[3] TULSA (26-6, 13-5) vs. [2] WICHITA STATE (21-10, 13-5)
Saturday, March 14, 2026 | 4:00 p.m. CDT
Birmingham, Ala. | Legacy Arena at the BJCC
 
TV: ESPN2 with Rich Hollenberg & Jon Crispin
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy, Dave Dahl and Bob Hull
 

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OPENING TIPS
• The Wichita State Shockers are in Birmingham, Ala. for the 2026 American Conference Championship at Legacy Arena at the BJCC.
• The 2nd-seed Shockers open semifinal action against No. 3 Tulsa on Saturday (4 PM CT, ESPN2). The winner advances to Sunday's title game at 2:15 PM CT on ESPN.
• This is Wichita State's eighth American Championship, having never made it past the semifinals. This is the Shockers' fourth semifinal appearance. Wichita State has won at least one game in a conference tournament 15 of the last 16 years.
• At 13-5, Wichita State tied for second in the American standings with Tulsa, and received the No. 2 seed due to the tiebreaker. Wichita State's 13 American Conference victories are the most since 2017-18.
• Wichita State has its first 20-win season since 2019-20.
• Paul Mills now has 55 wins through his first three seasons at Wichita State, 3rd most in school history.
• Three Shockers earned American Conference honors, led by First Team All-Conference & All-Newcomer Team selection Kenyon Giles. Will Berg was named the Sixth Man of the Year and Karon Boyd was named to the Third Team.
• Wichita State is one of the top offensive rebounding teams in the country at 14.8 per game - good for 4th nationally. That mark would be the best in a single season in school history.
• Wichita State currently owns the longest streak in the nation with 25 straight games of 10+ offensive rebounds.
• Dillon Battie is coming off his first career double-double behind a career-high 22 points and 12 rebounds. Over his last 3 games, he's averaging 15.7 PPG and 6.3 RPG on 70% FG Pct.
• Giles has scored 10+ points in 28 of the 31 games this season, including 16 games of 20+ and 2 games of 30+.
• He scored 20+ in 6 straight games, 5th longest in school history, before it was snapped on March 7 vs. FAU.
• Giles is only the fourth Shocker since 2000 to have multiple games of 30 or more points in a season, joining Jason Perez (1999-00), Joe Ragland (2011-12) and Markis McDuffie (2018-19).
• Giles' 16 20-point efforts are 4th most in a single season.
• Giles is currently averaging 19.5 PPG for the season, which would be the highest by a Shocker since Jason Perez in 2000.
• His 19.4 PPG ranks 2nd in the American. In league play, Giles ranks 2nd at 21.3 PPG with 12 20-point outings in 18 games. Giles' 12 games of 20+ in conference play are second most in school history only behind Xavier McDaniel's 15.
• Giles ranks 17th nationally in total 3-pointers made (105) and 13th in 3-pointers/game (3.39).
• His 105 made three-pointers are the most in a single season at Wichita State. He broke the record on March 1 at UTSA.
• Giles is one of only four players in the country with 100 made three-pointers, 45 assists and 50 steals.
• He poured in a career-high 33 points vs. North Texas, the most by a Shocker since Markis McDuffie (34) in 2019.
• Will Berg ranks 4th in the American in rebounding at 8.2 per game. His 3.47 offensive rebounds per game rank 3rd. In conference games, he averaged 3.6 o-boards, second most.
• Karon Boyd (78) and Berg (104) account for 39.7% of Wichita State's offensive rebounds this season.
• Six different Shockers have recorded a double-double: Berg (8), Boyd (4), Williams (1), Battie (1),  Michael Gray Jr. (1) and Emmanuel Okorafor (1).

AMERICAN TOURNAMENT ODDS & ENDS
• Ten American Conference schools slug it out this week for an automatic bid to next week's NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.
• The top two seeds receive a triple bye to the semifinals. Seeds 3-4 get a double bye to the quarters. Seeds 5-6 get a bye to the second round, while seeds 7-10 open play in the first round. For the first year ever, the bottom three teams in the standings do not make the conference tournament.
• This is the 12th go-around for this event. SMU (2015 & 2017), Cincinnati (2018 & 2019), Houston (2021, 2022)  and Memphis (2023 & 2025) have combined to win eight of the last 10 titles. Louisville, UConn and UAB are the only other schools to win it once.
• As the top seed, South Florida looks to win for the first time in program history. The Bulls claimed the regular season title for the second time in the last three seasons.

LEGACY ARENA AT THE BJCC
• This is the first time Legacy Arena at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex has hosted the American Championship.
• The facility originally opened in 1976.
• The 17,000 capacity arena hosts sporting events and concerts year round.
• Legacy Arena began an extensive $125M modernization in April 2020 that included 15,000 new seats, lights, sound system, club levels and suites and locker rooms. The first event after renovations took place in Dec. 2021 when the G-League's Birmingham Squadron played its first home game of the season
• The NCAA Tournament returned to Birmingham in March 2023 when Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Maryland, West Virginia, Northern Kentucky and Houston took the floor in the first and second rounds.
• In 2028, the NCAA Tournament is set to return to Birmingham as a first/second round site.

BIRMINGHAM BITS
• Wichita State's campus is 657 miles away (or a little over 12 hours by car) from Legacy Arena. Other area schools: UAB (3 miles), Memphis (211), Tulane (306) and South Florida (462).
• The Shockers are 2-0 all time in Birmingham.

WICHITA STATE IN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS
• Wichita State won 12 straight conference tournament openers (2009-21) and appeared in 11 straight semifinals (2010-21) before stumbling in the 2022 first round.
• From 1977 to 2017, Wichita State competed in 38 Missouri Valley Conference tournaments, going 35-34 with seven finals appearances and four titles (1985, 1987, 2014 and 2017). Notably, the first two came at the expense of Tulsa on its home floor.
• This is Wichita State 's ninth go-around in the American Championship. The Shockers are 8-7 with three semifinal appearances.

LUCKY NUMBER 2?
• The Shockers are the No. 2 seed for the second time in the American Conference Championship and first time since its inaugural season in 2018.
• This is the third year with 10 teams in the tournament and first since 2016.
• No. 2 seeds are 19-7 all-time in the American Conference Championship with 4 titles (Louisville 2014, Cincinnati 2019, Houston 2021, Memphis 2023).
• The Shockers were 4-2 against teams on the bottom side of the bracket during the regular season (Temple, Florida Atlantic, North Texas and Tulsa).
• Wichita State has made 25 semifinal appearances across the MVC and American, but 24 of them have come as a top-4 seed. The 2019 Shockers are the lone exception.

OTHER TOURNEY TRENDS
• No. 1 seeds are 7-4 in semifinal games and 5-2 in the championship.
• Play-in teams are a respectable 6-18 in quarterfinal games. No. 1 seeds are 11-0, No. 2 seeds are 10-1 (the lone loss coming in 2016 when No. 10 Tulane upset No. 7 UCF and No. 2 Houston before bowing to Memphis). Two years ago Memphis became the first No. 3 seed to make it to Sunday. Prior to that, No. 3's were a combined 2-7. Last year UAB became the second No. 3 seed to make it to the championship, but fell to top seed Memphis.
• The quarterfinal matchups between Nos. 4-5 has been a toss-up (No. 4 seeds are 6-4). No. 5 Cincinnati reached the title game in 2021 and No. 5 UConn won the whole thing in 2016.
• UConn and UAB last season are the only No. 4 seeds to reach the title game. The Blazers are the only 4-seed to win the championship.

DOWN BUT NEVER OUT
• In Wichita State's double overtime win at East Carolina, the Shockers had a 5.6% chance to win at the end of regulation according to KenPom. Wichita State trailed by 4 with 12 seconds to go until Kenyon Giles delivered a game-tying 4-point play.
• Wichita State also faced a similar situation in early December at Northern Iowa. The Shockers had just a 5.8% chance to win in overtime until closing the game on a 9-1 run.
• Wichita State's lowest win probability came on the road at South Florida before escaping with an OT win by one. The Shockers had just a 4.5% chance after the Bulls used a 23-3 run at the end of the first half and into the start of the second.

TRENDING UP
• At 13-5 in the American, Wichita State has its most conference wins since Wichita State won 14 in 2018.
• Wichita State tied for 2nd in the standings with Tulsa, but the Shockers held the edge in the tiebreaker.
• Wichita State hasn't been a top 4 seed in the American Conference Championship since winning the regular season and earning the top seed in 2021.
• South Florida won the regular season crown by two games and will be the top seed in the conference tournament. UAB finished fourth, two losses behind Wichita State and Tulsa, while there was a three-team logjam at 9-9 between Charlotte, North Texas and Florida Atlantic. UTSA, East Carolina and Rice were the three teams left out of the tournament.

SKIP PROSSER MAN OF THE YEAR FINALIST
• Wichita State head men's basketball coach Paul Mills was named one of 25 finalists for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award. The award is presented annually to the Division I coach who wins with integrity on and off the court. The Skip Prosser Man of the Year award honors those who not only achieve success on the basketball court but who display moral integrity on and off it as well.
• Mills has led the Shockers to their first 20-win season since 2020 and has improved his win total in each of his three seasons at Wichita State. His 54 wins are tied for third most in program history through a coach's first three seasons at Wichita State.

BOARD MEN
• In Wichita State's win at UTSA on March 1, the Shockers grabbed a season-high 55 rebounds. The 55 rebounds are the most in a game since Wichita State grabbed 67 vs. Savannah State on Nov. 28, 2017.
• Under Paul Mills, Wichita State has pulled down 50+ rebounds in a game six times.
• Twenty-one of those 55 rebounds came on the offensive end, marking the fourth time this season with 20+ offensive rebounds. This is the first season since 1999-00 the Shockers have had 4 games of 20 or more offensive rebounds.

20 WINS
• Wichita State recorded its 20th win of the season on the road at UTSA on March 1. It marks the first 20-win season since 2019-20 when the Shockers won 23 games. Since joining the American Conference in 2017-18, Wichita State has surpassed the 20-win mark four times including this season. This is 23rd time in program history with 20+ victories.
• Paul Mills is just the sixth Shocker coach to reach the 20-win mark by his third season on the bench, joining Ralph Miller (27 wins in Year 3), Gary Thompson (21 wins in Year 1), Gene Smithson (26 wins in Year 3), Eddie Fogler (22 wins in Year 1 and 20 wins in Year 2) and Gregg Marshall (25 in Year 3).

FLORIDA ATLANTIC LEFTOVERS
• Wichita State moved to 3-3 all time vs. Florida Atlantic, running its win streak to 6 in a row - a season long.
• Wichita State finishes the regular season with a 13-5 conference record - its most conference wins since 2018.
• The Shockers are 7-6 when playing on March 7.
• The 18-point win marked the largest margin of victory in a conference game this season.
• Under Mills, Wichita State is 46-11 when leading at the half and 45-5 when leading at the 5:00-minute mark.
• Wichita State has tied or outrebounded 27 of its 31 opponents this season.
• Wichita State has had 10 or more offensive rebounds in 25 consecutive games.
• Wichita State shot a season-high 91.7 percent at the free throw line.
• Kenyon Giles reached double figures for the 28th time this season.
• He scored 12 of his 17 after halftime.
• Giles has made at least one three-pointer in 30 of the 31 games and multiple 27 of the 31.
• Dillon Battie recorded his first career double-double behind a career-high 22 points and 12 rebounds. His 9 made free throws were also a career high.
• With his 22 points, he has topped 10+ nine times this season.
• Karon Boyd reached double figures for the 20th time this season - second on the team.
• Emmanuel Okorafor set a new career high with 16 points and tied a career high with 4 blocked shots.
• TJ Williams recorded his 11th game with 10 or more points.

ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS
• Wichita State had three student-athletes earn conference honors. Kenyon Giles was named to the All-Conference First Team and All-Newcomer Team, Will Berg is the American's Sixth Man of the Year and Karon Boyd picked up Third Team All-Conference honors.
• Giles is the fifth Shocker to earn first team accolades since Wichita State joined the American. This makes back-to-back seasons Wichita State has earned multiple conference honors. Berg is the second Shocker to win Sixth Man of the Year, joining Ricky Council IV in 2022.

WIN STREAK BY THE NUMBERS
• During Wichita State's current 6-game win streak, the Shockers are scoring 83.7 points per game and beating their opponents by an average of 10.0 points. Wichita State has also been dominate on the boards, outrebounding its opponent by an average of 9.2 per game, while pulling down 43.3 total rebounds a game. Wichita State's free throw shooting has also been on the rise as they have converted 74.5 percent at the line, while being a sub-70 percent shooting team for the season.
• Kenyon Giles is averaging 24.8 points and 4.0 rebounds during the stretch.

ON THIS DATE: MARCH 14
• 1910 – The Shockers ventured beyond state lines for the first time ever smacking Oklahoma Christian, 34-18, in Edmond.
• 2019 – In the first round of the 2019 American Championship, Wichita State ousted No. 11 seed ECU, 73-57, in Memphis. Neither team shot particularly well, as Wichita State missed 20 of its 25 three-point attempts, but the Shockers made enough plays to move on to the quarterfinals. Markis McDuffie scored 11 of his team-high 15 points at the foul line. Jaime Echenique just missed a double-double with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Wichita State would come up 3 points shy in the semis vs. Cincinnati.

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...                                                                     
... Make them 22-10 this season and advance them to the title game for the first time in school history.
... Make them 1-3 all time in the American semifinals.
... Be their seventh straight win - a season long and the longest since 2021 when they won 8 in a row.
... Make Paul Mills 56-44 as Wichita State head coach.
... Give Mills 162 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,713-1,289 all time.

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...                                                                     
... Drop them to 21-11 this season.
... Make them 0-4 all time in the American Conference Championship semifinals.
... Snap a six-game win streak.
... Make Paul Mills 55-45 as Wichita State head coach.
... Lower Mills' career record to 161-129.
... Drop their record to 1,712-1,290 all time.

GAME 33: AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP                                                                   
• Wichita State is 8-7 all time in the American Conference Championship.
• Wichita State is seeking a triple bye all the way to the semifinals. The Shockers have never appeared in the title game.
• Wichita State has won at least one game at the American Championship every year, except in 2022 with a first round loss to Tulsa.