WICHITA STATE (9-5, 1-0) at CHARLOTTE (6-8, 0-1)
Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026 | 5:00 p.m. CDT
Charlotte, N.C. | Halton Arena
 
TV: ESPNU with Ted Emrich & Tim Welsh
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy & Bob Hull
 

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OPENING TIPS
• Wichita State looks to complete its conference opening road trip with a win at Charlotte on Saturday.
• Wichita State is 15-12 all time when playing on Jan. 3. This is the second straight season playing on the date.
• Wichita State is 4-5 in conference openers since joining the American Conference and had dropped its last four league lid-lifters until defeating UAB on New Years Eve. Wichita State won its first conference opener for the first time since 2020.
• Wichita State (9-5) posted a winning non-con record for the 28th consecutive season but were 1-5 in games decided by 6 points or fewer with close setbacks against NET No. 26 Saint Mary's (neutral), No. 40 Boise State (away) and No. 51 Colorado State (neutral).
• In WSU's conference opening road win at UAB, the Shockers trailed by as many as 16, before completing the comeback. It was the largest comeback win since 2023 at Tulsa (16).
• Wichita State has outrebounded 12 of its first 14 opponents and is outrebounding its opponents by an average of 8.7 boards per game.
• Through 14 games Wichita State is one of the top offensive rebounding teams in the country at 14.5 per game - good for 9th nationally. That mark would be the best in a single season in school history.
• After missing the DePaul game with a sprained ankle, Will Berg has returned to average 12.7 ppg and 9.7 rpg over the last three games on 60% FG (12-20) and 87.5% FT (14-16).
• Karon Boyd scored a career-high 22 points - 18 in the first half - vs. Eastern Kentucky (Dec. 21).
• Kenyon Giles has scored 10+ points in 13 of the 14 games this season, including five 20-point games. He scored a career-high 26 points at UAB on a career-best 8 three-pointers. His 8 made three-pointers were the 2nd most in a single game in school history.
• Giles ranks 11th nationally in total three-pointers made (47) and 16th in three-pointers made per game (3.36). Xavier Bell led the Shockers in made three-pointers last season with 35 for the whole year. Giles needed only 12 games to surpass that total this season.
• Michael Gray Jr. is shooting 13-for-27 (48.1%) from three-point range over his last six games.
• Dre Kindell ranks 24th nationally and 1st in the American in assist-turnover ratio at 3.64.
• Three different Shockers have recorded a double-double through the first 14 games (Karon Boyd (2), TJ Williams and Berg (3)).
• The Shockers opened the season ranked No. 128 according to KenPom, but have jumped to 88 after a 9-5 start to the season. Four of Wichita State's 13 non-conference opponents have been ranked in the Top 100 on KenPom, including three in the Top 65.
• Wichita State's win at UNI was its highest rated road win via KenPom since defeating Oklahoma State in 2021.

THE SHOCKS, IN SHORT
• Wichita State returns just 0.9 percent of its scoring from a season ago. The Shockers lost their top nine scorers from 2024-25 and 12 total letterwinners. Wichita State  lost seven players to graduation (Xavier Bell, Harlond Beverly, Matej Bosnjak, Bijan Cortes, Ronnie DeGray III, Justin Hill, AJ McGinnis, Zane Meeks) and four to the transfer portal (Quincy Ballard: Mississippi State, Corey Washington: SMU, Yanis Bamba: Maine, Zion Pipkin: South Plains JC).
• Wichita State brings back only two returners that logged minutes in 2024-25: Joy Ighovodja (87 minutes) and walk-on Henry Thengvall (8 minutes). TJ Williams is the only other returner, but he did not see any action after redshirting.

THE SERIES VS. CHARLOTTE
• Wichita State and Charlotte met only once in the Niners' first season as a member of the American. The Shockers made the trip out to the Queen City on Feb. 18 and fell 72-61.
• After dropping the first meeting with the 49ers, Wichita State bounced back to sweep the series last season, winning 68-59 in Wichita and 66-58 in Charlotte.
• This will be Wichita State's third consecutive year traveling to Charlotte.

SCOUTING CHARLOTTE
• Led by third year head coach Aaron Fearne, Charlotte enters the matchup at 6-8 and 0-1 in league play.
• Fearne had the interim tag removed on Feb. 13, 2024 officially making him the 14th head coach in Charlotte history.
• Fearne was appointed interim head coach on June 7, 2023, following a successful tenure as an assistant coach with Charlotte spanning five years, and was promoted to associate head coach before the 2022-23 season. During his time as associate head coach, Charlotte achieved significant milestones, including 22 victories, the most since the 2000-01 season, and the program's first postseason tournament title with a victory in the CBI Tournament.
• He took over the Charlotte program after Ron Sanchez resigned after five seasons as the head coach. The Niners went 72-78, capped by 22 wins this past season – the most since 2001 – and the CBI Championship, the Niners' first-ever post-season tournament title
• Before joining Charlotte, Fearne spent nine seasons as head coach and eight seasons as an assistant coach with the Cairns Taipans of Australia's National Basketball League, leading the team to the NBL finals twice and earning Coach of the Year honors in 2015. Additionally, he served as head coach of New Zealand's U-19 National Team in 2018.
• In his first season at the helm of the 49ers, Fearne led Charlotte to a 19-12 overall record, a 13-5 mark in conference play, and the first top-three league finish since 2006. Nineteen wins in the regular season were the most since 2012-13.
• The 49ers tied a pair of program records with 13 conference victories (set in 1997-98) and 13 wins at Halton Arena (set in 2019-20). Charlotte also recorded its first-ever eight-game conference winning streak in program history and the first win over a ranked opponent at home since 2010 and the first overall since 2013.
• After going 3-15 in conference play last season, Charlotte was picked to finish last in the American Preseason Coaches Poll.
• Ben Bradford scores a team-high 14.0 points per game to go with 29 assists and 19 steals.
• Anton Bonke averages nearly a double-double with 11.1 points and 8.8 rebounds on 57.1 percent shooting. He also blocks 2.0 shots a game. He ranks top 30 nationally in offensive rebounds per game and blocked shots.

GO AHEAD CALL IT A COMEBACK
• In Wichita State's conference opening win at UAB on Dec. 31, the Shockers trailed by as many as 16 in the game before completing the comeback for a 5-point win. It marked the largest come-from-behind win since Jan. 14, 2023 at home vs. Tulsa when the Shockers also came back from 16 down.

KG THE BUCKET
• Kenyon Giles has five 20-point games this season after dropping a career-high 26 points at UAB on Dec. 31. Twenty-four of those 26 came from beyond the arc when he knocked down a career-high 8 three-pointers. His 8 three-pointers tied for the second most in a single game in school history, one shy of the school record held by Jason Perez's 9. The last Shocker to make 8 three-pointers in a game was Joe Ragland 14 years ago on Dec. 4, 2011.
• Giles has scored 244 total points this season - 144 of those have come after halftime. The 5-10 guard scores 59.0 percent of his points in the second half. He has scored fewer than 10 points after halftime just six times this season, which includes one scoreless second half vs. Prairie View A&M. Against PVAMU he scored all 15 of his points in the first half.
• He had three 20-point games in November, becoming the first Shocker since Markis McDuffie in 2018 to have three 20-point performances in the month of November.

GRAY AREA
• In Wichita State's nine wins, Michael Gray Jr. is averaging 10.1 points on 47.7% shooting (21-for-44) from three-point range and 12-of-13 (92.3%) at the free throw line. Conversely, in the Shockers' five losses Gray is averaging just 5.2 points on 30.3% (10-for-33) from the field and 5-for-21 (23.8%) from beyond the arc.
• Gray went through a slump during the three games in the Bahamas, scoring just 6 total points on 2-of-19 shooting. In the six games since, he's averaging 9.8 points on 47.5% (19-for-40) shooting from the field and 48.1% (13-for-27) from three-point range.

FROM BEHIND THE ARC AND BEYOND
• Wichita State's offense was lethal from three-point range in the wins over Loyola and Prairie View. The Shockers splashed in a new school record 16 three-pointers in the win over Loyola Chicago on Nov. 13, converting 50 percent of their attempts for the game.
• Wichita State has made 10+ three-pointers in four of the first 14 games this season. Last season's team had two all season.
• Kenyon Giles is spearheading the long range bombing. He ranks 11th in the NCAA in total 3-pointers made (47), 16th in three-point field goals per game (3.36) and 53rd in three-point percentage (42.7%).
• At the current pace, Giles is on track to break the single season school record for three-pointers made per game (3.36). His 7.86 three-point attempts per game would be the second-most in a single season at Wichita State.
• Giles was one of only five players in the country this season to make at least 20 three-pointers through the first five games of the season.
• He is the first Shocker in program history to knock down 20 three-pointers in the first five games of a season.
• To put that into perspective, Giles needed only 12 games to pass the Shockers' three-point leader from a season ago (Xavier Bell - 35).

CRASHIN THE GLASS
• Wichita State ranks 13th nationally in offensive rebound percentage at 39.2%. The Shockers average 14.5 offensive rebounds a game, which ranks 9th in the country. At the current rate, that average would easily break the single season program record. The school record was set back in 1995-96 at 13.8 offensive rebounds per game.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Karon Boyd is 12 points away from 1,000 in his collegiate career, and played his 100th career game on Nov. 26 vs. Saint Mary's. He needs 13 steals to reach 100 and 14 rebounds to reach 700.
• Kenyon Giles needs 36 points to reach 1,500 career points. He played his 100th career game on Nov. 8 vs. Prairie View A&M. He needs 48 assists to reach 250 career assists.
• Michael Gray Jr. is 17 assists away from 100 for his career. He is 18 games shy of his 100th career game.
• Emmanuel Okorafor needs 11 rebounds to reach 200 for his career.
• Jaret Valencia is 94 points shy of 600 and 7 blocks away from 100 career blocked shots.

ON THIS DATE: JANUARY 3
• 1985 – Xavier McDaniel became Wichita State's all-time leading rebounder in a home win over West Texas State, passing Robert Elmore. Rebound No. 1,040 came with 13:02 to play in the first half.
• 2010 – J.T. Durley led five Shockers in double figures in a home win over Bradley. Durley was perfect from three-point range (3-for-3) and the free throw line (4-for-4) Clevin Hannah was two assists shy of a double-double with 12 points and 8 assists.
• 2016 – Wichita State pounced all over Bradley in the first half and never looked back. The Shockers led by 24 at halftime and cruised to an 85-58 win in Peoria. No Shocker played more than 27 minutes and all 15 players played at least 2 minutes. Markis McDuffie led a balanced scoring attack with 14 points off the bench.

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 10-5 this season and 2-0 in American Conference play.
... Be their fourth consecutive win.
... Be their third straight win on the road.
... Make them 2-0 to open conference play for the first time since 2020-21.
... Move them to 3-1 all time vs. Charlotte and be their third straight win over the 49ers..
... Make Paul Mills 44-39 as Wichita State head coach.
... Give Mills 150 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,701-1,284 all time.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... Drop them to 9-6 this season and 1-1 in American Conference play.
... Snap a 3-game win streak.
... Move them to 2-2 all time vs. Charlotte and snap a two-game win streak vs. the 49ers.
... Make Paul Mills 43-40 as Wichita State head coach.
... Lower Mills' career record to 149-124.
... Drop their record to 1,700-1,285 all time.

GAME 16: RICE                                                                
• Wichita State leads the all time series with Rice, 4-1, including a 2-0 mark in Wichita.
• The Shockers have won each of the last four meetings with the Owls.
• The Owls went 6-7 in the non-conference portion of their schedule. After starting the season 2-6, Rice rattled off four straight wins before dropping its non-con finale at Pepperdine and American opener at Tulsa.
• Rob Lanier is in his second season as the head coach at Rice and owns a career record of 160-161.