SOUTH FLORIDA (10-6, 3-0 AAC) at WICHITA STATE (7-9, 1-2 AAC)
Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025 | 6:00 p.m.
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
TV: ESPN+
Radio: GoShockers.com/Listen with Pat Strathman 
Tickets: GoShockers.com/Tickets
Father-Daughter Night: Two GA tickets for only $14 for fathers and daughters. Stick around after the game for a father-daughter shootaround on the court.
 
OPENING TIPS
Wichita State welcomes AAC preseason favorite South Florida to The Roundhouse Wednesday at 6 p.m.
South Florida leads the all-time series 9-3, winning both meetings a season ago.
The Bulls come to Charles Koch Arena for the first time since January 2023.
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 just over 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 nine 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 23.4 and ranks second in the conference in rebounds per game with 41.1.
Free throws have plagued the Shockers as they rank last in the AAC in free throw percentage (61.9), but they hit their most free throws of the season (20) last time out in the road win over UAB, including a perfect 10-for-10 from Blow. Blow leads the Shockers in free throw percentage (72.9), ranking sixth in the conference.
Murray ranks third in the AAC in field goal percentage (54.8 percent).
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.
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 10 games, and Blow has hit at least one three in each of the last eight games.
Blow has finished in double figures in seven-straight games.
Blow has started 19-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
The Shockers claimed their first American Athletic Conference victory, defeating UAB 82-70 Saturday evening in Bartow Arena.
 
Salese Blow and Jayla Murray led Wichita State with 24 points apiece, a career high for Murray and career high tying performance for Blow.  Murray also led the team in rebounding with nine, and Blow shot a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line, becoming the first Wichita State player since Seraphine Bastin in 2020 to shoot 100 percent from the line with at least 10 attempts.
 
The Shockers out-rebounded the Blazers 45-41 and recorded 15 assists with just eight turnovers. Wichita State scored 38 points in the paint and shot 20-for-26 from the free throw line, its best free throw percentage since the Dec. 18 win over CSU Bakersfield.
 
In similar fashion to the teams' last meeting, Wichita State had to battle back after getting down 12 in the first quarter. The Shockers got off to a slow start, shooting just 4-for-19 (21.1 percent) in the first quarter. The game was tied at 7-7 before UAB went on a 13-2 run, and the Blazers led by as many as 12 in the first quarter.
 
The Shockers started to find their groove in the second quarter as Jayla Murray scored 13 of her points in the period to help cut the deficit to four going into halftime.
 
Wichita State poured it on in the third quarter, outscoring UAB by 11, holding the Blazers scoreless through the last 2:51 to take a seven-point lead going into the final quarter.
 
The Blazers came within three early in the fourth quarter, but Blow scored 10 points in the period to hold them off, hitting five free throws down the stretch to seal the deal.
 
Wichita State improves to 7-9 (1-2 AAC) as UAB falls to 9-6 (0-3 AAC).

SCOUTING THE BULLS
Led by 25^th-year head coach and the winningest coach in the American Athletic Conference, Jose Fernandez, South Florida is 10-6 (3-0 AAC) entering the matchup. The Bulls played a tough non-conference schedule, featuring five top-25 contests (No. 2/2 UConn, No.25/22 Louisville, No. 17/21 TCU, No. 3/3 South Carolina, and No. 9/10 Duke) and defeated Duke 65-56. The Bulls are led by senior guard Sammie Puisis, who is averaging 15.8 points per game. Reigning AAC Freshman of the Year, Vittoria Blasigh, is scoring 9.8 points per game for the Bulls. Junior forward Carla Brito is the teams' leading rebounding with 7.2 per game. Mama Dembele leads the conference in total assists with 81 (5.1 per game) and steals per game (2.6). Puisisl leads the AAC and rankings fifth in the nation in made threes with 51 (3.2 per game). The Bulls lead the AAC in three-point percentage (35.3) and ranks second in scoring defense (59.8) and turnovers per game (15.4). USF was picked to win the American Athletic Conference, Romi Levy was selected as the Preseason Co-Player of the Year, and Blasigh was named to the Preseason All-Conference Second Team.
 
SERIES VS. SOUTH FLORIDA
The two teams meet for the 13^th time in program history with South Florida leading the series 9-3. The Bulls won both meetings a season ago, including a seven-point victory over the Shockers in the AAC Tournament quarterfinal.
 
LAST MEETING
Wichita State's season came to an end in the second round of the American Athletic Conference Tournament as South Florida outlasted the Shockers, 69-62, in Dickies Arena. Freshman Salese Blow dropped 20 points in the final game of her first collegiate season, and Ornella Niankan finished in double figures for the fourth time this season with 12 points. Daniela Abies led the team in rebounding for the 24^th time this season with 12, moving up to No. 6 all-time in Wichita State history for single-season rebounds with 302. Four Bulls finished in double figures, led by Carla Brito with 14 points and eight rebounds. Blow went 8-for-17 from the field, hitting three triples, and Abies dished out a career-high six assists. South Florida shot 26-for-57 (.460) from the field to advance to the quarterfinal. Ella Anciaux scored the first points of the game on her way to a six-point, five-rebound performance, and Blow hit her first three early in the first quarter before the Shockers suffered an almost six-minute scoring drought while the Bulls went on a 9-0 run. USF finished the first quarter with a 14-8 lead. Niankan got going for the Shockers in the second quarter, converting on an and-1 and draining her ninth three pointer of the season. Blow hit her second three in the second quarter to keep the Shockers in the game as South Florida held a seven-point advantage at the half. South Florida gained its largest lead of the game, going up 42-31, Blow scored eight of her 20 points in the third quarter, and Niankan and Tre'Zure Jobe each drained a three to cut the deficit to four going into the final period. Abies scored six of her eight points in the fourth quarter, and back-to-back buckets from Raissa Nsabua and Blow tied the game at 60-60 with 2:38 to play. The Bulls took a 61-60 lead, and Abies made 1 of 2 free throws to tie it again at 61-61. South Florida's L'or Mputu made a layup out of a timeout to go up two, and Abies hit 1 of 2 again to make it a one-point game. Brito hit five free throws down the stretch, and the Shockers could get a shot to fall as the Bulls held on to advance to the quarterfinal. 
 
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 16 games, Jayla Murray leads the Shockers in scoring with 12.3 points per game. Salese Blow is also averaging double figures with 12.2 per game. Princess Anderson has also been crucial for the Shockers off the bench with 7.8 points per game. Bre'Yon White is the team's leading rebounder, averaging 6.2 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 10 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 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 five 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.