WICHITA STATE (9-18, 3-11 AAC) at TEMPLE (15-10, 9-5 AAC)
Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025 | 6:00 p.m. CT
Philadelphia, Pa. | The Liacouras Center
TV: ESPN+ with Jon Mozes and Nicki Jones
Radio: Audacy.com/KFH Listen with Pat Strathman
 
OPENING TIPS
Wichita State opens its two-game road swing with a matchup with reigning regular season American Athletic Conference champion Temple Wednesday evening in the Liacouras Center.
The teams meet for the 16^th time in program history with Temple leading the series 10-5. The Owls have won the last two meetings, sweeping the series last season.
The Shockers are seeking their fourth conference win to continue to climb the conference standings.
Wichita State is in 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.
Redshirt-junior forward Jayla Murray and Blow have been the 1-2 punch for the Shockers, leading the team with 13.0 and 11.0 points per game, respectively.
Blow has led the Shockers in scoring in eight games with three 20+ point performances, making eight career games over 20.
Murray led the Shockers in scoring during non-conference play, averaging 11.7 points per game with two double-doubles. She has finished in double figures 16 times, recording two 20-point performances, both against UAB, and has led Wichita State in scoring 10 times.
Junior Princess Anderson has been a spark plug off the bench for the Shockers, leading the team in scoring six times with a Division I career high 21 points at Charlotte. She got her first career start last time out in the home win over Rice.
Graduate transfer and Wichita native Taylor Jameson returned home for her final season of college basketball and has led the Shockers in scoring six times. In the conference opener against North Texas, she hit five threes on her way to 17 points and at UTSA she drained a career-high six threes, scoring a season-high 22 points. She missed three games due to injury but returned to the lineup four games ago at Tulsa. She led the Shockers with 18 points last time out.
Freshman KP Parr has been a pest on defense, applying ball pressure and being a constant, frustrating presence for the opposition.
Jasmine Peaks has proven to be a great facilitator for Wichita State, dishing out a career-high eight assists against Tulane, one of five times leading the team in assists and second time this season with five or more assists. She stepped into the starting lineup while Jameson was out.
Wichita State is one the deepest teams in the AAC, ranking No. 2 in the conference in bench points per game with 22.4.
The Shockers have limited turnovers, averaging 15.3 per game, good for second-best in the conference.
Free throws have plagued the Shockers as they rank 12th in the AAC in free throw percentage (64.4), 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. In the win over Rice, they hit crucial free throws down the stretch to secure the win.
Murray ranks second in the AAC in field goal percentage (51.5 percent), making the fifth-most in the league with 151.
Aicha Ndour ranks fourth in the league in blocks with 29, averaging 1.16 blocks per game.
 
STREAKS & TRENDS
Blow and Murray have started every game this season for the Shockers.
Blow has been perfect from the charity stripe eight times this season and 15 times in her career.
Jameson has hit at least one three pointer in each of the last five games and in 21 of 24 games she's played in this season.
Ndour has recorded multiple blocks in each of the last four games.
Eight of nine wins this season have come when the Shockers outrebounded their opponent.
The Shockers came back to beat both UAB and Florida Atlantic after being down at halftime, their only times this season overcoming a halftime deficit to win a game.
The Shockers have only led at halftime three times during conference play, at ECU, at home against UTSA, and last time out in the win over Rice.
All but two wins in the Terry Nooner era have come when holding opponents to less than 70 points, including eight of the nine wins this season.
The Shockers have missed as many or more free throws than the final score margin in a loss six times this season.
Wichita State's defense has held its last three opponents to 60 points or less in four of the last five outings.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Wichita State picked up its third American Athletic Conference victory with a 60-57 win over the Owls in a back-and-forth contest Saturday afternoon in Charles Koch Arena.
 
Wichita State (9-18, 3-11 AAC) held the Owls (12-13, 5-8 AAC) to just 57 points, well below their season average off 66.5, marking the fourth time in five games that the Shockers have kept their opponents below 60 points. The Shockers shot 6-for-18 (33.3 percent) from three, their best three-point percentage since Jan. 11, and 22-for-59 (37.3 percent) from the field.
 
Senior guard Taylor Jameson led all scoring with 18 points, shooting 5-for-10 from the field, hitting four threes, and shooting a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Redshirt-junior forward Jayla Murray finished in double figures for the sixth time in the last seven games, scoring 13 points and grabbing eight rebounds, and Aicha Ndour led the Shockers on the glass with a career-high 13 rebounds.
 
Senior Ella Anciaux recorded four blocks off the bench, tying her career high, and Princess Anderson and KP Parr had three steals apiece. Anderson recorded her first career start for the Shockers with Ornella Niankan out due to illness.
 
Dominique Ennis led Rice with a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double.
 
The game saw eight lead changes and four ties with neither team leading by more than eight at any point.
 
The Shockers scored the first four points of the game, but an 11-2 Rice run put the Owls in front. Another run late in the quarter gave the Owls a six-point advantage after one.
 
Wichita State opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run with the help of back-to-back threes from Parr and Jameson. Jameson hit two more threes in the quarter before Rice scored the last four points of the half to make it a two-point game.
 
Rice started the second half on a 7-0 run to go up five before Murray snapped the scoring drought with a three. Jameson hit another three and Murray regained the lead for the Shockers with a pullup jumper. The lead changed hands twice more in the third, making it a one-point game with the Shockers in front going into the final period.
 
White made a layup to open the quarter, but Ennis hit a three for Rice to tie it up. The teams traded jumpers, and then neither team hit a shot for two and a half minutes. Ndour hit one of two free throws with 3:17 to play, putting the Shockers up three, but Rice's Alexis Aniah made a jumper to make it a one-point game under three minutes.
 
Anderson hit a pair of crucial free throws to push it back to a three-point Shocker lead, but Malia Fisher drained a three for Rice to tie it back up at 50-50 with 2:07 left.
 
Murray recorded back-to-back buckets as the Shockers forced two turnovers in the final minute. Wichita State hit six more big free throws down the stretch to hold off the Owls, shooting 9-for-12 from the line in the fourth quarter.

SCOUTING THE OWLS
Led by eighth-year head coach (fourth at Temple) Diane Richardson, Temple is 9-5 in conference play, coming off back-to-back wins over UAB and Tulane. Two Owls are averaging double figures with Tiarra East leading the team with 13.5 points per game and Tarriyonna Gary averaging 11.6 per game. East ranks third in the AAC in field goal attempts with 343 and was named to the AAC Preseason All-Conference Second Team. Jaleesa Molina is the team's leading rebounder with 7.0 per game. Tristen Taylor leads the conference in assist/turnover ratio (2.41) and ranks sixth in assists per game with 4.0. Temple was picked eight out of 13 teams in the AAC Preseason Poll.
 
SERIES VS. TEMPLE
The two teams meet for the 16^th time in program history with leading the all-time series 10-5. The Shockers have only won one of six meetings in Philadelphia.
 
LAST MEETING
Temple's buzzer-beater three overtook the Shockers, handing Wichita State its fourth-straight loss, 66-65, on Jan. 31, 2024 in The Liacouras Center. Daniela Abies recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 19 points and 14 rebounds, and Ornella Niankan and Salese Blow also finished in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. The game saw 10 lead changes as neither team led by more than 10 points, and Wichita State forced 19 turnovers. The Shockers shot over 40 percent from three for the fifth time this season, going 6-for-13 (.462). Temple opened the game on a 12-2 run but the Shockers fought back to make it a two-point game by the end of the quarter. Wichita State took its first lead of the game when Tre'Zure Jobe hit a three with 6:37 left in the second quarter and went on to finish the half on a 7-0 run, taking a six-point lead. The teams traded buckets early in the second half before the Shockers took their biggest lead of the game (+9) midway through the third quarter. The Owls weren't going anywhere, though, and cut the lead to three heading into the final quarter. DJ McCarty scored all six of her points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of free throws to tie the game with 54 seconds and then a floater to tie it up again with 17 seconds remaining after Temple's answer. Abies blocked a shot by Temple's Ines Piper with four seconds to go, but Temple got the rebound and kicked it out to Tiarra East, who hit the game-winning three as time expired.
 
LEADING LADIES
Through 27 games, Jayla Murray leads the Shockers in scoring with 13.0 points per game. Salese Blow is also averaging double figures with 11.0 points per game. Taylor Jameson has been the best three-point shooter for Wichita State, hitting 46 threes this season, and is the Shockers' assists leader with 2.6 per game. Murray is also the team's leading rebounder with 5.4 per game and two double-doubles.
 
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 and then another against UAB, 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.
 
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.
 
#BREMODE
Junior Bre'Yon White recorded her first career double-double in the win over Western Kentucky and has led the Shockers in rebounding eight times. She has finished in double figures three times 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 hit at least one three pointer in 12-straight games before the streak ended against Tulane and has hit multiple threes 11 times. She recorded her first 20-piece of the year with 22 at UTSA. She leads the Shockers in three pointers, shooting 38.7 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 15 times this season with three 20+ point games, leading the team in scoring nine 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 10 times with two double-doubles and two 20-point performances.
 
P3
Princess Anderson had a breakout game in the win over Prairie View A&M, scoring 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, at Memphis with 11, and at North Texas with 13. She sparked momentum for the Shockers in the second half against UAB, scoring 19 points and scored 17 at ECU. She put up a Division I career high of 21 points at Charlotte. She averaged 26.7 points per game off the bench as a sophomore at Pratt CC, leading the NJCAA in scoring. She got her first career start in the home win over Rice.
 
OFF THE COURT SUCCESS
Wichita State women's basketball set a new program record with their fall semester GPA of 3.52 with four perfect 4.0s.
 
NEW HEIGHTS
Senior transfer from Illinois, Aicha Ndour, is the tallest player in Wichita State history at 6-6.
 
DESTINED DUO
Jayla Murray and Jasmine Peaks go way back. The duo played high school basketball together at Tampa Bay Tech, where they won the 2019-20 Florida Class 8A State Championship together. Both decided to transfer after that season and coincidentally ended up at the same school, Winter Haven. The duo played on the same AAU team as well before heading off to college. Murray went to play for Florida SouthWestern State and Peaks went to Indian River State College. Murray transferred to Wichita State in 2022-23. Nooner started recruiting Peaks during that season, and the pair realized they might have a chance to play together again. The duo has great on-court chemistry having played together for so long and know each other's tendencies.
 
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.