Feb 07, 2021

Shockers host Temple 2 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU

Posted Feb 07, 2021 1:24 PM

OPENING TIPS:

  1. Wichita State closes out a three-game homestand Sunday against Temple at Charles Koch Arena.
  2. Please note -- tipoff for this game was recently moved to 2 p.m. CT.
  3. WSU is coming off a 75-67 win over Tulane on Wednesday. Tyson Etienne scored 22 points on 4-of-7 three-point shooting and Alterique Gilbert added 17 points and four assists for the Shockers, who led by as many as 21 points down the stretch.
  4. The Shockers (6-2 American) are tied with Houston (10-2) in the loss column and now get a chance to make up some ground on the left-hand side of the ledger. The Cougars have the weekend off from conference play.
  5. Etienne is the American Player of the Week after a 29-point effort in last Saturday's overtime win over UCF.
  6. Etienne is also the conference's leading scorer (17.9) and ranks among the top-25 nationally in three-point baskets (3.0). He's scored at least 20 points in six of his last nine games dating back to Dec. 22.
  7. Gilbert (10.0 ppg) leads the team in assists (3.9) and steals (1.6). A 17-point performance against Tulane was his best since dropping 18 in the season opener. 
  8. Dexter Dennis celebrates his 22nd birthday on Tuesday.
  9. Over his last five games, junior forward Morris Udeze is averaging 13.8 points on 75.7% shooting.
  10. 33 teams (including WSU, Houston, Memphis and Tulsa) are limiting opponents to less than 40% from the field. The Shockers have held six of their last 10 foes under that standard -- most recently Tulane , which shot just 18% in the first half and 30.8% for the game.
  11. The Shockers are also holding opponents to 28.5% from three-point range -- 13th-best nationally. 
  12. WSU is 24-7 in AAC home games since joining the league and has posted eight-consecutive wins.
  13. WSU is 132-13 (.910) at CKA over the last 10 seasons.
  14. WSU is 4-3 against Temple since joining The American. Notably, the team trailing at halftime has come back to win six of the seven games.
  15. The Shockers won the last meeting -- Feb. 27, 2020 in Wichita -- by a score of 72-69. Trey Wade scored a season-high 21 points, and WSU erased a seven-point deficit in the final 5:00.
  16. WSU is playing on Super Bowl Sunday for only the third time in 55 years and for the first time since 2002 (when Tom Brady made his Big Game debut).
  17. This is the first of two scheduled meetings between WSU and Temple. The Shockers finish out the regular season in Philadelphia on March 6.
  18. WSU is back on the road next week: Wednesday at UCF (6 p.m., ESPN+) and Sunday at SMU (3 p.m., ESPN).


ON THIS DATE:  FEB. 7
1981 -- The WSU women set a school record that still stands with 24 steals against Tulsa.
1988 – The Shockers nipped visiting Southern Illinois, 89-87, on a pair of Lew Hill free throws with 3 seconds remaining.
2015 – 43 was a popular number. Ron Baker became the 43rd member of WSU's 1,000-point club, Fred VanVleet became the first Shocker in 43 years to record a triple-double (10 points 10 rebounds, 11 assists) and No. 16 WSU rolled to a 43-point win (78-35) over visiting Missouri State. VanVleet's final assists – an alley-oop to Darius Carter – came as part of a 15-0 run early in the second half that gave the hosts a 52-15 lead with 14:00 remaining. He hit a three-pointer a minute later to cement the triple-double. VanVleet played just 24 minutes total. Baker finished with a team-high 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting.

POWERED BY TYSON:

  1. Tyson Etienne is the American Athletic Conference scoring leader (17.8 ppg).
  2. It's been more than two decades since WSU's last scoring champ: Maurice Evans (22.6, 1999) and Jason Perez (20.2, 2000) did it back-to-back years in the Missouri Valley.

American Athletic Conference Scoring Leaders // As of Feb. 5, 2021:
1. Tyson Etienne (WSU) – 17.9
2. Jayden Gardner (ECU) – 17.4
4. Kendric Davis (SMU) – 17.1
3. Quentin Grimes (Houston) – 16.2
5. Marcus Sasser (Houston) – 15.7
 
Shocker Conference Scoring Champions // 1945-Pr.:
1953 (MVC) -- Cleo Littleton – 18.2
1964 (MVC) -- Dave Stallworth – 26.5
1966 (MVC) -- Jamie Thompson – 22.0
1970 (MVC) -- Greg Carney – 23.2
1983 (MVC) -- Antoine Carr – 22.6
1985 (MVC) -- Xavier McDaniel – 27.2
1999 (MVC) -- Maurice Evans – 22.6
2000 (MVC) -- Jason Perez – 20.2

  1. Etienne has scored at least 20 points in five of the Shockers' eight conference games. That total leads the league. He has seven overall this year, which is tied with SMU's Kendric Davis and ECU's Jayden Gardner.

American Athletic Conference // Most 20-Point Games // As of Feb. 5:
t1. Tyson Etienne (WSU) – 7 total (5 AAC)
t1. Jayden Gardner (ECU) – 7 total (4 AAC)
t1. Kendric Davis (SMU) – 7 total (4 AAC)
4. Quentin Grimes (Houston) – 5 total (2 AAC)

  1. Etienne is averaging 20.6 points since Jan. 1 and has topped 20 in five of the seven games in that span.
  2. Just call him Tyson "At the End." The sophomore is averaging 12.2 points and shooting 41% from three after halftime this year (compared to 5.8 points in the first half). He's scored double-digit points in the second half of nine of the Shockers' 12 games against Division I competition.
  3. Etienne is sinking an average of 4.4 free throws-per-game. That ranks third in the conference behind ECU's Jayden Gardner (4.4) and Temple's Damian Dunn (6.4).


IN WITH THE OLD:

  1. The addition of UConn transfer Alterique Gilbert provided WSU with some much-needed experience at the point guard spot.
  2. Per KenPom, Gilbert has assisted on just under a third of all Shocker baskets when he's on the floor (29.4%).
  3. Gilbert shook loose from a month-long shooting slump by hitting of 5-of-13 from three over his last two games. Over the eight games prior he was 5-of-29 from deep.
  4. In conference games, Gilbert ranks among the league's top-3 in assists (4.9) and steals (1.9).
  5. Gilbert recorded his 100th career steal against UCF (80 at UConn and now 23 at WSU).
  6. Gilbert's 282 assists are No. 2 on the AAC active list. 

American Athletic Conference // Active Assist Leaders:
290 -- Alex Lomax (Memphis)
282 -- Alterique Gilbert (UConn/Wichita State)
281 -- David Collins (USF)
279 -- Dejon Jarreau (Houston)
279 -- Kendric Davis (SMU)
265 -- Elijah Joiner (Tulsa)
^=As of 2/5/2021; Stats accumulated while playing for an AAC school


MO SHOULDERING MORE:

  1. Junior forward Morris Udeze is on pace to set WSU's single-season record for field goal percentage (minimum 3 FGM/game). Udeze is shooting 62.7% for the year (51-of-81), which would put him ahead of Steve Grayer's 61.6% during the 1987-88 campaign.
  2. Udeze now ranks among the league's top-10 in field goal percentage (2nd, .627), free throw percentage (8th, .789) and blocks (10th, 0.8).
  3. Udeze has dunked a team-high 18 times this season. His average (1.29-per-game) would be the highest by a Shocker since the 1982-83 season when Antoine Carr (1.45) and Xavier McDaniel (1.32) wreaked havoc on the Roundhouse rims.
  4. Udeze was a starter early in his freshman year before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery. He is just now (some two years later) feeling 100%.


DEXTER'S DEFENSE:

  1. Junior guard Dexter Dennis has been guarding opposing teams' top scorers for the better part of three seasons now. This year he's already faced a pair of potential NBA Draft picks in Mizzou's Xavier Pinson and Oklahoma State's Cade Cunningham. Dennis held both well below their averages. Pinson scored just three points in 29 minutes. He was1-of-13 from the field (0-for-7 from three). Cunningham came in averaging over 20 points but finished with 10 points on 11 shots. 
  2. Against Tulsa on Jan. 13, Dennis held preseason all-conference pick  Brandon Rachal to five points on 2-of-15 shooting (1-of-7 from three).
  3. On Feb. 3, Tulane's Jaylen Forbes finished with nine points but went 0-for-13 from the field (0-for-8 from three).


ABOUT TEMPLE:

  1. Temple begins its second season under former Owl standout and 13-year NBA veteran Aaron McKie.
  2. Temple lost four of the top five scorers from last year's team, which finished 17-14 (6-12 American).
  3. To further complicate matters, the Owls got a late start to the year. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, they didn't play their first game until Dec. 19 – some 24 days after the official star of college basketball season.
  4. The Owls have a trio of experienced forwards with seniors De'Vondre Perry (8.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg) and J.P. Moorman II (7.6 ppg, 6.3 rpg) and junior Jake Forrester (9.6 pgg, 6.4 rpg) but are otherwise leaning on freshmen and transfers.
  5. 6-foot-5 redshirt freshman Damian Dunn played in just one game last year before suffering a season-ending foot injury but is now making up for lost time, averaging a team-high 14.3 points. Dunn does much of his damage at the foul line, where he's averaging 6.4 free throw makes on 8.7 attempts. Both marks rank among the top-5 nationally.
  6. True freshman Jeremiah Williams, a 6-5 guard from Chicago, averages 4.5 assists-per-game and has a 2.65 assist-to-turnover ratio (second-best in The American and No. 37 nationally).
  7. 6-5 sophomore Khalif Battle -- a Butler transfer and former top-100 recruit -- joined the active roster on Jan. 16 and has put up 11.4 points and 5.8 rebounds in five games.
  8. Dartmouth grad transfer Brendan Barry has been an elite sharp shooter off the bench, averaging 2.0 threes on 46.5% accuracy. The latter ranks second on the conference leaderboard.
  9. Offensive chemistry is still a work in progress. Temple averages a league-low 63.9 points and is among the bottom-25 nationally in field goal percentage (.391), blocked shots (1.7) and steals (4.1).


MATCHUP MASHUP:

  1. WSU (23.8) and Temple (22.6) average more free throw attempts-per-game than any other teams in the conference.
  2. WSU's Morris Udeze and Temple's Sage Tolbert III played two seasons together at Fort Bend Travis High in Richmond, Texas (2015-17). During that time they went 56-14 and won three Class 6A playoff games.
  3. Temple is one of just two American teams that the Shockers haven't beaten on the road since joining. Houston (0-3) is the other.


THE SERIES WITH TEMPLE:

  1. Temple leads the all-time series 6-4, but WSU has won four of the seven meetings since joining The American. 
  2. Closely contested games have been the norm in this series. Six of the 10 have been decided by five points or less and three have gone to overtime.
  3. The Shockers have eliminated the Owls from each of the last two AAC tournaments -- both times in the quarterfinal round. WSU was one of the very last teams invited to the 2019 NIT. Its semifinal run may not have been possible without an 86-80 upset of the third-seeded Owls. Markis McDuffie's 34-point outburst carried the Shockers that day. In 2018, No. 2 seed WSU rode 24 points from first round NBA draft pick Landry Shamet for an 89-81 win over No. 7 seed Temple. Shamet was 6-of-8 from three in that game.
  4. The teams played three times prior to WSU's move to The American, including twice in the 1980s under the late John Chaney. On Dec. 22 1983, Temple ended WSU's 22-game home winning streak with a 78-73 victory. Junior All-American Xavier McDaniel played all 40 minutes and tallied 24 points and 18 rebounds. That streak stood for more than three decades as the school record.
  5. A year later (Jan. 27, 1985), the Owls squeezed out a 62-60 win in the championship game of the Pizza Hut Shoot Out. The Shockers held a 51-42 advantage with 8:56 remaining, but Tim Perry's three-foot jumper at the buzzer capped a furious Temple comeback.
  6. In the 2011 Puerto Rico tipoff, the Shockers battled back from down eight at the 7:00-mark to force overtime, but Temple won 78-74 in extra time behind 23 points from Ramone Moore. Toure' Murry scored a game-high 24 for the Shockers, who went on to win 25 of their next 27 games en route to an NCAA tournament bid.


NO LEAD IS SAFE:

  1. No lead is safe when WSU and Temple battle. The team leading at halftime has lost six of the seven American era matchups between the schools.
  2. Ahead by eight points at halftime, the Shockers lost their first Liacouras Center visit on Feb. 1, 2018 (81-79 in OT). WSU led by seven with 5:02 to go  but managed just two more points in regulation. Shizz Alston Jr. forced overtime on layup with seven seconds remaining and delivered two go-ahead free throws with 18 seconds to play in overtime.
  3. Down 14 at halftime two weeks later in Wichita (Feb. 15, 2018), the Shockers rallied for a 93-86 win, overcoming Temple's arena record 16 three-pointers. It was one of the largest comebacks in school history.
  4. The following year in Wichita (Jan. 6, 2019), the Shockers led by 13 at halftime and by 11 with just over 3:00 to play. Temple scored the last 11 points of regulation to force overtime and went on to win, 85-81. It was one of the largest opposing team comebacks in WSU history.
  5. Alston hit a three ahead of the halftime buzzer in a 2019 AAC tournament matchup, but WSU finished strong for an 80-74 upset.
  6. Jan. 15, 2020 in Philadelphia, the Shockers led by six at halftime but scored just six points in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Temple roared back to win by 12.
  7. Feb. 27, 2020 in Wichita, WSU erased a seven-point deficit in the last 4:00 with an 11-1 run.

WSU/Temple in the American Era // Halftime & Final Scores:
Feb. 1, 2018 (Philadelphia) – WSU, 48-40 // TEM, 81-79 ot
Feb. 15, 2018 (Wichita) – TEM, 56-42 // WSU, 93-86
Mar. 9, 2018 (Orlando) – WSU, 42-36 // WSU, 89-81
Jan. 6, 2019 (Wichita) – WSU, 45-32 // TEM, 85-81 ot
Mar. 15, 2019 (Memphis) – TEM, 37-35 // WSU, 80-74
Jan. 15, 2020 (Philadelphia) – WSU, 32-26 // TEM, 65-53
Feb. 27, 2020 (Wichita) – TEM, 37-36 // WSU, 72-69


WICHITA STATE ON SUPER BOWL SUNDAY:
The Shockers have played on Super Bowl Sunday just two other times. Both were 2 p.m. CT tips.

Feb. 3, 2002 -- Super Bowl XXXV
A crowd of 8,200 watched WSU outlast Indiana State behind career night from C.C. McFall (24 points). The game went to overtime but fans still had time to get home and watch New England quarterback Tom Brady make his Super Bowl debut against the St. Louis Rams.

Jan. 31, 1999 -- Super Bowl XXXIII
WSU suffered a 31-point loss at Missouri State, and an estimated 87 million viewers watched the Broncos beat the Falcons.

A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...
... make them 11-4 with wins in 10 of their last 12.
... up their conference record to 7-2.
... make them 8-2 at home with seven-straight wins.
... be their ninth-straight AAC home victory, dating back to Feb. 16, 2020.
... narrow Temple's series lead to 6-5 (3-3 in Wichita).
... make WSU 5-3 vs. TU in the AAC era (3-1 Wichita).

A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD...
... drop them to 10-5 (6-3 AAC).
... be their first home loss since Dec. 12, snapping a six-game winning streak.
... be their first AAC home loss since Feb. 6, 2020 against Cincinnati, snapping an eight-game streak.
... give Temple a 7-4 series lead (4-2 in Wichita).
... be less good than a win.

UP NEXT:
WSU travels to Orlando on Wednesday night to take on UCF (6 p.m. CT, ESPN+).
The Shockers defeated the Knights in overtime on Jan. 30 (93-88) and will be looking to sweep the season series.
WSU travels to Dallas on Sunday, Feb. 14 to face SMU (3 p.m. CT, ESPN+). WSU is 3-0 at Moody Coliseum since joining the league.

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