WICHITA STATE (3-14, 0-4 American) at FLORIDA ATLANTIC (7-9, 1-3 American)
Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2025 | 6:00 p.m. CT
Boca Raton, Fla. | Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena
TV: ESPN+ with Frank Forte and Ari Shanok
Radio: GoShockers.com/Listen with Pat Strathman
 
OPENING TIPS
Wichita State looks to pick up its first American Conference win on the road at Florida Atlantic Tuesday night in Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena.
The Shockers and Owls meet for just the fifth time in program history with Wichita State leading the series, 3-1, winning the last three straight. Wichita State leads the series 1-0 inside Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena.
The Shockers concluded their non-conference slate with a 3-10 record, defeating Lincoln in the season opener and claiming back-to-back wins over Loyola Marymount and Oral Roberts in December.
Jaila Harding is leading the Shockers in scoring with 12.9 points per game, while Abby Cater is chipping in 10.0 per game, including back-to-back season-high performances, leading Wichita State to wins over LMU and Oral Roberts with 23 and 24 points.
Harding is one of the best three-point shooters in the nation, ranking fourth in made threes with 50 to lead the conference and tie for sixth all-time in Wichita State history. She ranks third in the nation in three-point attempts with 142 and 11th in threes per game with 3.0, leading the conference. Harding also ranks second in the conference in minutes per game, averaging 33.44 per game.
Cater ranks seventh in the conference in steals per game with 2.19.
Treasure Thompson ranks fifth in the conference in blocks per game with 1.19 and recorded her 100^th career block in the non-conference finale.
The Shockers lead the American Conference in three-point percentage defense, holding opponents to 28.1 percent from beyond the arc.
 
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 and the three wins this season.
Eighty-seven percent of Terry Nooner's wins have come when outrebounding the opponent.
Harding has finished in double figures in 13 of the first 17 games, including two 20-plus point performances.
Harding has hit two or more threes in 13 of the first 16 games and at least one in 17-straight.
Treasure Thompson has led the Shockers in rebounding in the last five games, finishing with eight or more rebounds in four of the last five games. She is the only Shocker this season to finish with double figure rebounds, grabbing 10 against Tulane.
Harding is the only Shocker to have started every game this season. Wichita State has tested 12 different starting lineups.
Diamond Richardson has finished in double figures in three of her last five games, leading the Shockers in scoring twice this season.
Abby Cater has fouled out of three of the last four games.
 
THE SHOCKS, IN SHORT
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 but lost its top four scorers.
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.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Wichita State fell to East Carolina, 83-56, on Saturday afternoon at Charles Koch Arena as the Pirates used early momentum and a strong defensive effort to pull away. East Carolina (11-6, 3-1 American) opened the game on a 15-0 run and never relinquished the lead, forcing 27 Wichita State turnovers that led to 34 points. "We gave them too many points off turnovers, so we've got to figure out how to handle the ball better," head coach Terry Nooner. Wichita State (3-14, 0-4 American) was led by Treasure Thompson, who finished with a near double-double, scoring a team-high 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds off the bench. Jaila Harding added nine points and two steals, and Diamond Richardson chipped in eight points. The Shockers received a spark from their bench, which accounted for 28 points on the afternoon. After sitting out the first 16 games due to an injury sustained in the exhibition game, Karys Washington made her Shocker debut, tallying seven points, four rebounds and three assists. After trailing, 26-13 at the end of the first quarter, Wichita State had its best offensive quarter in the second, scoring 18 points, but ECU still extended its lead to 50-31 at halftime. Harding hit the Shockers' lone three of the game in the second quarter, extending her streak to 17 games with a three pointer this season and moving up to tie for fifth all-time in Wichita State history for single-season threes (51). East Carolina kept its foot on the gas after the break, holding Wichita State to 25 points in the second half while extending its advantage behind efficient shooting and points off turnovers. The Pirates finished the game shooting 44.8 percent from the field. East Carolina closed out its dominant performance with a 17-15 fourth quarter to win 83-56 in a wire-to-wire win and improve to 3-1 in conference play. The Shockers finished the game shooting 33.3 percent from three-point range and scored 32 points in the paint. Wichita State also totaled 28 bench points and 13 fast-break points.
 
SERIES VS. FLORIDA ATLANTIC
The teams meet for the just the fifth time in program history with Wichita State leading the series 3-1. Wichita State leads the series 1-0 inside Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena. The Shockers have won the las three straight.
 
LAST MEETING
Wichita State snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 54-44 victory over Florida Atlantic Wednesday evening in Charles Koch Arena on National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The Shockers (8-16, 2-9 AAC) won their third-straight matchup with the Owls (10-13, 2-9 AAC), recording their first conference win since their Jan. 4 win at UAB. Redshirt-junior forward Jayla Murray led the Shockers in scoring for the fourth-straight game and 10^th time this season with 18 points, shooting 8-for-16 from the field. Junior Bre'Yon White also finished in double figures for the Shockers with 10 points and tied for a game-high eight rebounds. Four other Shockers finished with five or more rebounds as Salese Blow (7), Taylor Jameson (7), Maimouna Sissoko (6) and Murray (5) all helped Wichita State win the battle of the boards, 46-44. All eight wins this season have come when the Shockers outrebounded their opponent. Wichita State held the Owls to just 17-for-62 (.274) from the field, the second-lowest field goal percentage of a Shocker opponent this season. Florida Atlantic also struggled from the charity stripe, shooting 3-for-12 (.250), while the Shockers hit 11-for-15 (.733) from the line. Despite some offensive woes, shooting just 1-for-18 (.056) from three, the Shockers' defense, led by freshman KP Parr, applied pressure to shut down the Owls in the second half, holding them to 5-for-27 from the field (.185) and just 14 points. After going into halftime down one, the Shockers went on a 16-4 run in the third quarter to take a 45-34 lead. The Owls were led by Mya Perry, who put up a game-high 22 points, hitting six of FAU's seven threes, but Wichita State's defense stifled the rest of the Owl offense, holding them scoreless for seven minutes in the third quarter and the last three and a half minutes of the game.
 
SCOUTING THE PIRATES
Led by 19th-year head coach (first at FAU) LeAnn Freeland, Florida Atlantic is 7-9, coming off a 70-63 win over UAB after dropping its first three conference games to North Texas, Rice, and Memphis. The Owls lead the American Conference in bench points per game (26.0), and they rank third in the conference in steals per game with 9.9. No Owls are averaging double figures, but they are led in scoring by Vivian Onugha with 9.9 and Destyne Jackson with 8.6. Haley Walker leads the team in rebounding with 6.9 per game, good for 11^th in the conference. Grace Carstensen ranks second in the American in three-point percentage, shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc and averaging two per game. Florida Atlantic was picked 13^th of 13 teams in the American Conference Preseason Poll.
 
TREY-LA HARDING
Jaila Harding is the best shooter on Wichita State's roster, shooting 35.9 percent from beyond the arc. The graduate transfer and Wichita native leads the conference in threes per game with 3.0, hitting four or more threes in seven different games and tying her career high of six at Tulsa. Her 51 total threes this season landed her on Wichita State's all-time top-10 list for single-season threes, currently tying for fifth. The record was set by Courtney Sims at 73 during the 1999-2000 season.
 
SERVING POINTS ON A PLATTER
Abby Cater poured in 47 points over two games, leading the Shockers to back-to-back wins over LMU and Oral Roberts. She shot 11-for-12 from the field against Oral Roberts and a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line against LMU.
 
THE MAIN DISH
Taya Davis is described as a true pass-first point guard, leading the Shockers in assists with 2.9 per game.
 
NON-CONFERENCE IN REVIEW
The Shockers finished their non-conference slate 3-10, opening with a 96-49 win over Lincoln before hitting a nine-game slump. Wichita State got back on track with back-to-back wins over Loyola Marymount and Oral Roberts before falling to Middle Tennessee State in a 45-46 heartbreaker in the non-conference finale. Seven of the 10 losses were single digit games. Jaila Harding and Abby Cater led the team in scoring, averaging 12.6 and 11.2 points per game, respectively. Cater recorded back-to-back 20-plus point performances in the wins over LMU and ORU, and Harding put up 21 at UC Irvine. Jaida McDonald led the Shockers on the boards, averaging 5.1 rebounds per game.
 
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 continue their stay in the Sunshine State, facing South Florida in Tampa on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 6 p.m. CT.