WICHITA STATE (8-1, 0-0) at DePAUL (7-2, 0-1)
Saturday, Dec. 14 | 12:00 p.m.
Chicago, Ill. | Wintrust Arena
 
TV: FS1 with Connor Onion & Stephen Bardo
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy & Bob Hull
 

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OPENING TIPS
• Wichita State hits the road for the final time in non-conference play with a trip to the Windy City.
• A win would move the Shockers to 9-1 and would be the best start since 2019-20 when they also started the season 9-1.
• Wichita State has won two straight in the series with DePaul.
• Wichita State won its second straight game with a 96-87 win over ETSU on Dec. 7. The Shockers set season highs in points and field goal percentage.
• Corey Washington logged his first double-double of as a Shocker with 17 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.
• Justin Hill recorded his second 20-point game of the season behind a team-high 20 points vs. ETSU.
• Bijan Cortes dished out a career-high 10 assists vs. ETSU, the first Shocker with 10+ assists in a game since Craig Porter Jr. had 11 vs. Tulane on March 10, 2023.
• Wichita State finished the month of November 6-1. In his two seasons, the Shockers are 13-2 under Paul Mills in November games.
• Wichita State is 15-9 all time on Dec. 14.
• Wichita State ranks 10th nationally in defensive rebounds per game (30.11), 26th in turnovers per game (9.9), 29th in free throws made per game (18.0).
• At No. 88 in the KenPom rankings, Wichita State ranks 3rd out of the 13 teams in the American.
• Senior forward Ronnie DeGray III will be sidelined for the next several weeks after suffering a fractured wrist vs. Monmouth on Nov. 18.
• 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).
• 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 moved into 5th on the Wichita State career blocks list vs. ETSU with 106. He's on pace to shatter the WSU career record for blocks per game at 2.04.
• Eight student-athletes on Wichita State's roster have NCAA Tournament experience: Quincy Ballard (Florida St.), Xavier Bell (Drexel), Harlond Beverly (Miami), Ronnie DeGray III (Missouri), Justin Hill (Longwood), AJ McGinnis (UNCG), Zane Meeks (San Francisco) and Corey Washington (St. Peter's).

SCOUTING DEPAUL
• Chris Holtmann is in his first year at the helm of the DePaul men's basketball program.
• The former Ohio State, Butler and Gardner-Webb head coach looks to rebuild DePaul. In year one, he's already doubled the win total from a year ago (3-29).
• Holtmann is a three-time Naismith Coach of the Year finalist and left Ohio State fifth all time in wins. From 2012-21, he had a stretch of nine straight 20-win seasons, including eight straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
• In addition to 14 new players, the Blue Demons have seven new members on staff, headlined by Holtmann.
• DePaul returns no minutes from last season. The Blue Demons are one of six schools nationwide to do so - Niagara, IU Indy, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona.
• All six of those schools are the only in the nation to not return any scoring or rebounding from last season.
• Jacob Meyer leads the team in scoring at 14.3 points per game on 44.4 percent (24-of-54) shooting from three-point range. Meyer spearheads the bench unit, as he has started only two games this season.
• Isaiah Rivera is second on the team at 12.8 points per game. Rivera is converting on 51.2% of his field goal attempts and 44.0% of his three-pointers.
• David Skogman pulls down a team-best 7.1 rebounds to go with 10.6 points.
• Conor Enright ranks 7th nationally in assists per game with 7.3 and his 66 total assists are good for 10th.
• As a team, DePaul shoots nearly 40 percent from long range. They rank 3rd nationally in three-pointers made per game (12.3), 7th in three-point attempts per game (31.6) and 24th in three-point percentage (39.1%).
• The Blue Demons are also 9th in the country in assists per game (19.4), 15th in defensive rebounds per game (29.44) and 21st in effective field goal percentage (57.5%).
• The Blue Demons bench is averaging 35.4 points per game which ranks 12th nationally and leads all BIG EAST schools.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. DEPAUL
• A series that dates all the way back to 1937, Wichita State and DePaul have met only eight times with both teams winning four games apiece.
• DePaul won three of the first four meetings - all coming on its home court.
• The previous three meetings have all come on a neutral court with the Shockers winning the last two.
• Most recently, Wichita State defeated DePaul in the 2013 CBE Classic, 90-72, behind a game-high 21 points from Ron Baker.

CONNECT THE DOTS
• DePaul sophomore guard Layden Blocker spent his final two years of high school right here in Wichita at Sunrise Christian Academy. Blocker is in his first season at DePaul after spending his freshman season at Arkansas.
• The leaders of their respective athletic departments, Wichita State Director of Athletics Kevin Saal and DePaul Director of Athletics DeWayne Peevy, are no strangers. The two spent 11 years together in the athletic department at the University of Kentucky before departing for AD jobs. Saal served 12 years (2007-19) at UK in various roles prior to being named executive associate director of athletics. Peevy also served 12 years (2008-20) at UK, holding the title of deputy athletics director for the final seven.

ON THIS DATE: DEC. 14
• 1964 – The Shockers moved to the top of the polls for the first time in school history. Hours later they fell to No. 2 Michigan in Detroit, 87-85.
• 2013 – Wichita State held off Tennessee, 70-61, at INTRUST Bank Arena to record the first 10-0 start in program history. Notably, the teams had met under similar circumstances in 2012 when the Shockers took a 9-0 record to Knoxville before suffering their first loss.
• 2019 – Down eight points with 11:25 to play, the Shockers used a 12-0 run to turn the tables on Oklahoma at INTRUST Bank Arena. Tyson Etienne put WSU in front for good on a three-pointer with 2:30 remaining in an 80-75 victory.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Quincy Ballard is 19 blocks away from 125 in his Wichita State career.
• Xavier Bell needs 15 points to reach 1,000 for his collegiate career.
• Harlond Beverly is 58 points shy of 1,000 career points.
• Justin Hill has 1,498 career points. He needs 2 points to reach 1,500. He's 43 assists shy of 500 for his career.
• AJ McGinnis is 118 points away from reaching 1,000 for his career.

EAST TENNESSEE STATE LEFTOVERS
• Wichita State improved to 1-0 vs. ETSU.
• The Shockers are now 12-10 when playing on Dec. 7.
• Wichita State set season highs in points (96), field goal percentage (54.7%) and first half points (54).
• Wichita State won the rebound battle for the fourth time this season.
• Justin Hill recorded his second 20-point game of the season behind a team-high 20 points. He has scored 10 or more in seven of the team's nine games.
• Corey Washington registered his first double-double of the season behind 17 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. He's tied for the team lead in double-figure games with seven.
• Harlond Beverly finished in double figures for the fifth time this season.
• Xavier Bell recorded his fifth 10-point game of the season.
• Bijan Cortes dished out a career-high 10 assists.
• Quincy Ballard set a season high with 5 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 9-1 for the first time since 2019.
... Up their record to 2-0 on the road this season.
... Move them to 5-4 all time vs. DePaul.
... Be their first win over a BIG EAST opponent since 2018 vs. Marquette in the Maui Invitational.
... Make Paul Mills 24-20 as Wichita State head coach.
... Give Mills 130 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,681-1,265 all time.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 8-2 this season.
... Be their first road loss of the season, dropping them to 1-1.
... Drop them to 4-5 all-time vs. DePaul.
... Make Paul Mills 23-21 as Wichita State head coach.
... Lower Mills' career record to 129-105.
... Drop their record to 1,680-1,266 all time.

GAME 11: KANSAS CITY                                                           
• Wichita State lead the series with Kansas City (formerly UMKC), 7-3, which dates back to the first meeting in 1992.
• Wichita State and Kansas City last met in 2018 in Wichita. The Shockers won that matchup 109-57.
• Under head coach Marvin Menzies, Kansas City is 5-7 to begin the 2024-25 season.
• Menzies is in his third season leading the Roos program.