#14/14 MEMPHIS (21-4, 11-1) at WICHITA STATE (14-10, 4-7)
Sunday, Feb. 16 | 11:00 a.m. CDT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
 
TV: ESPN with Shane James Westling & Terrence Oglesby
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy & Dave Dahl
 

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Yellow Out The Roundhouse: WEAR YELLOW for this matchup with 14th-ranked Memphis in Charles Koch Arena!
Giveaway: The first 1,000 fans will receive a clear bag courtesy of Koch Industries.
 

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OPENING TIPS
• Fresh off its third straight win, Wichita State will look to make it four in a row Sunday vs. #14/14 Memphis.
• Wichita State has won three straight conference games for the first time since March of 2021.
• Wichita State has lost 10 straight vs. ranked foes and is 58-148 all-time against Top 25 teams. The last ranked win came on Feb. 18, 2021 vs. #6 Houston. Wichita State is 0-2 against Top 25 teams this season.
• Wichita State is coming off back-to-back games where they outrebounded the opponent by 20+ rebounds. The last time Wichita State had consecutive games of a +20 rebounding margin was 2017. Wichita State's 50 rebounds vs. UTSA marked a season high.
• Xavier Bell has scored 10 or more in 14 of the last 16 games. Bell is averaging 15.6 points in conference play.
• Quincy Ballard's 8 double-doubles are third most in the American. Seven of those 8 have come in the last 13 games. Ballard's 76.2 effective FG Pct. leads the nation.
• Corey Washington is riding a streak of 13 straight games in double figures after scoring 17 vs. UTSA. He recorded his sixth double-double of the season vs. the Roadrunners with 17 and 12.
• Harlond Beverly was a standout vs. UTSA, finishing with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
• 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 1st in the American Athletic Conference in blocks per game (1.87) and ranks 30th nationally. His 43 total blocks also lead the league, while ranking 37th 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 131. 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 MEMPHIS
• This is the 35th meeting all-time. Memphis leads 21-13 (11-3 AAC era) with wins in nine of the last 10 meetings.
• Six of Memphis' 11 wins in the AAC era have been by double digits.
• Wichita State snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Tigers in the second round of the AAC Championship last season.
• In the first meeting last season, Memphis was ranked No. 13 and even climbed as high as No. 10 in the AP poll, but finished the conference season 7-7 over its final 14 games.
• Wichita State is 8-7 against Memphis in Wichita (1-4 AAC era). All 15 matchups have taken place at the Roundhouse.
• Since Wichita State joined the American in 2017-18, Wichita State and Memphis have played each other twice in every season but two (2018, 2021). The only reason they didn't in 2021 was due to COVID canceling the game.
• The Shockers won on their first visit to FedExForum (Feb. 6, 2018) but have since dropped seven-straight. They're 3-14 all-time against the Tigers in Memphis.
• Wichita State does own two other wins at FedExForum as part of its run to the 2019 AAC semifinals.
• Wichita State is 2-11 against Penny Hardaway.
• The Tigers swept the 2021-22 series, winning by 18 in Wichita and by 24 in Memphis.
• The series in 2022-23 was much closer, but the Shockers still found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
• Memphis needed 29 points from DeAndre Williams to defeat the Shockers by 10 in Memphis on Jan. 19. One month later, Memphis outlasted the Shockers in Charles Koch Arena, 83-78.
• Memphis won both regular season meetings again in 2023-24 in very different fashion. The first a dominant win, and the second on a game-winner in the final seconds.
• The only other neutral site meeting between the two schools came in 2014 when they meet at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Fall, S.D. to begin the 2014-15 season.
• Ron Baker scored a game-high 21 points and added five rebounds, six assists and two steals to lead Wichita State to a comfortable 71-56 win in front of a sellout crowd.

MEMORABLE SERIES MOMENTS:
• In the first-ever meeting (Feb. 7, 1959 in Wichita), Ron Heller hit a jumper in OT to lift the Shockers, 95-92.
• Wichita State and Memphis played 11 times from 1968-73 during Memphis' six-year stopover in the MVC. The Tigers won six of the 11 games between the two.
• On Jan. 13, 1968, helped by big plays from forwards Ron Washington and Warren Armstrong (Jabali), Wichita State fought off Memphis State's second-half comeback bid for a 77-69 victory in the first Missouri Valley Conference meeting between the schools.
• On Jan. 30, 1969, Greg Carney's jumper with six seconds left gave WSU a 71-69 home victory.
• On Dec. 30 1974, Calvin Bruton, playing with a leg cast to protect torn ligaments in his right foot, scored 18 points in Wichita State's upset win at No. 16 Memphis, 95-91.
• On Feb. 7, 1983, the Tigers (led by Keith Lee and Andre Turner) downed Wichita State (led by Antoine Carr and Xavier McDaniel), 85-73. It was one of just three losses for the 1982-83 • Shockers, who finished 25-3 but were ineligible for postseason. It would be more than 31 years before the teams met again on the hardwood.
• On Nov. 18, 2014, No. 11 Wichita State won a neutral site game at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, 71-56. All-American Ron Baker led the scoring with 21 points.
• After being swept in the regular season by the Tigers in two vastly different games, the Shockers got their revenge in the Second Round of the 2024 American Athletic Conference Championship. Memphis won in a blowout in Wichita on Jan. 14, 112-86, but needed a last second shot to avoid an upset in Memphis nearly a month later, 65-63. Fast forward to Fort Worth, the 12th-seeded Shockers upset the No. 5 seed and heavily favored Tigers, 71-65. Harlond Beverly did a little of everything to lead the upset charge, finishing with 17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 blocks and 5 steals. Wichita State led by as many as 14 in the second half before fighting off a furious Memphis rally late in the game.

SCOUTING MEMPHIS
• Led by seventh year head coach Penny Hardaway, Memphis enters the matchup at 21-4 and 11-1 in league play.  The Tigers are ranked No. 14 in both the AP Top 25 and the USA Today Coaches Poll.
• In six seasons since returning to his alma mater as head coach, Hardaway, has led the Tigers to a 142-66 record, six-straight 20-win seasons, the 2021 National Invitation Tournament championship, the 2023 AAC tournament championship and two consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament in 2022 and 2023.
• Hardaway's 142 wins are sixth-most all time at Memphis. Only three of Memphis' 16 head coaches since World War II have won 20 games in each of their first six seasons at the helm, now including Hardaway.
• In his tenure, Hardaway has mentored two first-round NBA Draft picks, three American Athletic Conference Freshmen of the Year, eight all-conference selections, five all-freshman honorees and an AAC Tournament MVP. The Tigers have won eight games against ranked opponents, been ranked inside the top-10 on two occasions and twice had the nation's No. 1 recruiting class.
• Memphis had four players honored on the American Athletic Conference Preseason Awards list. PJ Haggerty and Tyrese Hunter were each selected to the first team, while former Shocker Colby Rogers landed on the second team.
• Jared Harris was named the American Preseason Freshman of the Year.
• Haggerty currently ranks 4th in the NCAA in scoring (21.5), 5th in free throws made (151) and 8th in free throws attempted (192).
• He has 17 games of 20+ points and has converted at least five free throws in 16-of-25 games.
• Hunter is second on the Tigers in assists (78), three-point percentage (42.4 percent) and scoring (14.5 ppg).
• Rogers is shooting 38.2 percent from long range to go with 10.8 points per game.
• Dain Dainja pulls down a team-best 6.6 rebounds to go with 12.8 points.
• Memphis ranks 4th nationally in three-point percentage (40.1) and 21st in free throw attempts per game (23.4).

CONNECT THE DOTS
• A familiar face resides on the Memphis roster once again this season in the way of senior Colby Rogers. Rogers departed Wichita State after two seasons. The Georgia native led the Shockers in scoring (16.4 ppg) in 2023-24, while also breaking the single season school record with 99 made three-pointers.

GLASS CLEANERS
• In Wichita State's win at South Florida on Feb. 9, the Shockers were a then season-best +20 (42-22) in rebound margin. The last time a Wichita State team outrebounded a Division I opponent by 20 or more was March 2, 2022 at Tulsa (+24). One game later Wichita State bested that mark by outrebounding UTSA by 21 (50-29). The 50 rebounds were a season high.
• The last time a Wichita State team had back-to-back games of a rebounding margin of +20 was Nov. 10, 2017 vs. UMKC (+28) and Nov. 13, 2017 vs. College of Charleston (+20).
• The 22 total rebounds are also the fewest Wichita State has allowed since that 2022 game at Tulsa when the Golden Hurricane finished with only 19 total rebounds.

TWO FOR THE ROAD
• Wichita State is coming off back-to-back road wins at Charlotte (Feb. 4) and South Florida (Feb. 9), the first time under Paul Mills Wichita State has won two straight conference road games. The last time Wichita State won consecutive conference games on the road was in 2023 on Feb. 16 and Feb. 26 at Temple and Tulane.

IT STARTS WITH DEFENSE
• Through 24 games Wichita State has 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 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.
• Eight of Wichita State's 24 opponents have topped the 80-point mark.
• During Wichita State's 1-7 start to begin conference play they were allowing 75.9 points per game and opponents were shooting 47.3 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from beyond the arc. However, the defense looks to have turned a corner. Over the last three games Wichita State is giving up just 64.0 points on 42.4 percent shooting and 23.2 percent from three-point range. The Shockers are also outrebounding their opponents by an average of 17.0 per game.
• In Wichita State's 10 losses, the Shockers are allowing opponents to shoot 49.4 percent from the field and 45.2 percent from three-point range. In Wichita State's 13 wins opponents are shooting only 39.4 percent from the field and 27.1 percent from beyond the arc.

ON THIS DATE: FEB. 16
• 1963 – The ninth-ranked Shockers upset No. 1 Cincinnati, 65-64, behind sophomore All-American Dave Stallworth's 46 points. That total stood more than two decades as the school record before Antoine Carr put up 47 in his final game (1983). The victory snapped a 37-game winning streak for UC, which had led by six points with 3:10 to play before Stallworth mounted his own personal 7-0 run to put the home team in front. Stallworth's final line: 14-of-22 from the field and 18-of-23 at the foul line.
• 2020 - Wichita State led by 30 at halftime and never looked back in dominant home win over Tulane, 82-57. Dexter Dennis (21) and Tyson Etienne (20) combined for 41 points and the Shockers connected on 54.2% of their three-point attempts.
• 2023 - Jaykwon Walton poured in a game-high 21 points and James Rojas added a double-double in Wichita State's 79-65 road win at Temple.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Quincy Ballard is 2 blocks away from 150 in his collegiate career. He played his 100th career game on Jan. 29 vs. North Texas.
• Xavier Bell needs 2 assists to reach 200 for his career.
• Harlond Beverly is 3 games away from his 150th career game.
• Bijan Cortes is 20 assists away from 250 for his career. He played in his 100th career game on Jan. 18 vs. East Carolina.
• Ronnie DeGray III played his 100th career game on Feb. 9 at South Florida.
• Justin Hill is 7 assists shy of 500 for his career. He needs 3 more games to reach his 150th career game.
• AJ McGinnis is 60 points away from reaching 1,000 for his career.

UTSA LEFTOVERS
• Wichita State improved to 4-1 all-time vs. UTSA.
• The Shockers are now 19-14 when playing on Feb. 12.
• Wichita State was a season-best +21 on the glass, outrebounding the Roadrunners, 50-29. The Shockers have now outrebounded each of their last two opponents by 20 or more rebounds.
• Wichita State had 16 offensive rebounds. They have 35 over the last two games.
• Wichita State is 10-4 this season when outrebounding the opponent.
• Wichita State finished with 20 turnovers, second most in a game this season.
• UTSA's 12 steals were the most by an opponent this season.
• Wichita State allowed 15 three-pointers against UTSA in the first meeting in San Antonio, but held the Roadrunners to just 6-of-24 in the rematch.
• Justin Hill (toe) missed his third straight game.
• Xavier Bell registered his 18th game in double figures behind 12 points. His seven turnovers were a season high.
• Corey Washington recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 17 points and 12 rebounds. He extended his streak of games with 10+ points to 13 in a row.
• Quincy Ballard had his dunk streak come to an end. He had at least one dunk in 19 straight games, but was limited to just 14 minutes after battling the flu.
• Harlond Beverly reached double figures for the 10th time this season behind 15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
• Ronnie DeGray III had two steals for the third straight game.

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 15-10 this season.
... Be their fourth straight win.
... Make them 5-7 in conference play.
... Move them to 14-21 all time vs. Memphis.
... Make Paul Mills 30-29 as Wichita State head coach.
... Give Mills 136 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,687-1,274 all time.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 14-11 this season.
... Snap a three-game win streak.
... Drop them to 4-8 in conference play.
... Drop them to 13-22 all time vs. Memphis.
... Make Paul Mills 29-30 as Wichita State head coach.
... Lower Mills' career record to 135-114.
... Drop their record to 1,686-1,275 all time.

GAME 26: at FLORIDA ATLANTIC                                                                       
• Wichita State is 1-2 all-time vs. Florida Atlantic. This is the lone regular season meeting between the two schools this season.
• The Owls swept the series last season in their first year in the American.
• Florida Atlantic has won four in a row and stands at 7-4 in AAC play. The Owls are 14-10 overall.
• The Owls are led by first year head coach John Jakus.