WICHITA STATE (7-10, 1-3 AAC) at UTSA (13-2, 4-0 AAC)
Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025 | Noon
San Antonio, Texas | Convocation Center
TV: ESPN+
Radio: Audacy.com/KFH with Pat Strathman 
Tickets: GoShockers.com/Tickets
 
OPENING TIPS
Wichita State takes a trip to San Antonio to take on conference-leading UTSA.
The Shockers are 5-3 all-time against the Roadrunners, but UTSA prevailed in both meetings a season ago.
Wichita State has entered year two of the Terry Nooner era, and the Shockers return their leading scorer from conference play, sophomore guard Salese Blow. With nine newcomers on the team, the Shockers return just 37.6 percent of their scoring.
Coach Nooner coached for Roadrunners' head coach Karen Aston at Texas during the 2019-20 season when the Longhorns went 19-11 before the postseason was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Blow and redshirt-junior forward Jayla Murray have been the 1-2 punch for the Shockers, leading the team with 12 points apiece per game.
Blow has led the Shockers in scoring in seven games with two 20+ point performances, making seven career games over 20.
Murray led the Shockers in scoring during non-conference play, averaging 11.7 points per game with one double-double. She has finished in double figures 10 times and was named to the American Athletic Conference weekly honorable mention player of the week list after her performance in the win over LMU. She recorded her first 20-point game with a career high 24 in the road win over UAB.
Junior Princess Anderson has been a spark plug off the bench for the Shockers, leading the team in scoring four times with a Division I career high 17 points in the win over Prairie View A&M.
Graduate transfer and Wichita native Taylor Jameson returned home for her final season of college basketball and has led the Shockers in scoring four times. In the conference opener against North Texas, she hit five threes on her way to 17 points.
Wichita State leads the American Athletic Conference in bench points per game with 22.6 and ranks fifth in the conference in rebounds per game with 40.1.
Free throws have plagued the Shockers as they rank 12th in the AAC in free throw percentage (61.8), but they hit their most free throws of the season (20) in the road win over UAB, including a perfect 10-for-10 from Blow. Blow ranks sixth in the conference in made free throws with 143.
Murray ranks second in the AAC in field goal percentage (54.8 percent).
Aicha Ndour ranks 12^th in the AAC in blocks per game (0.94), recording three last time out against USF.
All seven wins this season have come when the Shockers outrebounded their opponent.
The Shockers came back to beat UAB after being down at halftime, their first time this season overcoming a halftime deficit to win a game.
All but two wins in the Terry Nooner era have come when holding opponents to less than 70 points, including six of the seven wins this season.
 
STREAKS & TRENDS
Jameson has hit at least one three pointer in each of the last 11 games, and Blow has hit at least one three in each of the last nine games.
Blow has started 20-straight games for the Shockers.
Blow has been perfect from the charity stripe four times this season and 11 times in her career.
 
LAST TIME OUT
American Athletic Conference preseason favorite South Florida stifled the Shockers in a resounding 72-46 win Wednesday evening in Charles Koch Arena.
 
Three Bulls finished in double figures, led by Sammie Puisis with 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting with four threes. USF outrebounded Wichita State 40-23, the Shockers' worst rebounding game of the season, scoring 15 second chance points.
 
The Shockers shot 17-for-48 (35.4 percent) from the field and just 3-for-12 (25 percent) from three as South Florida held them to their lowest scoring game of the season.
 
Jayla Murray scored a team-high 15 points, her 12th game in double figures this season, and grabbed six rebounds. Taylor Jameson finished with seven points and hit a three in the second quarter to extend her streak to 11 games with at least one made three.
 
Maimouna Sissoko led the Shockers in rebounding for the second time in three games with seven, and Aicha Ndour recorded a game-high three blocks.
 
Wichita State scored the first four points of the game before the Bulls went on a 25-4 run over the rest of the first quarter. South Florida shot 4-for-5 from three in the first quarter, with Puisis hitting three of those, to give the Bulls a 25-8 advantage.
 
After Puisis scored 13 points in the first quarter, the Shockers held her scoreless in the second, but the Bulls scored eight-straight to take their biggest lead of the game (26 points) with 4:30 remaining in the half.
 
Blow helped spark some momentum for the Shockers, scoring all eight of her points in the second quarter, helping Wichita State go on a 14-1 run to go into halftime down 13. The Shockers held USF to 11 second quarter points.
 
Murray came out of halftime with some energy, scoring 13 of her 15 points after the break, but South Florida continued to stifle the Shockers in the second half, allowing just 23 points. Wichita State was able to cut the deficit to 11, but the Bulls didn't take their foot off the gas, scoring 10 straight to go back up 25.
 
The Shockers were unable to gain any momentum to overcome the deficit in the fourth quarter, falling to 7-10 (1-3 AAC) as the Bulls remained undefeated in conference play, improving to 11-6 (4-0 AAC).

SCOUTING THE ROADRUNNERS
Led by 17^th-year head coach (fourth at UTSA) Karen Aston, UTSA is leading the American Athletic Conference with a perfect 4-0 AAC record (13-2 overall). The Roadrunners are on a six-game win streak, most recently defeating reigning AAC Tournament champion Rice. The Roadrunners are led by senior forward Jordyn Jenkins, who is averaging 19.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Jenkins was selected to the AAC Preseason All-Conference First Team and has been named the AAC Player of the Week three times this season. She leads the conference in points per game, ranking 28^th in the NCAA, and is one of the AAC's best free throw shootings, leading in free throws made with 70 and ranking second in free throw percentage (84.3). Junior guard Sidney Love is also averaging double figures with 11.2 points per game. Senior guard Nina De Leon Negron leads the AAC in assists per game with 5.2. UTSA was picked fifth of 13 teams in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Poll.
 
SERIES VS. UTSA
The two teams meet for the ninth time in program history with Wichita State leading the all-time series 5-3. The 'Runners won both meetings a season ago.
 
LAST MEETING
Wichita State's second half comeback fell short as the Shockers fell 68-61to UTSA in their final regular-season home game. UTSA led wire to wire and led by as many as 15 before the Shockers made it a five-point game in the fourth quarter. Three Shockers finished in double figures with freshman Salese Blow leading all scoring with 18 points and Daniela Abies and DJ McCarty tallying 13 and 12 points, respectively. Jeniah Thompson led the Shockers in rebounding with nine and tied with McCarty for a team-high four assists. UTSA's Jordyn Jenkins led the Roadrunners with 17 points, and Elyssa Coleman recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Wichita State won the battle of the boards, out-rebounding UTSA 44-41 after getting out-rebounded 52-40 in January down in San Antonio, Texas. UTSA opened the game on a 7-0 run before Ella Anciaux scored the first Shocker points two and a half minutes into the game. McCarty scored five of her 12 points in the first quarter to keep Wichita State within four going into the second quarter. In the second quarter, the Roadrunners extended their lead, going on a 9-0 run to go up 12, while the Shockers didn't make their first field goal until Abies made a layup four minutes into the quarter. UTSA hit three of their 6 three pointers in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 13-point lead. Abies came out of halftime and hit just her third three pointer of the season, and McCarty hit a free throw to cut the deficit to single digits. UTSA stretched the lead back to 15 before Wichita State scored six unanswered in the paint courtesy of Thompson, Murray and Abies. UTSA's Siena Guttadauro hit a buzzer beater three to end the quarter up 12. Wichita State chipped away in the fourth, making it a five-point game with a minute remaining after Blow hit a three and came right back and made a layup, but the Roadrunners made seven free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win. McCarty hit a three as time expired in her final game in The Roundhouse. The Shockers won the second half, but it wasn't enough to overtake UTSA.
 
WWW
The Shockers won three-straight games for the first time in the Terry Nooner era, beating Prairie View A&M, LMU and CSU Bakersfield.
 
LEADING LADIES
Through 76 games, Jayla Murray leads the Shockers in scoring with 12.4 points per game. Salese Blow is also averaging double figures with 11.9 per game. Taylor Jameson has been the best three-point shooter for Wichita State, hitting 31 threes this season. Princess Anderson has also been crucial for the Shockers off the bench with 7.3 points per game. Bre'Yon White is the team's leading rebounder, averaging 5.9 rebounds per game, and Murray is averaging 5.4.
 
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Entering the season, no Shockers on the roster had ever recorded a Division I double-double. Jayla Murray, Bre'Yon White and Maimouna Sissoko have each logged their firsts, Murray's in the season opener, White's in the win over WKU, and Sissoko's on her birthday at Memphis.
 
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.
 
#BREMODE
Junior Bre'Yon White recorded her first career double-double in the win over Western Kentucky and has led the Shockers in rebounding seven times. She has finished in double figures twice this season, her first time in double figures in her career.
 
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 four times and assists six times and has finished in double figures nine times. Jameson has hit at least one three pointer in each of the last 11 games and has hit multiple threes nine 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 21double-figure scoring games with five 20+ point performances.
 
She has finished in double figures 10 times this season with two 20+ point games, leading the team in scoring seven times and being named to the AAC weekly honorable mention player of the week list once.
 
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 six times and recorded her first career double-double in the home opener against Oklahoma Christian. She put up a career-high 24 points in the road win over UAB.
 
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, at Oral Roberts with 13, and at Memphis with 11. 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.