WICHITA STATE (13-17, 5-12) at TULANE (13-16, 4-13)
Friday, March 8 | 8:00 p.m. CT
New Orleans, La. | Avron B. Fogelman Arena
 
TV: ESPN2 with John Schriffen & Perry Clark
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy & Bob Hull
 

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OPENING TIPS
• Wichita State closes out the regular season at Tulane Friday night in New Orleans on ESPN2.
• As it stands now with the current AAC standings, Wichita State would be the No. 11 seed in the AAC Championship, but could still move out of the bottom four with a win against Tulane. The bottom four teams play in the first round on March 13.
• Wichita State is 6-3 all time when playing on Mar. 8.
• Wichita State leads the all-time series with Tulane, 7-4. The Shockers are 3-1 vs. the Green Wave in New Orleans.
• Tulane is 13-16 overall and 4-13 in conference play. Expectations were high for Tulane entering the season, but have struggled in conference play, dropping seven in a row. The Green Wave were picked 3rd in the Preseason Coaches Poll.
• Wichita State is coming off its best performance in conference play, defeating Rice, 87-66, Saturday night in the final home game of the season.
• The Shockers have won consecutive games for the first time since November when they won three straight to close the month.
• Colby Rogers has scored 20+ in back-to-back games with 29 at UAB and 25 vs. Rice. Over his last two games, he's 12-for-15 (80%) from beyond the arc. He was a career-best 7-for-9 in the win vs. Rice.
• Rogers (16.1 ppg; leading scorer) has made a three-pointer in all but one game this season and multiple in 23 of the 30. He leads the AAC in total 3PT FG made (83), 3PT Percentage (40.9%) 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.
• Rogers made 28 consecutive free throws before it was snapped on Feb. 25 vs. Temple. The streak tied for the 7th longest in school history. He was a career-best 9-for-9 vs. Tulsa on Feb. 21.
• Wichita State ranks 31st nationally in rebounds per game and 21st in defensive rebounds per game. In conference play, Wichita State's rebounding numbers have taken a hit, averaging only 36.6 rebounds per game.
• Quincy Ballard ranks 23rd nationally in blocks (62). He had tied a career-high with 7 vs. East Carolina on Jan. 24. Ballard has 18 games with multiple blocks.
• Over the last 19 games Ballard is shooting 62-for-81 (76.5%) from the field.

THE SERIES VS TULANE
• WSU leads 7-4 (4-2 in Wichita and 3-1 in New Orleans).
• The teams have met only once on a neutral court - last season in the 2023 AAC Championship.
• After winning on Tulane's home court just a couple weeks prior, Tulane ended Wichita State's season in the AAC quarterfinals, 82-76.
• The Shockers won each of the first six series meetings before suffering a pair of one-point losses in 2022.
• The teams split the 2022-23 regular season with each winning on the other's home court.
• Tulane has made large comeback bids in four of the last five meetings.
• Jan. 25 in Wichita, the Green Wave battled back from an 18-point first half deficit in an eventual 95-90 overtime win. They trailed by 13 at the break and was eight with as little as 2:41 to go.
• Feb. 26 in New Orleans, the Shockers led by 17 points late in the first half. Tulane closed the gap to three just before halftime and was within a point midway through the second half before WSU answered with a game sealing run.
• In 2021-22, the Wave rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit to win in Wichita. In New Orleans, they trailed by nine points with 3:38 to play but finished on a 10-0 run.

SCOUTING TULANE
• In his fifth year at Tulane, head coach Ron Hunter's squad entered the season with lofty goals after a 20-win season in 2022-23. The Green Wave returned three starters and five other letterwinners, but have struggled in conference play, dropping five in a row.
• Tulane sits at 4-13 in AAC play and three games under .500 for the season.
• Tulane was picked third in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll behind First Team All-Conference selection Jaylen Forbes and Second Team pick Kevin Cross.
• Hunter's 2022-23 team won 20 games for the first time since 2012-13 and their 12 conference wins were the most since joining the American.
• He recorded his 500th career win in last season's regular season finale.
• Cross does a little bit of everything for Tulane. He leads the team in scoring (17.3 ppg), rebounding (7.2 rpg) and assists (4.5 apg). Earlier this season he recorded a triple-double in back-to-back games.
• He ranks second in the American in field goal percentage (51.6%), third in free throws made (138) and defensive rebounds per game (6.25), fourth in free throw attempts (168), fifth in assists (127) and points per game (17.3),  sixth in free throw percentage (82.1%), eighth in double-doubles (5) and ninth in rebounds per game (7.2).
• Forbes scores 14.4 points per game and is not shy about letting three-pointers fly. He ranks second in the league in three-pointers made per game and total attempts, while shooting 35.5 percent from long range.
• Sion James is third on the team in scoring (13.7 ppg) and second in rebounding (5.2 rpg). His 46 steals are tops on the team.
• Collin Holloway (12.4 ppg) and Kolby King (11.0 ppg) round out the double figure scorers for Tulane.
• Tulane leads the American in free throws made per game (3rd in NCAA), free throw attempts per game (3rd in NCAA) and field goal percentage. They average 82.2 points on 47.6 percent shooting and 35.2 percent from beyond the arc.
• Defensively, opponents average 80.2 points on 43.6 percent shooting.

CONNECT THE DOTS
• Wichita State assistant coach TJ Cleveland and Tulane sophomore guard Kolby King spent the 2022-23 season as members of the St. John's program. Cleveland was an associate head coach for four seasons with the Red Storm under Mike Anderson. King appeared in 25 games as a true freshman off the bench for St. John's, averaging 1.7 points in 7.7 minutes per game.

RECORD BOOK WATCH
• Quincy Ballard is on pace to shatter the single season school record for field goal percentage.
• Through 30 games Ballard is shooting 71.5% (93-for-130) 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 sixth on the single season blocks per game list.
• Ballard is fourth 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 30 games. Rogers leads Wichita State in scoring at 16.1 per game and Bell is right behind at 11.8.
• The duo of Rogers and Bell make up 38.4 percent of Wichita State's scoring as they've accounted for 837 points.
• Rogers has scored in double figures in 24 of the first 30 games, and Bell in 19 of the 30. They each have multiple 20-point outings to their name (Rogers - 8, 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 23 of the 30 games.
• He is eight three-pointers shy of the single season school record.
• Rogers is attempting 6.77 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 2.77 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 40 total games in his Shocker career. In those 40 games he has 76 blocked shots. Sixty-two of those have come in the first 30 games.
• Through 30 games his 62 blocks rank 23rd nationally and his 2.06 blocks per game rank 29th.
• He has multiple blocks in all but 11 games this season, including two games with seven.

ROGER(S) THAT
• Colby Rogers is getting hot at the right time for Wichita State. In two games last week, Rogers averaged 27.0 points per game on 58.6% shooting, and an incredible 12-of-15 (80%) from three-point range.
• He started the week 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.
• As a team, Wichita State is 22-for-37 (59.5%) from three-point range over its last two games. The previous 11 games Wichita State was 52-for-188 (27.7%).

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 14-17 this season.
... Make them 6-12 in AAC play.
... Be their second straight road win.
... Finish the season 3-9 in true road games.
... Make them 7-3 all time on March 8.
... Give Paul Mills 120 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,671-1,262 all time.
... Make them 8-4 vs. Tulane all time.
... Improve their record to 4-1 in New Orleans.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 13-18 this season.
... Drop them to 5-13 in AAC play.
... Finish the season 2-10 in true road games.
... Make Paul Mills 13-18 as Wichita State head coach.
... Drop them to 6-4 all time on March 8.
... Drop their record to 1,670-1,263 all time.
... Make them 7-5 all-time vs. Tulane.
... Lower their record to 3-2 in New Orleans.

UP NEXT
GAME 32: AAC CHAMPIONSHIP                                      
• Wichita State is 5-5 all-time at the American Athletic Conference Championship.
• 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.