WICHITA STATE (9-11, 1-6) at Tulsa (11-8, 2-5)
Wednesday, Jan. 31 | 6:00 p.m. CT
Tulsa, Okla. | Donald W. Reynolds Center
TV: ESPNU with Mike Corey & Mark Adams
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy & Bob Hull
OPENING TIPS
• The first of two regular season meetings between Wichita State and Tulsa tips off Wednesday night at 6 p.m. on ESPNU in the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
• Wichita State is 20-13 all time when playing on Jan. 31.
• The Shockers lead the series with Tulsa, 77-63. The Shockers have won three straight and are 12-2 against the Golden Hurricane since joining the American.
• Tulsa is 11-8 overall and 2-5 to begin conference play. After dropping its first four conference games, Tulsa broke into the win column with a 107-78 win over UTSA on Jan. 17.
• The Golden Hurricane snapped a 19-game losing streak on the road with a win at Rice on Saturday.
• Wichita State is coming off a 77-72 win over SMU on Sunday in Charles Koch Arena, snapping an eight-game losing streak – its longest since 2000-01.
• The win over SMU (KenPom 37) is the highest ranked KenPom win since defeating No. 5 Houston on Feb. 18, 2021.
• Harlond Beverly has 50 assists over his last 14 games. His 64 total assists are tops on the team.
• Beverly has scored in double figures in each of the last three games. He’s averaging 15.7 points per game on 61.3 % shooting from the field in those three games.
• Colby Rogers (15.5 ppg; leading scorer) has made a three-pointer in all 20 games this season and multiple in 15 of the 20. He leads the AAC in total 3PT FG made (53) and 3PT Pct (38.4%).
• His streak of 20 straight games with a made three-pointer is the 7th longest in school history. One more will move him into a tie for 6th.
• In 13 of the 20 games Rogers has tallied 15 points or more – a team best. He has a team-high five 20-point games.
• Wichita State ranks 22nd nationally in rebounds per game and 20th in defensive rebounds per game. In conference games, Wichita State’s rebounding numbers have taken a hit, averaging only 35.9 rebounds per game.
• Quincy Ballard ranks 15th nationally in blocks (46). He had tied a career-high with 7 vs. East Carolina on Jan. 24. Ballard has 14 games with multiple blocks.
• Ballard has scored 10 or more points in four of the last nine games. He had three total in the first 11 games of the season. In the last nine games, he’s 32-for-41 (78.0%) from the field.
• Per KenPom the American Athletic Conference is ranked the 9th best conference in the NCAA.
• Wichita State returns only 20.3 percent of its scoring from a season ago, having lost its top four scorers. Pohto is the only returner to average more than 4.0 points per game. Craig Porter Jr., James Rojas, Gus Okafor and Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler exhausted their eligibility, and four others exited via the transfer portal.
SCOUTING TULSA
• Led by second year head coach Eric Konkol, Tulsa enters the matchup at 11-8 and 2-5 in league play.
• After posting a 5-25 record in his first season at the helm, Konkol’s 2023-24 team has already doubled its win total from a season ago.
• Konkol came to Tulsa following seven seasons at Louisiana Tech, where he compiled a 153-75 record. He won 46 games in his first two seasons, the most for any previous LA Tech head coach, and his 153 career victories is the third-highest win total in school history.
• Konkol’s teams produced six seasons with 20+ wins and finished among the top 3 in Conference USA standings five of his seven years.
• Konkol returns to where he began his start in collegiate coaching. He was a student assistant coach for Tulsa’s 2001 NIT Championship team under Head Coach Buzz Peterson.
• 2023-24 brings a new look to the University of Tulsa as the lineup will feature 11 new players and only two returners from last season’s squad. Tulsa was tasked with replacing 96 percent of its scoring from a season ago and only sophomore Jesaiah McWright and senior Ari Seals return.
• Tulsa was picked to finish 10th in the Preseason American Athletic Conference Coaches Poll.
• The Golden Hurricane have relied on redshirt freshman PJ Haggerty to carry the load thus far in 2023-24. Haggerty averages 19.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists. His 19.3 points per game leads the country among qualifying freshmen.
• Haggerty has a knack for getting to the foul line, with 133 makes and 167 attempts (79.6 percent). He ranks 9th nationally for makes and 10th in attempts, and is the conference leader in both categories.
• CBSSports named Haggerty Freshman of the Week on Jan. 9, and the publication has Haggerty listed as the top freshman in the nation as of Jan. 22.
• In conference play, Haggerty is averaging 23.0 points and 5.6 rebounds.
• Cobe Williams is second on the team in scoring at 13.4 per game and has a team-high 75 assists and 43 steals. Williams leads Tulsa in three-pointers made (37) and three-point attempts (110).
• Jared Garcia is the top rebounder (6.0) and shot blocker (27) for the Golden Hurricane, while shooting 34.7% from beyond the arc.
• Tulsa scores 78.1 points per game on 44.5% shooting from the field and 34.6% from three-point range. The Golden Hurricane are one of the nation’s best teams at getting out in transition where they average 15.00 fastbreak points, good for 26th nationally. They are also Top 25 in free throws made and attempted per game.
• Defensively, Tulsa’s opponents average 72.4 points on 41.3% shooting. They force 14.4 turnovers, including 8.5 steals a game.
THE SERIES VS. TULSA
• The Shockers lead the series, 77-63, and have won 20 of the last 23. They’re 12-2 in the AAC era.
• Tulsa is WSU’s third-most-played opponent behind Drake (151) and Bradley (142). This is meeting No. 141 in a series that began in 1931. The teams were rivals in the Missouri Valley Conference from 1945-96 before reuniting in the AAC in 2017.
• Including non-conference games, the teams have met at least once in each of the last 13 seasons going back to 2010-11.
• Since joining the AAC, WSU has faced Tulsa more times than any other foe. This is the 15th meeting in seven years.
• Eric Konkol is the 20th-different Tulsa coach that WSU has faced in the series, while Paul Mills is WSU’s 16th.
IN TULSA // TLS, 36-32
• The Shockers have narrowed the gap in recent years, thanks to an 8-4 mark at the Reynolds Center.
• WSU is 5-1 in its six AAC visits. The lone loss came on a long buzzer-beater (Feb. 1, 2020).
IN WICHITA // WSU, 43-23
• The Hurricanes last won in Wichita on Dec. 8, 2001. The Shockers have won the last 11 home meetings (10 at CKA, one at INTRUST Bank Arena).
• WSU has won just over two-thirds of the games played inside the Roundhouse (1955-pr.), 37-16.
NEUTRAL SITES // TLS, 4-2
• Five of the six games have come in conference tournament settings, most recently in 2023 when the team squared off in the first round of the AAC tourney.
• WSU’s lone victory came in the 1988 MVC Tournament.
• Tulsa picked up a pair of Arch Madness wins in the 1990s and edged the Shockers in the 1958 All-College.
RECORD BOOK WATCH
• Quincy Ballard is on pace to shatter the single season school record for field goal percentage.
• Through 20 games Ballard is shooting 70.0% (63-for-90) from the field. The current school record is 61.6% by Steve Grayer set in 1987-88.
• That number would rank 2nd nationally but to qualify players must average 5 FGM per game. Currently Ballard is at 3.3 FGM per game.
• On the defensive end, Ballard is trending towards a top five season blocking shots. He’s currently third on the single season blocks per game list.
• Ballard needs just 5 blocks to move into the top 10 on the single season total blocks list.
LEAD GUARDS
• Colby Rogers and Xavier Bell have formed a potent 1-2 scoring attack for Wichita State through 20 games. Rogers leads Wichita State in scoring at 15.3 per game and Bell is right behind at 11.9.
• Rogers ranks 9th in the American in points and 9th in points per game.
• The duo of Rogers and Bell make up 37.2 percent of Wichita State’s scoring as they’ve accounted for 544 points.
• Rogers has scored in double figures in 16 of the first 20 games, and Bell in 13 of the 20. They each have multiple 20-point outings to their name (Rogers – 5, Bell – 3).
COLBY ROG33333333333333333333RS
• Colby Rogers is riding a streak of 20 straight games with at least one made three-pointer to start the season.
• He has multiple three-pointers in 15 of the first 20 games.
• Rogers is attempting 6.90 three-pointers per game, which currently stands as the third most in school history behind Tyson Etienne (8.30 in 2021-22; 7.55 in 2020-21).
• His 2.65 three-pointers made per game are currently the second-most in school history.
ACCESS DENIED
• Wichita State has an elite rim protector in Quincy Ballard. His season was cut short in 2022-23 due to injuries, so he’s only played 30 total games in his Shocker career. In those 30 games he has 60 blocked shots. Forty-six of those have come in the first 20 games.
• Through 20 games his 46 blocks rank 15th nationally and his 2.30 blocks per game rank 13th.
• He has multiple blocks in all but five games this season.
BOARD OF APPROVAL
• Through the first 20 games of the season Wichita State has been among the nation’s top rebounding teams. Wichita State ranks 24th nationally in rebounds per game, 20th in defensive rebounds per game and 57th in rebound margin.
• Wichita State has four players averaging 4.5 or more rebounds per game (Dalen Ridgnal – 7.0; Kenny Pohto – 6.5; Quincy Ballard – 6.0; Harlond Beverly – 4.7).
• Wichita State has been outrebounded seven times this season with five of those coming in the last nine games.
• Wichita State has pulled down 40 or more rebounds in 9 of the 20 games, including three games of 50+.
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…
… Make them 10-11 this season.
… Make them 2-6 in AAC play.
… Give them back-to-back wins for the first time since November.
… Make them 21-13 all time on Jan. 31.
… Give Paul Mills 116 career coaching victories.
… Run their record to 1,667-1,256 all time.
… Make them 78-63 vs. Tulsa all time.
… Be their 4th straight win over the Hurricane.
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
… Make them 9-12 this season.
… Drop them to 1-7 in AAC play.
… Make Paul Mills 9-12 as Wichita State head coach.
… Drop them to 20-14 all time on Jan. 31.
… Drop their record to 1,666-1,257 all time.
… Make them 77-64 all-time vs. Tulsa.
… Snap a 3-game win streak vs. the Hurricane.
UP NEXT
GAME 22: at MEMPHIS
• Memphis is 15-5 and under sixth year head coach Penny Hardaway.
• The Tigers won the first meeting this season just three weeks ago in the Roundhouse, 112-86. Since that win, Memphis has lost its last three games.
• Memphis leads the all-time series, 19-12, and has won each of the last seven meetings.
• Memphis is 12-3 vs. the Shockers in Memphis all time.
