[12] WICHITA STATE (13-18, 5-13) vs. [13] RICE (11-20, 5-13)
American Athletic Conference Championship | First Round
Wednesday, March 13 | 12:00 p.m. CT
Fort Worth, Texas | Dickies Arena
 
TV: ESPN+ with Mike Corey & Perry Clark
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy, Dave Dahl & Bob Hull
 

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OPENING TIPS
• The Wichita State Shockers are in Fort Worth, Texas for the 2024 American Athletic Conference Championship at Dickies Arena.
• The 12th-seeded Shockers open first round action against No. 13 Rice on Wednesday (Noon CT, ESPN+). The winner advances to face No. 5 Memphis in Thursday's second round at 1:30 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
• Five teams finished the American Athletic Conference regular season at 5-13. The Shockers were a combined 2-3 vs. the other four teams (Tulane, UTSA, Rice and Temple).
• This is Wichita State's sixth AAC Championship, having never made it past the semifinals. Wichita State has won at least one game in the conference tournament 13 of the last 14 years.
• Wichita State is 5-4 all time when playing on Mar. 13.
• Wichita State leads the all-time series with Rice, 2-1. The Shockers won the only regular season meeting vs. the Owls just over a week ago in Wichita, 87-66.
• Rice is 11-20 overall and finished 5-13 in conference play, dropping its final four games of the regular season.
• Colby Rogers has scored 20+ in three straight games with 29 at UAB,  25 vs. Rice and 29 at Tulane. He's averaging 27.7 points per game during that stretch.
• Over his last three games, he's 18-for-28 (64.3%) from beyond the arc. He was a career-best 7-for-9 in the win vs. Rice.
• He is two made three-pointers shy of tying the single season school record (Sean Ogirri - 91, 2005-06).
• Rogers (16.5 ppg; leading scorer) has made a three-pointer in all but one game this season and multiple in 24 of the 31. He leads the AAC in total 3PT FG made (89), 3PT Percentage (41.2%) and 3PT FGM per game (2.77).
• His streak of 25 straight games with a made three-pointer tied for the 4th longest in school history. The streak was snapped on Feb. 18 at Charlotte.
• Wichita State ranks 32nd nationally in rebounds per game and 21st in defensive rebounds per game. In conference play, Wichita State's rebounding numbers took a hit, averaging only 36.7 rebounds per game.
• Quincy Ballard ranks 23rd nationally in blocks (66). He had tied a career-high with 7 vs. East Carolina on Jan. 24. Ballard has 19 games with multiple blocks.
• His 66 blocks are 3rd most in school history.
• Over the last 20 games Ballard is shooting 67-for-87 (77.0%) from the field.

THE SERIES VS. RICE
• This is just the fourth meeting all-time between Wichita State and Rice.
• The series dates all the way back to the first meeting in 1949 - a Rice victory, 72-66.
• Wichita State and Rice met just over a week ago on March 2 in Wichita. The Shockers put together one of their best games of the season, defeating the Owls, 87-66.
• Wichita State set a school record for single game three-point percentage at 63.6%. They were 14-for-22, tying for the second most made three-pointers in a single game.
• The Shockers led by only three at halftime, but outscored the Owls by 18 in the second half to win going away.
• Colby Rogers was a career-best 7-of-9 from beyond the arc for a game-high 25 points.
• Behind a game-high 21 points from Erik Stevenson, Wichita State raced out to a big lead and never looked back in a 90-61 win on Nov. 25, 2018.
• Wichita State scored 49 points in the first half, taking a 25-point lead into the locker room.
• Rice missed 22-of-26 three-point attempts and finished with 17 turnovers. Wichita State dished out 21 assists to just nine turnovers.
• The two teams combined to shoot 50 free throws.
• Markis McDuffie and Jaime Echenique added 14 points apiece and Dexter Dennis chipped in 11.

SCOUTING RICE
• Led by seventh year head coach Scott Pera, Rice enters the matchup at 11-20 and 5-13 in league play - its inaugural year in the American Athletic Conference.
• In six years, Pera has tied or increased Rice's wins every year. Last season, he led the Owls to back-to-back postseason appearances for just the third time in school history and the first since 2004-05.
• In 2021-22, he led the Owls to their first postseason appearance since 2017, advancing to the College Basketball Invitational.
• Prior to becoming its head coach, Pera served three years as the Owls' Associate Head Coach where he had a large role in recruiting and game preparation.
• Prior to joining the Owls, Pera spent two seasons at Penn, where he saw the squad lead the Ivy League in assists in 2013-14 after ranking second in the league in assists and tops in field goal percentage defense the season before. He was named the top assistant in the Ivy League and No. 19 nationally among low-to-mid-major programs by Basketball Times in 2013 and 2014.
• Pera previously spent six years on staff at Arizona State under head coach Herb Sendek. He began as Director of Operations in the 2006-07 campaign but was quickly promoted to a full-time assistant coaching position in 2007 and added the title of recruiting coordinator just one year later in 2008.
• The Owls were picked to finish 11th in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, and currently sit in eighth. Fifth-yearsenior forward Max Fiedler was named a Preseason Second Team All-American Athletic Conference honoree in a vote by the coaches.
• Rice is led by fifth-year senior guard Travis Evee, who is scoring 16.5 points per game, good for eighth in the American. He's adding 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.1 steals while connecting on 82.1 percent from the free throw line.
• Evee is the only active player with career totals of 2,100 points, 350 assists, 350 rebounds, 350 three-pointers and 180 steals.
• Sophomore guard Mekhi Mason is second on the team with 13.7 points, and 2.9 assists while placing third with 4.1 rebounds. In conference play, he is eighth in the AAC with 14.6 points per game, fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.386), and eighth in three-pointers made per game (2.2).
• Fiedler is averaging 9.4 points while leading the league with 3.9 offensive rebounds, which is also 11th in the nation. He's second in the league in rebounds (9.3), third in assists (5.0) and field goal percentage (.665), and is fourth with nine double-doubles.
• Fiedler became the first player in NCAA Division I history with at least 1,000 career points, 1,000 rebounds, 500 assists, 100 blocks and 100 steals.
• The Owls are scoring 71.7 points per game while allowing 75.3.
• Rice is connecting on 44.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three. Its opponents are connecting on 44.9 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from beyond the arc. Their three-point defense ranks 336th nationally and last in the American.

CONNECT THE DOTS
• Rice Director of Operations Mike Carr and Wichita State Director of Player Development Iain Laymon spent two years together as student managers at Indiana University under head coach Tom Crean. Laymon was at Indiana from 2013-17, while Carr was there from 2016-19.
• Since they departed Bloomington, Laymon has been with Coach Mills since 2017 when he started as a graduate assistant. Carr is in his first season on the staff at Rice after spending the previous two at Rider.

RECORD BOOK WATCH
• Quincy Ballard is on pace to shatter the single season school record for field goal percentage.
• Through 31 games Ballard is shooting 72.1% (98-for-136) from the field. The current school record is 61.6% by Steve Grayer set in 1987-88.
• That number would rank 1st nationally but to qualify players must average 5 FGM per game. Currently Ballard is at 3.2 FGM per game.
• On the defensive end, Ballard is trending towards a top five season blocking shots. He's currently fifth on the single season blocks per game list.
• Ballard is third on the single season total blocks list.

LEAD GUARDS
• Colby Rogers and Xavier Bell have formed a 1-2 scoring attack for Wichita State through 31 games. Rogers leads Wichita State in scoring at 16.5 per game and Bell is right behind at 11.6.
• The duo of Rogers and Bell make up 38.6 percent of Wichita State's scoring as they've accounted for 870 points.
• Rogers has scored in double figures in 25 of the first 31 games, and Bell in 19 of the 31. They each have multiple 20-point outings to their name (Rogers - 9, Bell - 4).

COLBY ROG3333333333333333333333333RS
• Colby Rogers has made a 3-pointer in all but one game this season. His streak was snapped at 25 vs. Charlotte.
• He has multiple three-pointers in 24 of the 31 games.
• He is two three-pointers shy of the single season school record.
• Rogers is attempting 6.97 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 2.87 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 41 total games in his Shocker career. In those 41 games he has 80 blocked shots. Sixty-six of those have come in the first 31 games.
• Through 31 games his 66 blocks rank 23rd nationally and his 2.13 blocks per game rank 27th.
• He has multiple blocks in all but 12 games this season, including two games with seven.

ROGER(S) THAT
• Colby Rogers is getting hot at the right time for Wichita State. In his last three games, Rogers is averaging 27.7 points per game on 51.0% shooting, and an incredible 18-of-28 (64.3%) from three-point range.
• He started the streak with a career-high 29 points at UAB, going 5-for-6 from long range. He made his first 8 shots before finally missing. Rogers followed that performance with an efficient 25-point outing against Rice, where he was a career-best 7-for-9 from three. He then tied his career high in the regular season finale at Tulane with 29 points, going 6-for-13 from deep.
• As a team, Wichita State is 30-for-56 (53.6%) from three-point range over its last three games. The previous 11 games Wichita State was 52-for-188 (27.7%).

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 14-18 this season.
... Move them to the 2nd round of the AAC Tourney.
... Improve their record to 6-5 all-time at the AAC Tourney.
... Give them at least one in the conference tournament in 14 of the last 15 years
... Make them 6-4 all time on March 13.
... Give Paul Mills 120 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,671-1,263 all time.
... Make them 3-1 vs. Rice all time.
... Make them 1-0 vs. the Owls on a neutral floor.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... End their season at 13-19.
... Drop them to 5-6 all-time at the AAC Tourney.
... Make Paul Mills 13-19 as Wichita State head coach.
... Drop them to 5-5 all time on March 13.
... Drop their record to 1,670-1,264 all time.
... Make them 2-2 all-time vs. Rice.
... Make them 0-1 all-time vs. the Owls on a neutral floor.

UP NEXT
GAME 33: [5] MEMPHIS                                   
• Wichita State is 5-5 all-time at the American Athletic Conference Championship.
• Memphis is the No. 5 seed and won both regular season meetings vs. the Shockers.
• The Tigers won the 2023 AAC Championship, upsetting top seed Houston.
• The Shockers have never been lower than a No. 7 seed in the AAC Championship.
• Wichita State has advanced to the semifinals three times but never appeared in the championship game.
• Wichita State has won at least one game at the AAC Championship every year, except in 2022 with a first round loss to Tulsa.