TULANE (10-6, 3-2 AAC) at WICHITA STATE (7-11, 1-4 AAC)
Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025 | 6:00 p.m.
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
TV: ESPN+ with Shane Dennis and Tracy Anderson
Radio: GoShockers.com/Listen with Pat Strathman 
Tickets: GoShockers.com/Tickets
 
OPENING TIPS
Wichita State looks to add one to the win column, seeking its first AAC home win, as they take on the Green Wave in Charles Koch Arena.
The Shockers are 7-6 all-time against Tulane, leading the series 4-2 in Charles Koch Arena.
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.
Blow and redshirt-junior forward Jayla Murray have been the 1-2 punch for the Shockers, leading the team with 12.2 and 11.5 points 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 in a handful of games, 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 five times. In the conference opener against North Texas, she hit five threes on her way to 17 points and last time out at UTSA drained a career-high six threes, scoring a season-high 22 points.
Wichita State is one of the deepest teams in the AAC, leading the conference in bench points per game with 22.
Free throws have plagued the Shockers as they rank 12th in the AAC in free throw percentage (61.9), 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.
Murray ranks second in the AAC in field goal percentage (53.3 percent).
Aicha Ndour ranks 12^th in the AAC in blocks per game (0.94), recording three against USF.
Jameson holds the third-best three-point percentage in the conference (42 percent) and has made the fifth-most threes of the season with 37.
 
STREAKS & TRENDS
Jameson has hit at least one three pointer in each of the last 12 games, hitting multiple threes in 10 games.
Blow has started 21-straight games for the Shockers.
Blow has been perfect from the charity stripe four times this season and 11 times in her career.
The Shockers have yet to lead at halftime during conference play.
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.
 
LAST TIME OUT
American Athletic Conference leader UTSA led wire-to-wire in a 69-51 win over Wichita State Saturday afternoon in the Convocation Center.
 
Preseason First Team All-Conference selection Jordyn Jenkins led the Roadrunners with 21 points, and Idara Udo recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Wichita State's Taylor Jameson led all scoring with 22 points, hitting a career-high six threes and shooting a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
 
The Roadrunners scored 42 points in the paint, shooting 28-for-56 from the field, and dominated the battle of the boards 42-20 in the Shockers' worst rebounding game of the season.
 
UTSA held Wichita State to a season-low 16 first-half points, outrebounding the Shockers 27-11 in the first half and scoring 15 points off 10 offensive rebounds to go up 18 before halftime.
 
Despite the Roadrunners committing more first half turnovers, Wichita State was unable to capitalize on any of them, while UTSA scored nine points off seven Shocker turnovers. The Shockers didn't go to the line a single time in the half and shot just 7-for-28 from the field.
 
The Shockers made a run in the third quarter, scoring 11-straight to cut the deficit to single digits and won the quarter 21-12. Jameson recorded a perfect quarter, shooting 3-for-3 from behind the arc and hitting both of her free throws.
 
UTSA struck back in the fourth quarter, scoring the first 15 of the period to stretch its lead back to 24. The Shockers were unable to overcome the deficit, dropping to 7-11 (1-4 AAC), as the Roadrunners remain undefeated in AAC play, improving to 14-2 (5-0 AAC) and holding on to the top spot in the conference.

SCOUTING THE GREEN WAVE
Led by fourth-year head coach (first at Tulane) and former player for the Green Wave, Ashley Langford, Tulane is 3-2 in conference play coming off a 64-75 loss at East Carolina. Four players are averaging double figures, led by junior forward Sherese Pittman with 13.0 points per game. Pittman is also the Green Wave's leading rebounder with 7.1 per game. Redshirt-senior guard Kyren Whittington was selected to the AAC Preseason All-Conference Second Team and is averaging 11.8 points per game. Tulane's Kendall Sneed has been named the AAC Freshman of the Week three times this season, averaging 10.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Dyllan Hanna leads the AAC in total blocks (26) and blocks per game (2.0), and Victoria Keenan leads the AAC in three-point percentage (46.5). Tulane was picked 10^th of 13 teams in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Poll.
 
SERIES VS. TULANE
The two teams meet for the 14^th time in program history with Wichita State leading the all-time series 7-6. The Shockers came out on top in their last meeting, winning the AAC opener 63-60 on Dec. 30, 2023 in Charles Koch Arena.
 
LAST MEETING
Wichita State snapped its four-game losing streak with a 63-60 win over Tulane in the American Athletic Conference opener on Dec. 30, 2023. In a game with 15 lead changes, the Shockers outlasted the Green Wave as Tre'Zure Jobe led the scoring with 21 points and tallied a career-high eight assists, playing all 40 minutes. Wichita State held the Green Wave, a team which averages .337 from three, to just 4-for-21 (.019) from behind the arc, while the Shockers shot 7-for-21 to tie for the most made three pointers this season. The Green Wave won the battle of the boards, 40-35, marking the first time that season the Shockers have won a game in which they were out-rebounded. Tulane led 17-14 after the first quarter, but the Shockers won the next three quarters to finish on top. The game was close from wire to wire with the biggest lead for either team being the Shockers' five-point lead in the fourth quarter. Jobe scored the Shockers' last eight points in the fourth quarter, hitting six free throws down the stretch to regain the lead. Up 61-60 with 28 seconds left, Jobe forced a turnover, picking Kyren Whittington's pocket and getting fouled on the other end. She hit one of two free throws, leaving the door open for the Green Wave with 24.5 seconds left. After a Tulane timeout to advance the ball, the Shocker defense applied pressure, and a bad pass that Jeniah Thompson fell on gave the Shockers the ball back in a jumpball situation. Jobe was fouled and found herself at the line again, hitting her first free throw to go up 63-60 as the second went in and out, and the Green Wave called another timeout with 2.8 seconds left on the clock. Tulane wasn't able to get a shot up as time expired, and the Shockers came away with its first win since Dec. 1. Ambah Kowcun played her most minutes since the season opener against Oklahoma, shooting 2-for-3 from three and tallying eight points for the Shockers. Daniela Abies led the team in rebounding for the eighth time that season with nine and scored seven points. Salese Blow and Sierra Morrow also scored eight and seven points, respectively. Carla Budane scored her first points of the season in just her second appearance with two points in three minutes in the second quarter. Whittington led Tulane with 17 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.
 
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 18 games, Jayla Murray leads the Shockers in scoring with 12.2 points per game. Salese Blow and Taylor Jameson aare also averaging double figures with 11.5 and 10.4 per game, respectively. Taylor Jameson has been the best three-point shooter for Wichita State, hitting 31 threes this season. Bre'Yon White is the team's leading rebounder, averaging 5.7 rebounds per game, and Murray is averaging 5.3.
 
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 five times and assists six times and has finished in double figures 10 times. Jameson has hit at least one three pointer in each of the last 12 games and has hit multiple threes 10 times. She recorded her first 20-piece of the year with 22 at UTSA. She leads the Shockers in three pointers, shooting 42.1 percent from behind the arc.
 
BOBO DA SHOW
Salese Blow, nicknamed BoBo by her mom Stacie, who is an NCAA women's basketball and G-League official, 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.
 
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.