WESTERN KENTUCKY (7-0) vs. WICHITA STATE (3-6)
Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024 | 1:00 p.m. CT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
TV: ESPN+ with Shane Dennis and Tracy Anderson
Radio: GoShockers.com/Listen with Pat Strathman 
 
OPENING TIP
Wichita State welcomes undefeated Western Kentucky to The Roundhouse as the teams meet for the first time in program history.
The Shockers look to win two-straight home games for the first time this season after defeating Prairie View A&M by 29 points on Monday in Charles Koch Arena.
Wichita State has entered year two of the Terry Nooner era. The Shockers return their leading scorer from conference play, sophomore Salese Blow. With nine newcomers on the team, the Shockers return just 37.6 percent of their scoring.
Blow has led the Shockers in scoring in two games with 16 points against Belmont and 17 points against Missouri State, shooting 4-for-7 from three in the latter.
George Mason transfer and Wichita native Taylor Jameson came home for her final season of collegiate basketball and is making a splash early in the season. She finished in double figures in each of the first five games and again at Kansas and dished out a career-high seven assists against Missouri State, earning AAC Honorable Mention weekly recognition on Nov. 18.
Junior transfer from TCU, Bre'Yon White, opened the season with a game-high four steals in the win over Oklahoma Christian and has led the Shockers in rebounding in five of the last seven games. She got her first career start in game four and has started four games total.
Redshirt-junior Jayla Murray has led the Shockers in scoring three times with one double-double. She has finished in double figures in three of the last four games.
Junior Princess Anderson has been a spark plug off the bench for the Shockers in the last two outings, leading the team in scoring with 17 and 16 points.
All three wins this season have come when the Shockers outrebounded their opponent and led after the first half.
All but one win in the Terry Nooner era have come when holding opponents to less than 70 points.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Wichita State led by as many as six in a game with six lead changes but came up just short in the fourth quarter as the Jayhawks claimed a 70-60 victory Thursday evening in Allen Fieldhouse.
 
In head coach Terry Nooner's return to Allen Fieldhouse after playing and coaching for the Jayhawks, his Shockers held Kansas to its second lowest field goal percentage of the season (.349).
 
Junior Princess Anderson led Wichita State in scoring for the second-consecutive game with 16 points, and senior Taylor Jameson hit three three pointers for the third time this season on her way to 13 points.
 
Wichita State out-rebounded the Jayhawks 42-37 as senior Ella Anciaux led the Shockers with a season-high nine boards. Redshirt-junior Jayla Murray scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds, and senior Aicha Ndour scored eight points and recorded five rebounds.
 
Both teams experienced foul trouble with two Shockers (Ndour and Bre'Yon White) and one Jayhawk (Laia Conesa) fouling out in the fourth quarter.
 
S'Mya Nichols, who averaged 21.4 points per game coming into this game, picked up her fourth foul less than a minute into the third quarter after scoring 13 of KU's 33 first-half points and didn't re-enter the game until halfway through the fourth quarter. Nichols still put up a game-high 19 points for the Jayhawks in her 19 minutes.
 
Free throw shooting plagued the Shockers again as they shot just 12-for-23 from the line, and Kansas scored 28 points off 21 Wichita State turnovers.
 
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
After nine games, the Shockers rank fourth in the American Athletic Conference in bench points per game (21.7), blocks per game (3.9) and free throw attempts per game (19.0).
 
Taylor Jameson ranks third in the conference in the conference in overall assists with 35 and fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.75).

SCOUTING THE TOPPERS
Led by seventh-year head coach Greg Collins, Western Kentucky enters the matchup undefeated, starting the season 7-0. Only two of the Toppers' opponents fell in the top 200 of the NET Rankings. WKU was picked fourth of 10 teams in the Conference USA Preseason Poll. Western Kentucky's Alexis Mead was selected to the C-USA Preseason Team and leads the Toppers with 14 points per game. She has finished in double figures in each of the last five games and has scored over 1,000 career points. Mead ranks 67^th in the NCAAA in free throw percentage (.864). The Toppers' Acacia Hayes leads the C-USA in field goal percentage (.615) but did not play in the most recent game. Zsofia Telegdy is the team's leading rebounder, averaging 6.1 rebounds per game with double digit rebounds in two of the last three games.
 
LEADING LADIES
Through nine games, Jayla Murray and Taylor Jameson lead the Shockers in scoring with 10.6 points per game. Salese Blow is averaging 9.8 points per game and Princess Anderson has 7.4 points per game, finishing in double figures three times. Bre'Yon White is the team's leading rebounder, averaging 6.7 rebounds per game, and Ella Anciaux has led the Shockers in rebounding in two of the last three games.
 
NOT SO NEW-COMERS
Between the nine new additions to the 2024-25 Wichita State roster, they combine for 20 years of collegiate basketball experience. Nooner brought in three Division I transfers: Taylor Jameson from George Mason, Aicha Ndour from Illinois and Bre'Yon White from TCU.
 
Princess Anderson (Pratt CC), Kyleigh Ortiz (Coffeyville CC), Jasmine Peaks (Indian River State), and Maimouna Sissoko (Cloud County CC) all transferred from junior colleges, joining Jayla Murray (Florida SouthWestern State) and Ornella Niankan (Odessa College) to make six Shockers who began their careers in the NJCAA.
 
T-TIME
Wichita native Taylor Jameson was named to the AAC weekly Honorable Mention list on Nov. 18 after averaging 17 points, 6.5 assists and 4 steals in two games. She has led the Shockers in scoring three times and assists five times in eight games. She has finished in double figures six times.
 
BOBO DA SHOW
Salese Blow, nicknamed BoBo by her mom when Salese couldn't pronounce the L in her last name as a kid, enters her sophomore season after claiming three American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week awards in 2023-24. As a freshman, she increased her scoring from non-conference to conference play, leading the Shockers in points per game against AAC opponents with 13.5. She recorded 21 double-figure scoring games with five 20+ point performances.
 
MURRAY ON THE RISE
Redshirt-junior Jayla Murray is back and better than ever after a summer spent in the gym and improving her nutrition. Further removed from her ACL injury, Murray, who averaged 7.1 points per game a season ago, is playing with more confidence. She has led the Shockers in scoring three times (against No. 9 Oklahoma, Creighton and Prairie View A&M) and recorded her first career double-double in the home opener against Oklahoma Christian.
 
P3
Princess Anderson had a breakout game in the win over Prairie View A&M, scoring a Division I career-high 17 points, recording four steals and grabbing five rebounds. She was also a spark plug for the Shockers against Belmont, hitting three three pointers and finishing with 12 points. She led the Shockers again at Kansas with 16 points off the bench. She averaged 26.7 points per game as a sophomore at Pratt CC, leading the NJCAA in scoring.
 
NEW HEIGHTS
Senior transfer from Illinois, Aicha Ndour, is the tallest player in Wichita State history at 6-6.
 
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
The Shockers' roster features international athletes from five different countries, including Canada (Ornella Niankan), France (Fiona Diomande), Mali (Maimouna Sissoko), Mozambique (Carla Budane), and Senegal (Aicha Ndour).
 
SUMMER WELL SPENT
The Shockers embarked on a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands from July 28-August 2, where they played two games against Canadian team, Regina. The trip allowed the team to bond and experience a different culture, growing as a unit on and off the court. Wichita State won the first game 81-76 and the second game 69-60.