WICHITA STATE (1-0) vs. #21/22 USC (1-0 )
Caesars Lake Tahoe Classic
Sunday, Nov. 8 | 10:00 p.m. CDT
Stateline, Nev. | Tahoe Blue Event Center
 
TV: The CW with Chris Fisher & Matt Muehlebach
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Denning Gerig & Bob Hull
 

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OPENING TIPS
• Fresh off a season-opening win over CSUN, the Shockers head to Lake Tahoe to faceoff against the No. 21 USC Trojans in the Caesars Lake Tahoe Classic.
• Wichita State are 1-3 all-time vs. USC. The Trojans have won each of the last two meetings.
• Wichita State is 1-7 vs. ranked teams under Paul Mills and searching for its first Top 25 win on a neutral floor since 2016.
• For the third straight season Wichita State opened its season on Nov. 4, tied for the earliest start to a season in program history.
• Since 1992, Wichita State teams are 32-2 in season openers. The Shockers are 91-29 all time in openers.
• In the program's history, Wichita State is 102-18 in home openers. They have won 30 of their last 32 home openers, including eight in a row.
• William Berg set career highs in points (26) and rebounds (16) in the season opener vs. CSUN, marking his 10th career double-double. He is one of only two players in the country to log a 25-15 game so far this season.
• Wichita State ranks 2nd nationally in assist-turnover ratio at 5.67.
• 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 12 letterwinners and 75.5 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. Berg was named to the first team, while Dillon Battie and Jordan Frison earned second team honors.
• Wichita State currently owns the longest streak in the nation with 31 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 19 straight games - 8th longest in program history.

THE SHOCKS, IN SHORT
• Wichita State returns 75.5 percent of its scoring from a season ago. The Shockers lost just three letterwinners to the transfer portal (Dre Kindell, Brian Amuneke and Karon Boyd). 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 12 returners, including nine 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), Emmanuel Okorafor (16.8 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 USC
• The USC Trojans enter the 2026-27 campaign preseason ranked No. 21 in the AP Poll. It is the first preseason Top 25 ranking under third year head coach Eric Musselman.
• Musselman brings in highly regarded transfer portal class. On3 ranked USC's seven-man transfer portal fourth in the nation, EvanMiya ranked it 10th. Individually, KJ Lewis, Eric Reibe and Jalen Cox highlighted the newcomer class.
• One of the nation's top incoming freshmen classes also enters the mix. USC's 2026 recruiting class ranked No. 7 in ESPN's rankings, which is the best ranking USC has had under Musselman. Christian Collins (No. 6, per ESPN), Adonis Ratliff (No. 23) and Darius Ratliff (No. 33) were all McDonald's All-Americans.
• Alijah Arenas, Jacob Cofie and Rodney Rice give Trojans a solid core of starters from the 2025-26 season. The trio accounts for 38.0% of the team's returning minutes, per BartTorvik. This year is the first time the three of them will play together, as injuries to Arenas and Rice kept them out of the lineup together last season.
• Rice earned Preseason All-Big Ten Team honors, while Arenas is one of 20 players named to the Preseason Jerry West Award Watch List.
• The Trojans opened the season with a dominant 95-63 win over Milwaukee on opening night. Adonis Ratliff led five Trojans in double figures with a game-high 25 points on 5-of-7 shooting from three-point range. Arenas added 21 points and 8 rebounds.

ALL-TIME vs. USC
• Wichita State is 1-3 all time vs. the Trojans in a series that dates all the way back to 1935. The first two matchups in 1935 and 1958 took place in Wichita.
• Each of the last two neutral site matchups went down to the wire only to see the Trojans squeak out wins by a combined 7 points.

Dec. 23, 2006 (Las Vegas) | USC 60, WSU 56
Led by future NBA standouts Swaggy P (Nick Young) and Taj Gibson, USC held off the Shockers in the 3rd place game of the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Classic.
Young led all scorers with 24 points on 11-of-14 shooting. Gibson added 12 points in 19 minutes.
USC was able to secure the win despite going 1-of-7 from three-point range, 9-of-16 at the free throw line and being outrebounded by 9.
Sean Ogirri paced the Shockers with 16 points on 4-of-8 three-pointers. The rest of the team was a combined 0-for-10 beyond the arc.

Nov. 26, 2015 (Lake Buena Vista) | USC 72, WSU 69
Despite 39 combined points from Ron Baker (25) and freshman Markis McDuffie (14), Wichita State was edged by the Trojans in the quarterfinals of the AdvoCare Invitational.
Baker matched his career-high with six three-pointers on 10 attempts and added five assists, four rebounds and a pair of steals. McDuffie -- who had scored a combined five points in the Shockers' three previous games – played a season-high 22 minutes and ended with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
Bennie Boatwright went 5-for-9 from three-point range for a team-high 22 points to lead USC (5-0), and Nikola Jovanovic finished with a double-double at 14 points and 11 rebounds.

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.

BERG'S BIG NIGHT
• William Berg had a night for the history books in Wichita State's season-opening win over CSUN on Nov. 4. The 7-foot-2 big man logged 26 points and 16 rebounds on 11-of-16 shooting - all of which were career highs. The double-double was his first of the season and 10th of his career.
• Berg is the first Shocker to record at least 25 points and 15 rebounds in a game in the last 34 seasons. The last Shocker to produce a 25-15 game was Jamie Arnold vs. Creighton on Jan. 24, 1994 when he had 25 and 17.
• The last Shocker to have at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in a season opener? The one and only Xavier McDaniel vs. Lamar on Nov. 24, 1984.
• Berg was one of only two players in the country to post a 25-15 game during the opening week of the season, joining Buffalo's Antoine Lorick III. Lorick had 28 points and 15 rebounds, but played 37 minutes compared to Berg playing just 28.
• Since the American was formed only 20 players have ever tallied at least 25 points and 15 rebounds. The last to do it before Berg was UAB's Yaxel Lendeborg on March 14, 2025.
• Along with Berg, Kenyon Giles added 21 points, making them the first pair of Shockers to score 20 points in a November game since Kenny Pohto and Colby Rogers vs. Saint Louis on Nov. 19, 2023. They are the first duo to score 20+ in a season opener since Jason Perez (24) and Maurice Evans (24) did it against Florida Atlantic on Nov. 18, 1998.

CSUN LEFTOVERS
• Wichita State won its eighth straight season opener and improved to 2-0 all time vs. CSUN.
• Wichita State has still never lost on Nov. 4, improving to 3-0 with all three games coming over the last three seasons.
• Wichita State lost the rebound battle only four times all last season, but the Shockers were bested on the glass by the Matadors, 48-46.
• With their 13 offensive rebounds, the Shockers have now grabbed 10+ offensive rebounds in 31 straight games.
• Wichita State won for just the second time (2-20) under Paul Mills when shooting less than 40 percent from the field.
• Wichita State improved to 50-11 under Mills when leading at halftime, including winning nine straight.
• Wichita State committed just three turnovers, tied for the second fewest in a single game in program history.
• The Shockers assist-turnover ratio of 17:3 (5.67) was the fifth highest in a single game in school history.
• William Berg collected his first career 20-point game behind his career-high 26 points and 16 rebounds. He now has 12 career games with 10+ rebounds and 18 games with 10+ points.
• Kenyon Giles recorded his 19th game with 20+ points in a Shocker uniform. He has now played in 37 career games at Wichita State - 19 of those have ended with him topping the 20-point mark. He's reached double figures 33 times out of those 37 games.
• Giles also dished out a career-high 8 assists. His high last season was 3, which he did five times.
• Jahari Long reached double figures for the first time as a Shockers, adding 12 points.
• The starting backcourt of Giles, Long and Jordan Frison combined for 16 assists and only 2 turnovers.
• Bryce Heard and Cyr Malonga both made their Wichita State debuts.

ACTIVE LEADERS
• Kenyon Giles' name is among the NCAA's active leaders in several offensive categories. Texas A&M's PJ Haggerty is currently the only active player over 2,000 career points, but Saint Louis' Robbie Avila, Mississippi State's Josh Hubbard and Giles are all within 70 points of reaching the milestone. Only three active players have more than 300 career made 3-pointers: Texas Tech's Donovan Atwell (344), Mississippi State's Josh Hubbard (317) and Giles (305).

ON THIS DATE: NOVEMBER 8
• 2022  – For the first time in NBA history, there are no games played on Election Day as teams are encouraged by the NBA to share election information with fans.
• 2025 – Wichita State dominated from start to finish in a 105-62 home win over Prairie View A&M. Six Shockers reached double figures and no player scored more than 15 points. Kenyon Giles scored all 15 of his points from beyond the arc and TJ Williams logged his first career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds on a perfect 10-of-10 at the free throw line. The Shockers held the Panthers to 32 percent shooting and just 2-of-12 from beyond the arc.
• 2026 – Wichita State is playing just its second ever game on Nov. 8 in program history.

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 2-0 for the fourth straight season.
... Be their second Top 25 win under Paul Mills.
... Move them to 2-3 all time vs. USC, snapping a two-game losing streak vs. the Trojans.
... Make Paul Mills 60-46 as Wichita State head coach.
... Give Mills 166 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,717-1,291 all time.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 1-1 on the season.
... Drop them to 1-4 all time vs. USC, including their third straight loss to the Trojans.
... Make them 1-8 vs. ranked teams under Paul Mills.
... Make Paul Mills 59-47 as Wichita State head coach.
... Lower Mills' career record to 165-131.
... Drop their record to 1,716-1,292 all time.

GAME 3: FRIENDS                                                                       
• Wichita State is 41-11 all-time vs. Friends with wins in each of the last eight meetings.
• Prior to 2023, the two Wichita universities hadn't met in a regular season game since 1943.
• A familiar face resides on the Friends bench in first-year head coach Nick Jones. A Wichita native, Jones returns home following a three-year stint as assistant coach for the NCAA D-II Washburn Ichabods.
• Prior to arriving at Washburn, Jones spent eight seasons at Wichita State, including serving as Director of Player Development during his final four seasons.