Wichita State is 17-9 all-time vs. the Panthers in Wichita and enters the matchup winners of two in a row in the series overall.
• The two are scheduled to meet next season in Cedar Falls on the backend of a home-and-home contract.
• Neither team has owned a winning streak longer than four games in the all-time series.
• From 1999-2011, Northern Iowa controlled the series, holding a 19-9 advantage, including 10 out of 13 in the mid 2000s.
• The final six years as members of the MVC, Wichita State turned the tables, winning 10 of the last 14 matchups.
• The last time the two schools met was in 2017 as members of the Missouri Valley Conference, Wichita State's final season in the Valley.
• Behind 14 points from Landry Shamet and Darral Willis Jr., Wichita State dominated the final conference matchup in Charles Koch Arena, 73-44. That win gave the Shockers a season sweep of the Panthers after Wichita State won in Cedar Falls exactly one month prior, 80-66. Shamet had a game-high 17 in the victory.
• During the 2016 season Wichita State won the first of three meetings behind a game-high 21 points from Ron Baker, only to see Northern Iowa bounce back to win in Charles Koch Arena and the semifinals of the MVC Tournament.
• The Panthers handed Wichita State its first loss at Charles Koch Arena in nearly three years and put an end to the nation's longest home winning streak (43 games). The Shockers trailed by 11 at halftime and by 15 early in the second half but roared back with a 17-2 run to tie the game at 44 with 11:32 remaining. However, UNI outscored the Shockers 9-6 the rest of the way in a game punctuated by missed shots and opportunities.
• In the MVC semifinals, Wichita State missed its first 18 three-point attempts and finished 2-of-24 for the game (8.3%). UNI advanced to the MVC Finals behind 20 points from Wes Washpun and a three-pointer by Jeremy Morgan with 1:18 to play in OT that snapped a 52-all tie. The Shockers turned the ball over just six times, but three of those came in the overtime period.

HILL'S HOT START
• Through the first two games senior guard Justin Hill  has scored 48 points, the most by a Shocker since Jason Perez scored 54 against McNeese State and Prairie View A&M in 1999. Hill is just the third Shocker to score 40 over the first two games since 2000, joining Markis McDuffie (40, 2018) and Tyson Etienne (40, 2020).

NON-CONFERENCE NOTABLES
• Wichita State could potentially face two first-time foes in the non-conference slate (East Tennessee State and Wake Forest).
• The Shockers will play three teams ranked in the Top 60 of KenPom's preseason rankings (vs. Florida - 28; vs. Wake Forest - 44; K-State - 49; Minnesota - 59).
• Wichita State has won nine of its last 12 non-conference true road games, dating back to the 2019 NIT run. The Shockers have two true non-conference road games in 2024 (WKU and DePaul).

MILESTONE WATCH
• Quincy Ballard is 7 blocks away from 100 in his Wichita State career.
• Xavier Bell needs 80 points to reach 1,000 for his collegiate career.
• Harlond Beverly is 125 points shy of 1,000 career points.
• Justin Hill has 1,415 career points. He needs 85 points to reach 1,500. His 64 assists shy of 500 for his career.
• AJ McGinnis is 158 points away from reaching 1,000 for his career.

KING OF THE HILL
• Senior guard Justin Hill had a debut for the record books. In the Shockers' season opener at Western Kentucky on Nov. 4, Hill dropped a career-high 31 points on the Hilltoppers. The Houston native was efficient at all three levels, going 9-for-14 from the field, 4-for-7 from three and 9-for-11 at the free throw line.
• His 31 points were the most ever by a Shocker in a debut and tied for the 4th most in a season opener. He's the first Shocker to top 30 points since Ricky Council IV scored 31 vs. UCF in 2022.

MONTANA STATE LEFTOVERS
• Wichita State improved to 3-1 all-time vs. Montana State.
• The Shockers are now 6-0 when playing on Nov. 9.
• Wichita State outrebounded the Bobcats, making them 14-8 under Paul Mills and 1-0 this season when they win the rebound battle.
• Montana State's 43 three-point attempts were the second-most ever by a Wichita State opponent behind only Savannah State's 55 in 2017.
• Yanis Bamba and Zion Pipkin made their Wichita State debuts.
• Justin Hill has recorded at least 17-5-5 in each of the first two games this season.
• Corey Washington finished in double figures for the first time as a Shocker with 15 points.
• Harlond Beverly recorded his 22nd game in double figures as a Shocker, finishing with 14 points.
• Ronnie DeGray III recorded his fourth game in double figures as a Shocker.
• Quincy Ballard posted his 26th game with multiple blocks.

OLD TIMERS
• With COVID still impacting eligibility, several schools around the country have multiple student-athletes on their rosters playing in their fifth, sixth and even seventh seasons. Wichita State is tied for second in the country with seven student-athletes in their fifth year or higher of collegiate basketball.

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 3-0 for the second straight season.
... Make Paul Mills 18-19 as Wichita State head coach.
... Give Mills 124 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,675-1,264 all time.
... Improve their record to 29-28 all-time vs. UNI.
... Be their third straight win over the Panthers.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... Be their first loss of the season.
... Snap a two-game win streak vs. UNI.
... Make Paul Mills 17-20 as Wichita State head coach.
... Lower Mills' career record to 123-104.
... Drop their record to 1,674-1,265 all time.
... Make them 28-29 all-time vs. UNI.

GAME 4: MONMOUTH                                                                    
• The series between Wichita State and Monmouth is tied, 1-1.
• This will be the first meeting between the two schools since 2007.
• Monmouth is led by 14th year head coach King Rice.