CSUN (0-0) at WICHITA STATE (0-0)
Wednesday, Nov. 4 | 6:30 p.m. CDT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
 
TV: ESPN+ with Shane Dennis & Bob Hull
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Denning Gerig & Dave Dahl
 

---

Student Giveaway - First 300 WSU students receive a free Shock Block t-shirt!
 

---

OPENING TIPS
• Year 4 of the Paul Mills era officially opens Wednesday night in the Roundhouse vs. CSUN.
• Wichita State is 1-0 all time vs. CSUN - a home win in 1987.The Shockers are 15-4 all time vs. current members of the Big West.
• For the third straight season Wichita State opens its season on Nov. 4, tied for the earliest start to a season in program history. Prior to 2025, Wichita State had never played on Nov. 4.
• Since 1992, Wichita State teams are 31-2 in season openers. The Shockers are 90-29 all time in openers.
• In the program's history, Wichita State is 101-18 in home openers. They have won 29 of their last 31 home openers, including seven in a row.
• Wichita State is coming off its first 20-win season since 2019-20. The 24 wins were the most since 2018 when they won 25.
• Paul Mills recorded 58 wins through his first three seasons at Wichita State, second most in school history. His 58 victories trailed only Eddie Fogler's 61 for the most in a WSU coach's first three years on the bench.
• Wichita State returns 11 letterwinners and 67.5 percent of its scoring from the 2025-26 roster, by far the most in the American Conference.
• Wichita State is one of just two (Hawaii) known schools without a single true freshman or '26 high school graduate on its roster this season.
• Wichita State's roster has student-athletes from six different countries (including U.S.), tied for 7th most in the country.
• The Shockers are the preseason favorites to win the American Conference in 2026-27, according to the league's coaches. Wichita State received 9 first place votes in the preseason coaches poll. It marks the first time in Wichita State's 10 years in the American being picked preseason No. 1.
• Wichita State also led the league with three selections on the preseason all-conference teams. William Berg was named to the first team, while Dillon Battie and Jordan Frison earned second team honors.
• Wichita State was one of the top offensive rebounding teams in the country last season at 14.7 per game - good for 4th nationally. That mark was the best in a single season in school history.
• Wichita State currently owns the longest streak in the nation with 30 straight games of 10+ offensive rebounds.
• Kenyon Giles scored 10+ points in 32 of the 36 games last season, including 18 games of 20+ and 2 games of 30+.
• Giles' 18 20-point efforts were T-2nd most in a single season.
• Giles was only the fourth Shocker since 2000 to have multiple games of 30 or more points in a season.
• Giles' 19.1 PPG last season, was the highest by a Shocker since Jason Perez in 2000.
• Giles ranked 4th nationally in total 3-pointers made (125) and 8th in 3-pointers/game (3.54).
• Giles smashed the Wichita State single season records for 3-pointers made (125) and attempted (331) in 2025-26.
• Dating back to last season, Giles has made at least one 3-pointer in 18 straight games - 8th longest in program history.
• Wichita State will play 19 regular season games in Charles Koch Arena this season - the most in a single season in program history.

THE SHOCKS, IN SHORT
• Wichita State returns 67.5 percent of its scoring from a season ago. The Shockers lost just four letterwinners, two to the transfer portal (Dre Kindell, Brian Amuneke) and two to graduation (Karon Boyd, Emmanuel Okorafor). Wichita State's roster is made up of student-athletes from six different countries (United States, Canada, Colombia, Congo, Nigeria, Sweden), which is tied for 7th most in the country.
• Wichita State brings back 11 returners, including eight that logged minutes in 2025-26: Kenyon Giles (36.2 MPG), William Berg (21.9 MPG), TJ Williams (22.1 MPG), Michael Gray Jr. (26.9 MPG), Dillon Battie (17.4 MPG), Jaret Valencia (13.2 MPG), Noah Hill (4.2 MPG) and Henry Thengvall (2.5 MPG). Valencia is returning from a torn achilles suffered last December, which forced him to miss all of conference play. Joy Ighovodja, Pierre Couisnard and Tyrus Rathan-Mayes are the other three returners, but all three redshirted in 2025-26.

SCOUTING CSUN
• Fourth-year head coach Andy Newman has transformed the Matadors into a winning program, helping CSUN achieve numerous records in his first three seasons.
• CSUN has won 61 games over the past three seasons, the most over a three-year stretch in the team's Division I history, while the Matadors have won at least 20 games in each of the past two seasons for the first time since 1999-01. A total of nine Matadors have earned All-Big West honors in Newman's tenure with three collecting First-Team accolades.
• Newman's Matadors have become one of the top rebounding teams in the nation over his three seasons. In addition to leading the Big West in all three seasons in the category, CSUN has finished in the top-20 in the nation in rebounds per game, highlighted by finishing seventh overall at 41.4 in 2025-26. The team would also rank ninth in the nation in rebounding margin (+8.4) in 2024-25, setting a new school record for a season.
• Newman would lead a new-look CSUN team to a 20-14 overall record in the 2025-26 season, which featured the Matadors' first Big West tournament semifinal appearance in 12 seasons. With only three returning rotation players from the year before, Newman led CSUN to a third-place finish in the Big West for the second straight season. CSUN would also tie a school record with seven consecutive victories during the league season.
• The 2025-26 season also included a record-breaking year on the offensive end with CSUN setting a new single season record in points scored (2,767) and field goals made (1,012) while tying the school-best mark in three-point field goals made (243). On the glass, CSUN set a new Division I record with 1,407 team rebounds for the year and also broke the program's defensive rebound record by posting 964.
• The Matadors must replace four starters from last season's 20-win team, including leading scorer Larry Hughes II.
• However, CSUN brings back the 2026 Big West Newcomer and Player of the Year, Josiah Davis. Davis put up 15.9 points, 7.4 assists and 4.6 rebounds a game on 45.9 percent shooting. He ranked 4th nationally in total assists (253) and assists per game (7.4).

CONNECT THE DOTS
• CSUN's Josiah Davis and Wichita State assistant coach Josh Eilert are no strangers. Davis was a freshman at West Virginia in 2022-23 when Eilert was an assistant coach for the Mountaineers under Bob Huggins. Davis spent just the one season in Morgantown.

ALL-TIME vs. CSUN
• Wichita State is 1-0 against CSUN with a home win coming back on Nov. 28, 1987 in Levitt Arena.

Nov. 28, 1987 (Wichita) | WSU 78, CSUN 53
• A low-scoring first half saw the Shockers take a 29-18 lead into halftime. The second half was a different story, as Wichita State put up 49 points to win comfortably, 78-53.
• Three Shockers reached double figures in a balanced scoring attack, and all but one Shocker scored in the game. Dwight Praylow scored 14 points, followed by Sasha Radunovich's 13.
Joe Griffin just missed a double-double with 8 points and 9 assists.
• Wichita State forced 20 turnovers, despite recording only 7 steals. The Shockers held Cal State Northridge to just 32.7 percent shooting and 27.8 percent from three-point range.

NON-CON NOTES
• Wichita State has posted a winning non-conference record in 28 consecutive seasons entering the 2026-27 campaign.
• This year's non-con slate has four teams that finished inside the Top 80 of the NET rankings in 2025-26: Kentucky (No. 28), New Mexico (No. 46), Boise State (No. 60) and USC (No. 77).
• Three of the 13 games are against first-time foes. The Shockers have never faced Cameron, Southeast Missouri State and Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
• The Shockers face New Mexico, the preseason Mountain West favorite and Southeast Missouri State, who was picked second in the OVC.

KG1  --> KG3
• Wichita State's single season three-point record holder, Kenyon Giles, is back in the fold for the Shockers after being granted a 5th year.
• Giles put himself on several program single season Top 10 lists: points (689, 3rd), 20-point games (18, t-2nd), made field goals (250, 4th), field goal attempts (610, 2nd), 3-point field goals made (125, 1st), 3-point field goal attempts (331, 1st) and minutes played (1,302, 1st).
• Giles enters the season with a made 3-pointer in 18 consecutive games - 8th longest in program history.
• Nationally, Giles led the country in field goal attempts (610), ranked 2nd in 3-point attempts (331), 5th in 3-pointers made (125) and 8th in 3-pointers made per game (3.47).
• He needs 311 points to reach 1,000 as a Shocker. He enters the season tied for 19th on the career 3-point list and needs 34 to enter the top 10.

PRESEASON FAVORITES
• For the first time since joining the American Conference (2017-18 season), Wichita State men's basketball is the preseason favorite to win the conference according to the league's coaches.
• Wichita State grabbed 9 first place votes in the preseason coaches poll, edging out Memphis (4) who was picked to finish second. South Florida, Tulsa and Charlotte round out the top five. The Shockers were picked second in the 2017-18 preseason poll, the highest ranking prior to this season.

PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS
• William Berg, one of three Shockers on the preseason all-conference teams, was voted Preseason First Team All-Conference. The reigning American Sixth Man of the Year makes it back-to-back seasons with a Shocker on the preseason first team, joining Kenyon Giles in 2025-26. Dillon Battie and Jordan Frison received Preseason Second Team All-Conference honors, making it the first season with multiple preseason honorees since becoming a member of the American. The three selections were also the most of any team. Memphis, UAB and Temple placed two each on the all-conference squads.

ON THIS DATE: NOVEMBER 4
• 2024 – Wichita State recorded a road win at Western Kentucky, 91-84, behind a record-breaking debut from Justin Hill. Hill dropped a career-high 31 points on the Hilltoppers, the most ever by a Shocker in a debut and tied for the 4th most in a season opener. He became the fifth player in American Conference history to put up 30 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists in a game.
• 2025 – Kenyon Giles gave Shocker fans a taste of what was to come in his debut against UNC Asheville. He scored a game-high 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting, while swiping 4 steals. Karon Boyd, another fan favorite, logged an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double. The Shockers led by just four at halftime but pulled away in the second half for a 75-58 win.
• 2026 – This marks the third straight season the Shockers have opened the season on Nov. 4, tying for the earliest season opener in program history.

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 1-0 for the eighth straight season.
... Move them to 2-0 all time vs. CSUN.
... Improve their record to 16-4 over current members of the Big West all time.
... Make them 32-2 in season openers over the last three decades.
... Make Paul Mills 59-46 as Wichita State head coach.
... Give Mills 165 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,716-1,291 all time.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... Snap a seven-game win streak in season openers.
... Drop them to 1-1 all time vs. CSUN.
... Drop them to 31-3 in season openers over the last three decades.
... Make Paul Mills 58-47 as Wichita State head coach.
... Lower Mills' career record to 164-131.
... Drop their record to 1,715-1,292 all time.

GAME 2: USC (CAESARS LAKE TAHOE CLASSIC)                                                                      
• Wichita State is 1-3 all time vs. USC with the most recent meeting coming in the 2015 AdvoCare Invitational in Orlando.
• This meeting will be the third straight in the series on a neutral court with the Shockers looking to snap a two-game losing streak vs. the Trojans.
• USC enters the season with high expectations after an 18-14 campaign in 2025-26.
• USC welcomes three McDonald's All Americans in the nation's No. 7 recruiting class, per ESPN.
• The Trojans are in Year 3 of the Eric Musselman era.