TULANE (15-11, 9-4) at WICHITA STATE (16-10, 6-7)
Sunday, Feb. 23 | 1:00 p.m. CDT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
 
TV: ESPN+ with Pat Strathman & Bob Hull
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy & Dave Dahl
 

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Youth Sports Night: Bring your team out to the game for Youth Sports Night! Contact the Shocker Ticket Office to lock in your team at the best price.
Giveaway: The first 2,500 fans will receive a Jersey Koozie presented by the Shocker Store.
 

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OPENING TIPS
• Wichita State brings its five-game win streak back home for two in a row, beginning with Tulane on Sunday at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.
• Wichita State has won five straight conference games for the first time since March of 2021. After going 1-7 in January, Wichita State has gone 5-0 in February.
• Wichita State is coming off back-to-back games with 50+ rebounds. The last time Wichita State had consecutive games of 50+ rebounds was in 2005 (51 vs. Oklahoma Panhandle State; 53 vs. Texas Southern).
• The Shockers are outrebounding their last 5 opponents, 222-154, for an average of +13.6 per game.
• Corey Washington was named the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week and American Athletic Conference Player of the Week on Feb. 17 after averaging 17.5 PPG, 13.5 RPG and 1.5 BPG.
• Washington had his double figure scoring streak come to an end at Florida Atlantic, finishing with 5 points in 20 minutes due to battling foul trouble.
• Bijan Cortes has played the best basketball of his career over the last two games which included back-to-back career highs of 13 points vs. Memphis and 16 points at FAU.
• Cortes is averaging 14.5 points and 5.5 assists over his last two games.
• Xavier Bell has scored 10 or more in 16 of the last 18 games. Bell is averaging 16.0 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 15 games. Ballard's 76.8 effective FG Pct. leads the nation.
• 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 in blocks per game (1.92) and ranks 29th nationally. His 48 total blocks rank 2nd in the AAC, while ranking 35th in the NCAA.
• Ballard moved into 3rd on the Wichita State career blocks list vs. Memphis with 136. He's on pace to break the WSU career record for blocks per game at 1.97.
• 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 TULANE
• WSU leads 7-5 (4-2 in Wichita and 3-2 in New Orleans).
• The teams have met only once on a neutral court - two seasons ago in the 2023 AAC Championship.
• After winning on Tulane's home court just a couple weeks prior, Tulane ended Wichita State's season in the AAC quarterfinals, 82-76.
• The Shockers won each of the first six series meetings before suffering a pair of one-point losses in 2022.
• The teams split the 2022-23 regular season with each winning on the other's home court.
• Tulane has made large comeback bids in five of the last six meetings.
• Jan. 25 in Wichita, the Green Wave battled back from an 18-point first half deficit in an eventual 95-90 overtime win. They trailed by 13 at the break and was eight with as little as 2:41 to go.
• Feb. 26 in New Orleans, the Shockers led by 17 points late in the first half. Tulane closed the gap to three just before halftime and was within a point midway through the second half before WSU answered with a game sealing run.
• In 2021-22, the Wave rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit to win in Wichita. In New Orleans, they trailed by nine points with 3:38 to play but finished on a 10-0 run.

SCOUTING TULANE
• In his sixth year at Tulane, head coach Ron Hunter's squad entered the season as a team perceived to be in a rebuild, but the Green Wave have exceeded expectations.
• Tulane was picked to finish in a tie for 11th in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, but currently sit in a tie for fourth at 9-4 and 15-11 overall.
• In his fourth season, Hunter led the Green Wave to its best performance since joining the American Athletic Conference. Tulane tallied 20 wins in 2022-23 which marked the first 20-win season for the program since 2012-13. The team's 12 league victories were the most for the program since joining the AAC.
• He recorded his 500th career win in the 2023 regular season finale.
• Hunter arrived at Tulane after spending eight seasons at the helm of Georgia State University's program where he compiled a record of 171-95. In 31 years on the bench, Hunter owns a career record of 530-399 and has been named conference coach of the year three times. His 374 wins at the Division I level prior to taking the helm in New Orleans made him the winningest coach ever hired to lead Green Wave basketball.
• Tulane is one of four schools in the American Athletic Conference to return less than 10 percent of its production from last season in points, field goals made, three-point field goals made and free throws made. Only Florida Atlantic, Memphis and UTSA return less than the Green Wave.
• Gregg Glenn III is the lone member for the Green Wave to score more than 100 points during the 2023-24 campaign. The junior forward tallied 108 points in 30 games including one start last season for Tulane.
• Rowan Brumbaugh scores a team-high 15.7 points per game to go with 4.6 assists per game. He's converting on 80.9 percent of his free throws and 36.1 percent of his three-pointers.
• Kaleb Banks puts up 15.4 points and 7.0 rebounds to go with 1.4 blocks.
• Asher Woods is the third Green Wave averaging double figures at 10.5 points per game.
• The Green Wave ranks in the top three of the AAC in six categories including scoring defense (68.8), free throw percentage (.767), field goal defense (.399), three-point defense (.312), assist-to-tunover ratio (1.35), and blocks (4.9).

CONNECT THE DOTS
• Wichita State guard Justin Hill and Tulane redshirt freshman guard Mari Jordan were teammates last season at Georgia. Jordan spent the 2023-24 season redshirting for the Bulldogs.
• Ron Hunter is one of just five active D-I head coaches who have coached a game at Levitt Arena (CKA's name prior to its 2003 renovation). Hunter led his IUPUI squad into battle against the Shockers during the 2001-01 season. Steve Aflord, Dana Altman, Greg McDermott and Bill Self are the others.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Quincy Ballard is 23 rebounds away from 500 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 1 game away from his 150th career game.
• Bijan Cortes is 9 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 2 more games to reach his 150th career game.
• AJ McGinnis is 57 points away from reaching 1,000 for his career.

WASHINGTON EARNS AAC, NATIONAL HONORS
• Following a pair of double-doubles and wins over UTSA and #14 Memphis, Corey Washington was one of five DI student-athletes to earn Oscar Robertson National Players of the Week on Feb. 18. He was joined by Auburn's Denver Jones, Eastern Michigan's Jalen Terry, Wisconsin's John Tonje and Texas Tech's JT Toppin.
• Washington opened the week as the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week on Feb. 17. Washington averaged 17.5 points, 13.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in the two games. He was the first Shocker to earn American POW honors since Dexter Dennis on March 8, 2021.

STREAK SNAPPED
• With Wichita State's win over #14 Memphis on Feb. 16, the Shockers snapped a 10-game losing streak vs. ranked opponents. Prior to the win, Wichita State's last victory over a Top 25 team came nearly four years ago on the day against #6 Houston on Feb. 18, 2021.
• Wichita State is now 1-6 against ranked teams under head coach Paul Mills. They are 40-47 against ranked teams at home all time, snapping a four-game losing streak.

GLASS CLEANERS
• During Wichita State's five-game win streak, the battle of the boards has been dominated by the Black and Yellow. Wichita State is averaging 44.4 rebounds per game, while its opponents are only grabbing 30.8 for an average of +13.6 per game. In total, Wichita State has 222 total rebounds compared to just 154  by its last five opponents (+68).
• Against UTSA and Memphis Wichita State had back-to-back games of 50+ rebounds. The Shockers had 54 against #14 Memphis and 50 against UTSA. The last time Wichita State posted consecutive games with 50+ rebounds was 2005 when the Shockers had 51 vs. Oklahoma Panhandle State on Nov. 18 and 53 vs. Texas Southern on Nov. 20.
• 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 then season high until besting it in the very next game against Memphis with 54.
• 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.

THREE FOR THE ROAD
• Wichita State has reeled off three consecutive road wins in conference play at Charlotte (Feb. 4), South Florida (Feb. 9) and Florida Atlantic (Feb. 20). Its the first time under Paul Mills Wichita State has won three straight conference road games. The last time Wichita State won three straight conference games on the road was in 2023 on Feb. 5, Feb. 16 and Feb. 26 at Tulsa, Temple and Tulane. In that 2023 season Wichita State rattled off five in a row on the road.

IT STARTS WITH DEFENSE
• Through 26 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.
• 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 five games Wichita State is giving up just 67.8 points on 40.5 percent shooting and 29.0 percent from three-point range. The Shockers are also outrebounding their opponents by an average of 13.6 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 16 wins opponents are shooting only 39.4 percent from the field and 28.2 percent from beyond the arc.

ON THIS DATE: FEB. 23
• 1982 – Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston combined for six of Wichita State's school-record 10 dunks in a 106-89 victory over West Texas State.
• 1985 – On his senior night, Xavier McDaniel scored 33 points and grabbed 22 rebounds in a win over Bradley and became just the second 2,000-point scorer in school history (joining Cleo Littleton).
• 2013 - The 2013 BracketBuster game featured Detroit and Wichita State squaring off in the Roundhouse. Detroit was powered by future NBA Draftee Ray McCallum who scored a game-high 29 points, but it wasn't enough to spring an upset as the Shockers won 94-79. Malcolm Armstead led four Shockers in double figures with 20 points. Carl Hall and Cleanthony Early added 18 points apiece.

FLORIDA ATLANTIC LEFTOVERS
• Wichita State improved to 2-2 all-time vs. Florida Atlantic.
• The Shockers won the rebound battle for the fifth straight game, and are outrebounding its last five opponents, 222-154 (+68).
• Wichita State had 10 offensive rebounds. They have 64 over the last four games.
• Wichita State is 12-4 this season when outrebounding the opponent.
• Wichita State shot a season-high 93.8 percent (15-for-16) from the free throw line. Its the second time shooting 90 percent or higher this season.
• Wichita State shot a season-high 60 percent (6-for-10) from three-point range.
• Justin Hill (toe) returned after missing the last four games, but played just 3:32 after reaggravating it in the first half.
• Xavier Bell registered his 20th game in double figures behind 24 points on 8-of-19 field goals and 7-of-8 free throws. His six games of 20 or more points lead the team.
• Corey Washington saw his 14-game double figure streak come to an end. He finished with just 5 points in 20 minutes while battling foul trouble.
• Quincy Ballard pulled down 12 rebounds, marking his team-leading 12th game with 10 or more rebounds.
• Bijan Cortes scored a career-high 16 points to go with 7 assists. He has set a career high in points in each of the last two games.
• Harlond Beverly reached double figures for the 12th time this season behind 10 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals.
• Ronnie DeGray III pulled down a season-high 9 rebounds to go with 9 points, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Six of his 9 rebounds were on the offensive end.

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 17-10 this season.
... Be their sixth straight win.
... Make them 7-7 in conference play.
... Move them to 8-5 all time vs. Tulane.
... Make Paul Mills 32-29 as Wichita State head coach.
... Give Mills 138 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,689-1,274 all time.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 16-11 this season.
... Snap a five-game win streak.
... Drop them to 6-8 in conference play.
... Drop them to 7-6 all time vs. Tulane.
... Make Paul Mills 31-30 as Wichita State head coach.
... Lower Mills' career record to 137-114.
... Drop their record to 1,688-1,275 all time.

GAME 28: UAB                                                                    
• Wichita State is 5-1 all-time vs. UAB. This is the lone regular season meeting between the two schools this season.
• This is the second straight season Wichita State and UAB only face off once in conference play.
• UAB is led by fifth-year head coach Andy Kennedy.