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Thursday, Jan. 4 | 8:00 p.m.
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
WICH -1.5
TV: ESPN2 with Mark Neely & Tim Welsh
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy & Dave Dahl
OPENING TIPS
• Wichita State opens American Athletic Conference play on Thursday vs. North Texas in front of a nationwide audience on ESPN2 at 8 p.m.
• Wichita State is 3-3 in conference openers since joining the American Athletic Conference, but has dropped its last two league lid-lifters.
• Wichita State is 26-9 all time when playing on Jan. 4. The 26 wins are the most on a single date in school history.
• Wichita State leads the all-time series with North Texas, 26-12. The teams have split the last six meetings. The two programs were MVC members from 1958-1975.
• North Texas is 7-5 after back-to-back wins over UT Arlington and LSU-Shreveport. Four of UNT's five losses are by a combined 11 points, including two by a single point.
• The Mean Green boast one of the nation's top defenses, as they allow just 58.9 points (No. 4 in NCAA) and their opponents are shooting just 38.4% (No. 19 in NCAA).
• Wichita State wrapped up non-conference play on Dec. 30, falling to No. 2 Kansas, 86-67.
• The Shockers have lost their last five games against Top 25 teams since defeating No. 6 Houston in 2021.
• Wichita State has dropped eight straight vs. Top 25 opponents on a neutral court.
• Wichita State ranks 8th nationally in defensive rebounds per game, 9th in rebounds per game and 42nd in rebound margin.
• Quincy Ballard ranks 25th nationally in blocks (28). He had a career-high 7 vs. Norfolk State.
• Wichita State posted a winning non-conference record for the 26th consecutive season, and has the league's fifth-best NET ranking.
• 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-Chandlerexhausted their eligibility, and four others exited via the transfer portal.
• The 2022-23 Shockers ranked 230th in adjusted tempo, but that will most certainly change under Mills' leadership. His Oral Roberts squad was 40th in tempo last season.
• Wichita State ranked near the very bottom in the NCAA when it came to 3-point shooting a season ago. Converting on just 30.9 percent of its attempts from beyond the arc, that ranked 324th nationally. Mills' Oral Roberts squad on the other hand attempted nearly 400 more and shot 36.5 percent, which ranked 56th in the country.
SCOUTING NORTH TEXAS
• Led by first year head coach Ross Hodge, North Texas enters the conference opener at 7-5.
• Hodge was UNT's associate head coach for the previous six seasons prior to being promoted to head coach last spring. This is Hodge's first NCAA head coaching job. He was a two-time junior college head coach from 2006-11 at Paris JC and then Midland JC.
• In his six seasons at UNT, Hodge has helped lead the Mean Green to a combined 135-65 overall record and 71-35 record in conference games. North Texas won the 2020 Conference USA regular season championship, 2021 Conference USA Tournament championship and 2022 Conference USA regular season title. In 2021, UNT earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament where they received a program-best No. 13 seeding. In the first round they upset Purdue, 78-69 (ot), for the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament win.
• UNT is coming off the most successful season in program history. Last year, the Mean Green won a program record 31 games, tied the program record for conference wins with 16 and won the 2023 NIT championship.
• In each of the previous two seasons the Mean Green led the nation in scoring defense. Between the 2021-22 season and 2022-23 season combined, UNT's defense held opponents to 55.7 ppg.
• Since the start of the 2021-22 season, North Texas has the nation's ninth-best overall combined winning percentage (.772).
• UNT returns three starters from its NIT championship team, however, only returns 30 percent of its scoring. North Texas' top three scorers from last year are gone and five of their top seven scorers are gone. Aaron Scott is UNT's top returning scoring. The junior averaged 7.0 ppg last season.
• The Mean Green were picked to finish 6th in their inaugural season as a member of the American Athletic Conference.
• UNT has lost five games, four are by five points or less and two are by just a single point. UNT is undefeated at home this season.
• UNT owns the nation's No. 4 scoring defense as they are holding its 12 opponents so far to 58.9 points per game.
• North Texas newcomer Jason Edwards has come off the bench in each of the Mean Green's 12 games this season. His 183 total points scored are the 7th most in the nation by a reserve and the most among AAC reserves. He leads the team in scoring at 15.3 points per game.
• Rubin Jones puts up 12.4 points to go with a team-high 45 assists, 19 steals and 3.2 rebounds per game.
• Aaron Scott rounds out the double figure scorers at 11.8 points, while adding 5.5 rebounds. His 17 blocks lead the team.
• Robert Allen pulls down a team-best 7.7 rebounds to go with 5.3 points.
THE SERIES VS. NORTH TEXAS
• WSU leads the all-time series 26-12. This is just the second time the schools have met on the hardwood since December, 1982 when the Shockers defeated North Texas in the championship game of the McDonald's Shocker Classic.
• North Texas came into Charles Koch Arena two years ago on Dec. 18 and handed the Shockers a 62-52 loss, snapping a six-game home win streak vs. the Mean Green.
• Current Kansas State point guard Tylor Perry scored a game-high 23 points behind a 10-of-10 night at the free throw line.
• Morris Udeze scored 17 points and Craig Porter Jr. added 12 in a losing effort for the Shockers.
• At that time North Texas was led by Grant McCasland who spent five years at Baylor as an assistant coach with Paul Mills.
• The schools were Missouri Valley Conference rivals from 1957 to 1975.
• The Shockers have won six of the last seven against North Texas in Wichita and are 16-4 all-time.
• The most-impressive of the three Mean Green wins came in 1963 over a Shocker team that came in ranked No. 8 nationally, 69-67.
• North Texas' last win at the Roundhouse came in the semifinals of the 1982 McDonald's Classic over District Columbia. Robert Lewis' putback at the buzzer gave the Mean Green an exciting 74-73 victory.
• North Texas' last appearance came the following day in the championship game. Zarko Durisic scored a career-high 30 points and the Shockers edged the Mean Green, 78-72.
• The Shockers are 10-8 against UNT in Denton but are winless at the Super Pit (est. 1973-Pr.).
• Wichita State's last visit actually came during the 1976 NCAA tournament when the Shockers lost to 14th-ranked Michigan, 74-73, on Rickey Green's 20-foot jumper with six seconds to play.
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD...
... Make them 9-5 this season.
... Make them 1-0 in AAC play for the first time since 2021.
... Make them 27-9 all time on Jan. 4.
... Give Paul Mills 115 career coaching victories.
... Run their record to 1,666-1,250 all time.
... Make them 27-12 vs. North Texas all time.
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