WICHITA STATE (3-11, 0-1 American) at TULANE (5-8, 0-` American)
Saturday, Jan. 3, 2025 | 2:00 p.m.
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
TV: ESPN+ with Shane Dennis and Tracy Anderson
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM, GoShockers.com/Listen with Pat Strathman
Throwback Night
 
OPENING TIPS
Wichita State faces Tulane in its American Conference home opener Saturday afternoon in Charles Koch Arena.
Since joining the American Conference in 2017, Wichita State is 2-6 all-time in conference home openers and 1-1 in conference home openers against Tulane, defeating the Green Wave on Dec. 30, 2023 under Terry Nooner.
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.
The Shockers and Green Wave meet for the 17^th time in program history with Tulane leading the series, 9-7, and winning all three matchups last season. The Shockers lead the series in Wichita, 4-3.
Jaila Harding is leading the Shockers in scoring with 13.3 points per game, while Abby Cater is chipping in 10.9 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 fifth in made threes with 45 to lead the conference. She ranks fourth in the nation in three-point attempts with 116 and seventh in threes per game with 3.21.
Cater ranks seventh in the conference in free throw percentage (76.7), shooting 100 percent from the line five times this season, including 5-for-5 against CSU Bakersfield and 8-for-8 in the win over LMU.
Treasure Thompson ranks fifth in the conference in blocks per game with 1.31 and recorded her 100^th career block in the non-conference finale.
Taya Davis ranks seventh in the conference in assists per game, averaging 3.4.
The Shockers rank fourth in the American Conference in three-point percentage defense, holding opponents to 28.8 percent from beyond the arc and are holding opponents to 63.1 points per game.
Wichita State is averaging 22.9 bench points per game.
 
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 12 of the first 14 games, including the last four straight.
Harding has hit two or more threes in 12 of the first 14 games and at least one in 14-straight.
Jaida McDonald has grabbed five or more rebounds in nine of the first 14 games, leading the team in rebounding six times.
A Shocker has yet to finish with double figure rebounds this season.
Jaila Harding is the only Shocker to have started every game this season. Wichita State has tested 11 different starting lineups.
 
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's comeback effort fell just short, dropping its American Conference opener, 64-58, to Tulsa despite a career-high tying 22-point second half from Jaila Harding Tuesday evening in the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Harding went 6-for-9 from three in the second half, tying her career high for made threes in a single game to lead all scoring. Bre'Yon White added nine points, and Abby Cater chipped in eight points for the Shockers, while Treasure Thompson led the team in rebounding with eight boards. The Shockers (3-11) showed resilience throughout, trimming an 18-point third-quarter deficit down to three midway through the fourth quarter, but Tulsa (9-4) was able to hold on behind timely shooting and a plus-20 rebounding margin. Tulsa opened the game with control early, taking a 16-10 lead after the first quarter and extending the advantage to 34-21 at halftime. The Golden Hurricane capitalized on second-chance opportunities, outrebounding Wichita State 44-24 for the game. The Shockers responded coming out of the locker room, using perimeter shooting to fuel a 21-point third quarter. Harding connected on four triples in the period, including multiple back-to-back threes that helped Wichita State cut into the deficit. Despite the push, Tulsa maintained a 53-42 edge heading into the final quarter. Wichita State continued to battle in the fourth, opening the period on an 8-0 run to make it a one-possession game with just over five minutes remaining. Tulsa answered at the free-throw line down the stretch, finishing the game 15-of-23 from the stripe to seal the win. Wichita State finished the night shooting 37.9 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from three-point range, while forcing 28 Tulsa turnovers and scoring 23 points off those miscues. The Golden Hurricane were led by Abby Jegede with 18 points and Hannah Riddick, who put up a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double.
 
SERIES VS. TULANE
The teams meet for the 17^th time in program history with Tulane leading the series 9-7 and Wichita State holding a 4-3 advantage when playing in Wichita.
 
LAST MEETING
No. 11 seed Wichita State's best start of the season and a career night from Salese Blow wasn't enough to rise above the No. 6 seed Green Wave as the Shockers' season ends with a 69-63 loss in the second round of the American Athletic Conference Tournament. Blow tied Rangie Bessard's all-time record (MVC 2017) for most Shocker points in a conference tournament game with a career-high 30 points, breaking the Shockers' all-time record for single-game points in an AAC tournament game. The sophomore ties for 21^st all-time in Wichita State history for single-game points, shooting 11-for-22 from the field, hitting two threes and 6-of-7 free throws. Princess Anderson and Jayla Murray also finished in double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively, and Ella Anciaux led the team in rebounding with six and blocks with three. Victoria Keenan led the Green Wave with 26 points to send Tulane to the quarter finals. Wichita State jumped out to a six-point lead in the first quarter, shooting 62.9 percent from the field with 11 points apiece from Anderson and Blow. The Shockers scored their most first-quarter points of the season, leading 25-19 at the end of the period. The Shockers cooled off a bit in the second quarter, missing eight-straight shots while the Green Wave went on a 6-0 run to tie it up at 29-all. Wichita State shot just 25 percent in the quarter but held on to a one-point lead going into halftime, just their sixth time leading at half during the conference season. Tulane's Victoria Keenan hit a three to start a 12-0 Green Wave run to open the half, taking ga 45-34 lead. Blow snapped the Shockers' scoring drought, hitting a pair of free throws four and a half minutes into the third quarter. The Shockers were down by as many as 14 before a 6-0 Wichita State run brought them back within six. It was a battle in the fourth as Wichita State tried to close in on the Green Wave, but Tulane held off the Shockers, despite a 12-point effort from Blow in the period. Wichita State held Tulane to 2-for-14 from the floor in the fourth but came up short on the offensive end.
 
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN HURRICANE
Led by fifth-year head coach (second at Tulane) Ashley Langford, Tulane is 5-8, coming off a 63-65 loss at UTSA in its American Conference opener. The Green Wave lead the American Conference in assists per game with 15.7 and rank third in offensive rebounds per game (14.3) and three pointers per game (7.2). Two players are averaging double figures as Kanija Daniel and Amira Mabry lead the team with 11.4 and 10.7 points per game, respectively. Dyllan Hanna leads the Green Wave in rebounding with 6.5 per game, good for 11^th in the conference. Tulane was picked fifth of 13 teams in the American Conference Preseason Poll, and Mabry Kendall Sneed were named to the Preseason All-Conference Second Team.
 
TREY-LA HARDING
Jaila Harding is the best shooter on Wichita State's roster, shooting 38.8 percent from beyond the arc. The graduate transfer and Wichita native ranks second in the conference in threes per game with 3.21, hitting five three different times against Lincoln, Western Kentucky and UC Irvine and tying her career high of six at Tulsa. Her 45 total threes this season are on track to land her on Wichita State's all-time top-10 list. The record is held by Courtney Sims at 73, while the No. 10 mark is 47, performed by Carla Bremaud and Tisharria Huggins.
 
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 3.4 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 host Temple on Tuesday, Jan. 6 at 6 p.m. in Charles Koch Arena for Father Daughter Night.