WICHITA STATE (11-8, 1-5) at TULSA (8-11, 2-4)
Sunday, Jan. 26 | 2:00 p.m. CDT
Tulsa, Okla. | Donald W. Reynolds Center
 
TV: ESPN+ with Josh Haley & Pooh Williamson
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy & Bob Hull
 

---

OPENING TIPS
• Wichita State closes out a two-game road trip on Sunday against Tulsa at 2 p.m.
• Wichita State has dropped four of its first five American Conference games following a 61-53 loss at #24 Memphis. The Shockers committed a season-high 22 turnovers - the most by Wichita State since Feb. 12, 2023 when they had 25 vs. SMU.
• Wichita State has lost 10 straight vs. ranked foes and is 58-148 all-time against Top 25 teams.
• The Shockers allowed 88+ points in each of the first three conference games. The last time Wichita State allowed three straight conference opponents to score 88+ was in 1978-79.
• Harlond Beverly scored a season-high 18 points in the loss at #24 Memphis.
• Xavier Bell had his double figure scoring streak snapped at Memphis, finishing scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting, while battling foul trouble all game. He played a season-low 14 minutes.
• Quincy Ballard added his second straight double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds at Memphis. He has five double-doubles in the last eight games and is averaging 12.6 points and 10.6 rebounds during that stretch.
• Ronnie DeGray III returned to action on Jan. 14 after missing nearly two months with a fractured wrist. He scored all 8 of his points vs. Charlotte in the 2nd half.
• Wichita State has a trio of 1,000-point scorers on the roster. Xavier Bell reached 1,000 career points on Dec. 17 vs. Kansas City and Harlond Beverly made it to 1,000 on Jan. 14 vs. Charlotte. Justin Hill has more than 1,500 career points.
• Ballard ranks 2nd in the American Athletic Conference in blocks per game (1.72) and ranks 48th nationally. His 31 total blocks also rank 2nd in the league, while ranking 58th in the NCAA.
• Ballard shattered the single season school record for field goal percentage and also had top five marks in blocks per game and total blocks in 2023-24.
• Ballard moved into 4th on the Wichita State career blocks list vs. K-State with 119. He's on pace to break the WSU career record for blocks per game at 1.92.
• Eight student-athletes on Wichita State's roster have NCAA Tournament experience: Quincy Ballard (Florida St.), Xavier Bell (Drexel), Harlond Beverly (Miami), Ronnie DeGray III (Missouri), Justin Hill (Longwood), AJ McGinnis (UNCG), Zane Meeks (San Francisco) and Corey Washington (St. Peter's).

THE SERIES WITH TULSA
• The Shockers lead the series, 78-64, and have won 21 of the last 25. They're 13-3 in the AAC era.
• Tulsa is tied for WSU's second-most-played opponent behind Drake (151) and Bradley (142). This is meeting No. 143 in a series that began in 1931. The teams were rivals in the Missouri Valley Conference from 1945-96 before reuniting in the AAC in 2017.
• Including non-conference games, the teams have met at least once in each of the last 14 seasons going back to 2010-11.
• Since joining the AAC, WSU has faced Tulsa more times   than any other foe. This is the 17^th meeting in eight years.
• Eric Konkol is the 20th-different Tulsa coach that WSU has faced in the series, while Paul Mills is WSU's 16^th.

IN TULSA // TLS, 37-32
The Shockers have narrowed the gap in recent years, thanks to an 8-5 mark at the Reynolds Center.
WSU is 5-2 in its seven AAC visits. The lone loss before this season came on a long buzzer-beater (Feb. 1, 2020).

IN WICHITA // WSU, 44-23
The Hurricanes last won in Wichita on Dec. 8, 2001. The Shockers have won the last 12 home meetings (10 at CKA, one at INTRUST Bank Arena).
WSU has won just over two-thirds of the games played inside the Roundhouse (1955-pr.), 38-16.

NEUTRAL SITES // TLS, 4-2
Five of the six games have come in conference tournament settings, most recently in 2023 when the team squared off in the first round of the AAC tourney.
WSU's lone victory came in the 1988 MVC Tournament.
Tulsa picked up a pair of Arch Madness wins in the 1990s and edged the Shockers in the 1958 All-College.

CONNECT THE DOTS
• On Nov. 6, 2018, Eric Konkol led his Louisiana Tech team to a 71-58 upset over the Shockers in Charles Koch Arena. It's the only season-opening loss by a Wichita State team in the past 22 years.

SCOUTING TULSA
• Led by third year head coach Eric Konkol, Tulsa enters the matchup at 8-11 and 2-4 in league play.
• After posting a 5-25 record in his first season at the helm, Konkol's 2023-24 team improved to 16 wins.
• Konkol came to Tulsa following seven seasons at Louisiana Tech, where he compiled a 153-75 record. He won 46 games in his first two seasons, the most for any previous LA Tech head coach, and his 153 career victories is the third-highest win total in school history.
• Konkol returns to where he began his start in collegiate coaching. He was a student assistant coach for Tulsa's 2001 NIT Championship team under Head Coach Buzz Peterson.
• Tulsa was picked to finish 10th in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll.
• Three of Tulsa's four conference losses have come by single digits, including its most recent outing - an overtime loss at home to East Carolina.
• Dwon Odom leads the Hurricane in scoring (13.5 ppg) and assists (93), while shooting 52.6 percent from the field. Odom is just 4-for-22 from three-point range this season.
• Odom leads the conference in assists and assists per game.
• Keaston Willis is the team's top shooter at 38.6 percent from long range to go with 13.3 points per game.
• Willis has made 56 three-pointers this season, tops in the American.
• Tyshawn Archie adds 10.9 points to go with 47 assists and a team-high 23 steals.
• After missing the first 16 games of the season due to offseason surgery, Jared Garcia has appeared in the last three games for Tulsa. Garcia was their top rebounder (6.0 rpg) a season ago. • He's posting 10.7 points and 4.7 rebounds through his first three games in 2025.
• Tulsa averages 73.8 points per game on 42.3 percent shooting and 31.7 percent from three-point range. The Golden Hurricane rank second in the American in defensive rebounds per game and three-point attempts. At 67.1 percent, Tulsa ranks last in the American in free throw percentage and 308th nationally.
• Defensively, Tulsa allows 73.6 points on 43.8 percent shooting. Opponents connect on 33.2 percent of their three-point attempts.

OTHER MEMORABLE SERIES MOMENTS:
• Wichita State and Tulsa were conference rivals in the Missouri Valley from 1945 to 1996. Following Tulsa's exit, the schools played 14 non-conference games over a 21-year span before reuniting in The American in 2017.
• Though the series dates back over nine decades, the rivalry truly blossomed in the early 1980s when Gene Smithson's teams battled Nolan Richardson and Tulsa for MVC supremacy. Three all-time WSU greats played in the "MTXE" Era (after Smithson's trademark slogan, Mental Toughness eXtra Effort): Cliff Levingston, Antoine Carr and Xavier McDaniel. Tulsa countered with a fearsome full-court press and the likes of Paul Pressey, Mike Anderson and Steve Harris.
• WSU got the last laugh in its final game against Richardson in the MVC tournament championship (Mar. 9, 1985 at the Tulsa Convention Center). McDaniel  (who led the nation in scoring and rebounding that year) scored 34 points on 15-of-19 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Shockers past No. 17 Tulsa, 84-82.
• Despite coaching changes on both sides, the rivalry continued. On Mar. 4, 1987, WSU again stunned top-seeded Tulsa with a 79-74 overtime win in the MVC title game. The '87 tourney was the first with a three-point line, and the Shockers took full advantage of the new rule, knocking down 8-of-10 from beyond the arc.
• On Feb. 27, 1988, Joe Griffin's corner three – in the air just before time expired – forced double-overtime where the Shockers claimed a 79-78 victory.
• Tulsa dominated with 13-straight wins between 1993 and 2002, but the series took a dramatic turn following the completion of the Roundhouse Renaissance.
• On Dec. 20, 2003 – the first meeting at the newly renovated CKA – WSU finally stopped the slide, winning 66-58 behind recent Jamar Howard's 23 points. That started a run of seven-straight Shocker victories.
• The series returned in 2010 when Tulsa was guest of honor for the first-ever basketball game at downtown INTRUST Bank Arena (Dec. 21, 2010). Justin Hurtt hit six of Tulsa's 14 threes (both are still arena records), but the Shockers held on for an 82-79 win.

IT STARTS WITH DEFENSE
• Through 19 games Wichita State has already allowed five opponents to score 88 or more points, which is the most since 1982-83. The Shockers are 0-5 this season when they allow 88+.
• The Shockers have allowed 88+ points in each of the first three conference games. The last time Wichita State allowed three straight conference opponents to score 88+ was in 1978-79.

ON THIS DATE: JAN. 26
• 1985 - Xavier McDaniel dropped a career-high 44 points in a 99-86 road win at West Texas State. McDaniel played all 40 minutes and added 16 rebounds to go with his 40-point output. As a team Wichita State shot 63 percent from the field.
• 2005 – Jamar Howard was a perfect 9-for-9 from the field (all ionside the arc) to lead Wichita State past Drake, 75-65. Howard also cashed in 9-of-12 free throws to finish with a career-high 27 points.
• 2013 - Wichita State outscored Bradley, 41-16, in the second half of a dominant home win, 73-39. No Shocker scored more than 12 points in the game, but a total of 10 recorded points in the contest.
• 2022 - Wichita State entered the matchup with UCF winless in conference play at 0-4, but a career-high 31 points from Ricky Council IV led the Shockers to an 84-79 win in the Roundhouse. Wichita State went to the free throw line 40 times, making 31 of those attempts. Council was responsible for half of the attempts, goign 16-for-20.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Quincy Ballard is 14 blocks away from 150 in his collegiate career. He is 2 games away from his 100th career game.
• Harlond Beverly is 7 games away from his 150th career game.
• Bijan Cortes is 28 assists away from 250 for his career. He played in his 100th career game on Jan. 18 vs. East Carolina.
• Ronnie DeGray III needs 4 more games to reach his 100th career game.
• Justin Hill is 14 assists shy of 500 for his career. He needs 5 more games to reach his 150th career game.
• AJ McGinnis is 90 points away from reaching 1,000 for his career.

MEMPHIS LEFTOVERS
• Wichita State dropped to 13-21 all-time vs. Memphis.
• The Shockers are now 7-14 when playing on Jan. 23.
• Wichita State's 53 points were the fewest in a conference game this season and second fewest overall.
• For the third time in the last four games Wichita State was held to fewer than 10 made free throws. Prior to that their season low was 10.
• Wichita State's 22 turnovers were a season high and the first time committing 20+ since March 2, 2023 vs. Houston.
• Wichita State's 11 steals tied for the second most this season. It was just the fifth time this season with 10+ steals.
• Wichita State failed to record a blocked shot for the first time this season.
• Wichita State dropped to 7-4 this season when outrebounding its opponent.
• Harlond Beverly scored a season-high 18 points. It was his eighth game in double figures this season.
• Corey Washington scored 11 points, extending his streak of games with 10+ points to eight in a row. It marked his 15th game in double figures.
• Xavier Bell had his streak of 10 straight games in double figures come to an end. He was held scoreless for the first time since Jan. 4, 2024 vs. North Texas.
• Quincy Ballard recorded his team-leading 6th double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
• It marked his eighth game with 10 or more rebounds and 11th game with 10 or more points.

OLD TIMERS
• With COVID still impacting eligibility, several schools around the country have multiple student-athletes on their rosters playing in their fifth, sixth and even seventh seasons. Wichita State is tied for second in the country with seven student-athletes in their fifth year or higher of collegiate basketball.

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 12-8 this season.
... Make them 2-5 in conference play.
... Improve their road record to 2-4 this season.
... Move them to 79-64 all time vs. Tulsa.
... Make Paul Mills 27-27 as Wichita State head coach.
... Give Mills 133 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,684-1,272 all time.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 11-9 this season.
... Drop them to 1-6 in conference play.
... Make them 1-5 on the road this season.
... Drop them to 78-65 all time vs. Tulsa.
... Make Paul Mills 26-28 as Wichita State head coach.
... Lower Mills' career record to 132-112.
... Drop their record to 1,683-1,273 all time.

GAME 21: NORTH TEXAS                                                              
• Wichita State is 26-13 all-time vs. North Texas.
• The two teams met only once in 2024, a UNT win in Wichita.
• The Mean Green are 14-4 overall and 5-1 in AAC play.
• UNT is led by second year head coach Ross Hodge.