WICHITA STATE (1-3) vs. SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE (1-2)
Tuesday, Nov. 18 | 6:00 p.m.
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
Radio: GoShockers.com/Listen with Pat Strathman
TV: ESPN+
 
OPENING TIPS
Wichita State returns home to take on Southeast Missouri State on Tuesday evening in Charles Koch Arena.
The teams meet for just the third time in program history with the series tied at 1-1.
Wichita State won the first meeting 67-46 in 2014, but SEMO won the last meeting, 66-62 in 2015, both games in Charles Koch Arena.
The Shockers are coming off a 57-66 loss to Missouri State on Saturday in the T-Mobile Center.
The Shockers return just 9.6 percent of their scoring from last season but bring an abundance of experience to the court with eight graduate students on the roster, tying ULM for the most graduate players on a Division I roster this season.
With only one underclassman on the roster, the Shockers are 93 percent upperclassmen, the second-highest percentage of upperclassmen in the NCAA (DI), and they bring 44 seasons of combined collegiate basketball experience.
Wichita State returns Bre'Yon White, the Shockers' second leading rebounder from last season, who grabbed 154 boards, averaging 4.8 per game.
For the third-straight season, Nooner has brought a Wichita native home for their final season of collegiate basketball – Tre'Zure Jobe in 2023-24, Taylor Jameson in 2024-25, and now Jaila Harding, who shot 35.7 percent from behind the arc both of her last two seasons at New Mexico State.
Two Shockers are averaging double figure scoring as Harding is leading the Shockers with 14.0 points per game, and Abby Cater is averaging 10.8. Treasure Thompson is also chipping in 9.3 points per game.
Cater is leading Wichita State in rebounding with 5.3 per game.
The Shockers rank second in scoring defense, holding opponents to 56.7 points per game, and third in steals per game with 12.3.
Through four games, Harding leads the conference in three pointers per game with 3.5, total made threes with 14, and three-point attempts with 34. She is shooting 41.2 percent from behind the arc. She ranks 12^th in the nation in made threes and 17^th in threes per game.
Taya Davis ranks third in the conference in assists per game, averaging 5.8, and Cater ranks 11^th in steals per game with 2.0.
Wichita State ranks second in the American Conference in three-point percentage defense, holding opponents to 26.3 percent.
The Shockers rank third in the American in steals per game with 11.3.
 
STREAKS & TRENDS
All but two wins in the Terry Nooner era have come when holding opponents to less than 70 points, including nine of the 10 wins last season.
Ninety percent of Terry Nooner's wins have come when outrebounding the opponent.
Harding has finished in double figures in four-straight games.
Harding has hit more than one three pointer in each of the first four games.
Taya Davis has dished five or more assists in three of the first four games, including that last two-straight.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Wichita State put together three strong quarters and saw two players score in double figures, but a cold fourth period proved costly as the Shockers fell 66–57 to Missouri State on Saturday afternoon at the T-Mobile Center.
 
Wichita State (1-3) shot over 50 percent in the first half and trailed by just two at the break, but Missouri State (4-0) used a 21-point third quarter and a 12-2 run late in the frame to create make it a five-point game heading to the fourth.
 
Treasure Thompson and Jaila Harding powered the Shocker offense, combining for 22 points. Thompson posted 12 points, five rebounds and a block, while Harding added 10 points on an efficient 4-of-6 shooting, including a pair of threes, her fourth-straight game with multiple threes.
 
Bre'Yon White gave the Shockers a strong interior presence with eight points and eight rebounds, including five offensive boards. Abby Cater chipped in nine points and continued her burst scoring in transition, finishing with several key fast-break buckets.
 
Sophie Benharouga added five points off the bench and hit Wichita State's lone free throw of the second half.
 
Taya Davis again quarterbacked the Shocker offense, collecting 6 assists, her third game with at least five, and helping Wichita State generate 28 points in the paint.
 
Wichita State came out firing, hitting 58 percent of its attempts in the opening quarter and leading by as many as five. Harding's hot shooting and Thompson's midrange game kept the Shockers in control early before Missouri State responded with a 9–0 run.
 
The Shockers continued to battle through the second, getting key scores from Cater and Richardson to stay within striking distance, entering halftime down just 34-32.
 
After trading baskets early in the third, Missouri State built its largest lead at 52-42, but WSU answered with an 8-0 burst, highlighted by a putback from Benharouga and a Thompson jumper, to pull within two.
 
However, the fourth quarter proved decisive. Wichita State held Missouri State without a field goal for stretches but couldn't capitalize offensively, shooting just 12.5 percent in the final frame. The Bears sealed the game at the line, going 20-for-24 overall.
 
SERIES VS. SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE
The teams meet for just the third time in program history with the series tied at 1-1, both games in Charles Koch Arena.
 
LAST MEETING
Wichita State fell, 66-62, in overtime to Southeast Missouri on Dec. 4, 2015 inside Charles Koch Arena. WSU was led in scoring by Diamond Lockhart's 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting while Southeast Missouri's Brianna Mitchell led four double-figure Redhawk scorers with 15 points. WSU out-shot the Redhawks, 40.7 percent (24-59) to 35.8 percent (24-67), but the visitors won the battle of the boards, 49-33. The Shockers also turned the ball over 21 times. The Redhawks went to the line 21 times and made 17, while WSU was 6-of-10 from the line. The Shockers won the first two quarters, 14-12 and 20-17 to take a 34-29 halftime lead. After the half, Southeast Missouri went on a 6-0 run after two Lockhart free throws to cut the lead to one, 36-35, at the 6:43. Both teams went scoreless until Southeast Missouri went ahead, 37-36, at the 4:05 mark with a layup by Johnson. That basket was part of a 6-0 Redhawk run that gave Southeast  a 41-36 lead. The two teams traded baskets again as Southeast Missouri held the five-point lead before scoring with seven seconds left in the quarter to push the lead to seven, 47-40, its largest of the game. WSU cut it to two in the fourth quarter at the 9:06 mark on a jumper by Jaleesa Chapel, and again at 5:02 on a Lockhart jumper, 49-47. The teams traded baskets before a Lockhart three followed by a Chapel layup at 3:05 gave WSU the lead again, 52-51. An Olivia Hackmann layup with 29 second left gave the Redhawks a three-point lead, but a contested three-pointer by TaQuandra Mike tied it up with six seconds remaining. The Redhawks called a timeout with 3.2 seconds left, and in-bounded the ball but a last shot fell short. In overtime, Southeast Missouri missed two free throws before Lockhart put WSU up, 60-57, at the 3:29 mark. The score was again tied at 60 and 62. WSU called a timeout with 36 seconds remaining and the Shockers down two, 64-62. Francis tried to drive the ball twice and was fouled each time to give the Shockers the ball back before Aundra Stovall drove to the basket and got fouled. She missed the first free throw, and with a two-point deficit missed the second to try and get the rebound and outback but Southeast. The Shockers were forced to foul and Johnson made her two free throws to fashion the final score, 66-62. In the first quarter, Southeast Missouri got on the board first, but Jyar Francis' three-pointer put WSU back on top for the quarter except for a 24 second period at the 7:56 mark. Francis ended the quarter with five points, while Deja Jones had five for Southeast, which shot 21 percent (4-19) in the quarter. Southeast Missouri tied it up again early in the second quarter and the two teams traded baskets for two minutes of the frame before WSU went on a 7-2 run to go up 23-19 by the 7:06 mark. Francis' three-pointer at 6:05 was a good and the foul by Johnson gave her the four-point play after the free throw to put WSU up, 27-19. Southeast Missouri cut it to four, 29-25,  at the 3:05 mark after a Shocker turnover, then scored again to cut it to two, 29-27, after a second-straight Shocker error. WSU held off the Redhawks late charge before Stovall drove the length of the court and hot a three-pointer as time ran out of the half to give WSU a 34-29 lead. Francis led WSU with 11 points in the first half on a 4-of-6 effort, including two treys, while Southeast Missouri's Bollman had seven points for the Redhawks, who shot 37.9 percent (11-29) for the half. WSU shot 43.8 percent (14-32) in the first half, and out-boarded Southeast Missouri, 34-29.

C.A.R.E. PILLARS
Coach Nooner emphasizes the value of team culture, recruiting student-athletes who fit in with the team's core values of character, accountability, respect and effort.
 
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
Wichita State's roster features four foreign players, two from France, Sophie Benharouga and Fiona Diomande, one from Mali, Maimouna Sissoko, and one from Cameroon, Bella Belong.
 
THEY HAVE HISTORY
Two newcomers reconnect with former coaches as Taya Davis played for current Wichita State assistant coach Antwain Scales from 2022-23 in his final season as head coach at Garden City CC, and Sophie Benharouga played for current director of operations and assistant coach Uyen Tran from 2022-23 while she was an assistant coach at Morehead State.
 
UP NEXT
The Shockers will play Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. in Charles Koch Arena on a doubleheader gameday with Wichita State men's basketball.