2024-25 Shocker WBB Non-Conference Games

[1972Shocker]

Technically this game is the Shockers 2024-25 official season opener. As a practical matter it has the look and feel of a 2nd Exhibition game. In fact, the opponent, D-II Oklahoma Christian out of Edmund Oklahoma does list it on their schedule as an Exhibition game. However, this game will count in WSU's season record, although will not be no effect on the NET and RPI ratings.

WBB Preview: vs. Oklahoma Christian (Nov. 4)

OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN (0-0) vs. WICHITA STATE (0-0)
Monday, Nov. 4, 2024 | 11 a.m. CT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
TV: ESPN+ with Tracey Anderson and Denning Gerig
Radio: GoShockers.com/Listen with Pat Strathman
USD 259 Kids Day: We welcome in students, faculty and staff from Wichita Public Schools to cheer on the Shockers in their regular-season home-opener!

SCOUTING THE EAGLES
Led by third-year head coach Markeith Brown, the Eagles are coming off a 6-20 season. Redshirt-junior forward Taylor Jackson is Oklahoma Christian's top returner, averaging 8.6 points and 4.7 rebounds in 2023-24. The Eagles were picked 14th of 16 teams in the Lone Star Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll. Oklahoma Christian dropped its Oct. 29 exhibition to Oklahoma 114-47. Nakia Cullom was the lone Eagle to score in double figures, tallying 14 points. Jackson led the team in rebounding with nine. On Saturday, Nov. 3rd OCU be NAIA York (NE) University 85-48.

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Oklahoma Christian may not be as good at the Shocks' exhibition opponent Northeastern State, so I don't expect this game will shed much light on the Shocks will stack up this year.

This is the annual Schoolhouse Screamfest which would account for the game time and Non-D1 opponent. Getting this out of the way early this year. This actually make some sense doing it this way if your going to do this event. Make it a effectively a 2nd exhibition game for the school kids who won't know the difference and get it out of the way.

[1972Shocker]

Wichita State Women’s Basketball
@GoShockersWBB

UPDATE: Due to unexpected travel delays caused by weather in Oklahoma, the game will now tip off at 11:45 a.m.!

[SubGod22]

Unexpected? Was nobody watching the weather?

[RoyalShock]

I only watched the last half of the 4th quarter, but some box score observations . . .

- Only up 6 in the 4th quarter at home to a non-D1 who only won 6 games last year.
- 37% FG (27-73)
- 18.8% 3FG (3-16)
- 39.1% FT (9-23)
- 17 turnovers
- 19 rebound advantage
- 6 more assists

I know the stats can't be compared to men's but the rebounding advantage is the only area where WSU statistically looked like a D1 team playing a D2. And no D1 team should go 9-23 from the line. Yikes. It's early, but doesn't look like a step forward for Nooner's squad. It won't look good if he can't get decently more than 10 wins this year.

[WuDrWu]

Unexpected? Was nobody watching the weather?

The Love's Travel Store was low on Monster Energy Drink for the drive up and White Claw for the drive back. This took time to overcome.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks win 66-52 in a not very impressive performance.

How do you outrebound a D-2 team 57-38 and turn them over 22 times and only manage a 66-52 win? 3-16 (18.75%) shooting on 3-pointers, 9-23 (39.1%) from the free throw line and 17 turnovers against a what looked to be a pack line defensive approach.

I didn't think this game would provide a lot of answers about the Shockers but it may have provided opposing coaches with a plan on how to defend the Shocks including some kind of Hack-a-Shaq approach. In two games vs D-2 competition the Shockers are 26-60 (43.3%) from the free throw line.

After seeing this team in action for the first time I am not especially encouraged. It is only one game. But based on that game I am hard pressed top see more than 3 or 4 wins by the Shocks against the 11 D-1 opponents on their non-con schedule. Time will tell on that.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks vs Belmont

Shocks fall behind by 10 at 21-11 at the end of the 1st quarter as Belmont got a nice boost from some poor officiating (but it is women's basketball so that is pretty much a given).

The Shocks still trailed by 10 at 28-18 with 4 minutes to go in the half but closed out the half on a 12-0 run the included 3 treys from Princess Anderson and an And-1 three point play from Salese Blow as Belmont missed their final 6 FG attempts and 2 FT attempts to close out the half.

Princess has one thing on her mind when she gets the ball. It is going up. However, that can be a two-edged sword.

I'm pretty much out of pocket for the 2nd half but this is a team the Shockers should beat.

[flyingMoose]

Shocks vs Belmont

I'm pretty much out of pocket for the 2nd half but this is a team the Shockers should beat.

I had exactly the opposite notion at half-time. Same problems - their defense is not that great (the Bruins had at least three players the Shocks had no answer for), and I don't ever understand what they are doing on offense. (But that is almost certainly on me. Belmont played some "man" and some zone.)

Belmont 21 7 26 21 - 75
Shockers 11 19 16 9 - 55


At 5:34 of the second period, with the score at 15-24, Ella enters the game and plays the remainder of the quarter. 30-28 at the half. She is not mobile or quick and does not score much, but she does take up a lot of space, plays decent defense, and rebounds. Don't ask me.

EDIT: To be fair, you need to +/- the players during their time on the court. All of the players over time. You see that stat from time to time.

[1972Shocker]

I had exactly the opposite notion at half-time. Same problems - their defense is not that great (the Bruins had at least three players the Shocks had no answer for), and I don't ever understand what they are doing on offense. (But that is almost certainly on me. Belmont played some "man" and some zone.)

Belmont 21 7 26 21 - 75
Shockers 11 19 16 9 - 55

At 5:34 of the second period, with the score at 15-24, Ella enters the game and plays the remainder of the quarter. 30-28 at the half. She is not mobile or quick and does not score much, but she does take up a lot of space, plays decent defense, and rebounds. Don't ask me.

Well obviously you have a far better feel for this team than I do. Not that surprised that thel Shocks lost the game but I am surprised that they lost by 20. Not sure if want to watch that 2nd half melt down or not (25-47),

Taking a quick look at the box score looks like Salese Blow was solid today with 16 points on 5-9/1-3/5-6 shooting, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 turnover and 1 steal. Unfortunately, that was about it for the Shocks. The rest of the teams was a combined 14-59 (23.7% from the field). The Shockers were also outrebounded 47-42 as they continue to miss Dani Abies grabbing everything. Their poor shooting doesn't help with that.

[1972Shocker]

MISSOURI STATE (1-0) vs. WICHITA STATE (1-1)
Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024 | 6 p.m. CT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
TV: ESPN+ with Tracy Anderson and Shane Dennis
Radio: GoShockers.com/Listen with Pat Strathman

SCOUTING THE LADY BEARS
Led by third-year head coach Beth Cunningham, Missouri State is coming off a 63-61 victory over reigning American Athletic Conference regular season champion Tulsa.

Three Lady Bears finished in doubles figures, led by 5-9 Sr. Paige Rocca with 15 as she shot 10-for-11 from the line including three in the final minute to win the game. 5-4 Sr. Lacy Stokes and 6-3 Sr. Sarah Linthacum each scored 10 points with Linthacum grabbing 11 rebounds for a double-double. Missouri State backed up Linthacum with 6-3 Fr. Laine Douglas who scored 8 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. So they got 18 points and 20 rebounds from their posts.

The Bears out rebounded Tulsa 45-35 and rebounding has not been a strength of this Shocker team so far.

The Bears did turn it over 23 times against Tulsa who had 16 turnovers. The Shocks had 15 turnovers against Belmont but only turned them over 13 times.

The Bears only played 9 players against Tulsa.

Missouri State was picked fifth of 12 teams in the Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Poll after finishing third in the regular season, making a run to the MVC Championship and earning a bid to the WBIT in 2023-24. The Lady Bears return senior Lacy Stokes, who was named the 2023-24 MVC Newcomer of the Year and selected to the All-Defensive team, averaging 12.0 points per game and recording 85 steals.

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Belmont was picked to finish 3rd in the Valley and Missouri State is picked to finish 5th.

Not sure what to make of MSU's win over Tulsa. Tulsa lost 6 players to the portal and added 5 players from the portal plus 4 freshman. The big loss for Tulsa was 6-1 F Temira Poindexter who was the 2023-24 AAC Player of the Year and transferred to K-State. Tulsa only beat 63-60 at home before losing to the Bears by 2 in Springfield.

I think the Shocks will definitely have to play better than they did against Belmont to come away with a win against Missouri State.

[1972Shocker]

I wonder if they will have some flags leftover:

[ShockTalk]

I wonder if they will have some flags leftover:

Ouch!!

[1972Shocker]

Shocks trial Missouri State at half 41-28. The Shocks led 19-17 at the end of the 1st quarter. I guess the Shocks are fortunate the Bears only made 4 of 10 free throws.

The Shocks come out for Bear in the 2nd half with a 15-6 run over the first four minutes of the 3rd quarter to get back in the game at 43-47. Salese Blow with 8 points in that run.

Shocks pull to within 2 at 55-57 at the end of the 3rd quarter with probably their best quarter of the season. Salese Blow with 8 and Taylor Jameson and KP Parr with 7 each scored 22 of the Shocks 27 points in the 3rd quarter. Shocks have the momentum heading into the 4th quarter.

Shocks fall behind by 7 at 57-64 with around 7:30 but a 9-2 run pulled the Shocks into a 66-66 tie with 5:30 in the game. Shocks trailed by 4 at 77-81 with 45 seconds to play and the Bears gave then an opening missing 5 of 6 free throws but the Shocks could not take advantage of that a lose 77-82.

Despite the loss, I think there were some positives. The Shocks played pretty well except for the 2nd quarter but could just not get over the hump after tying it up 3 times in the 4th quarter. The 4 (at least) wide open layups the Shocks blew did not help their cause any.

Salese with 17 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals, Jameson with 16 points, 7 assists and 4 steals, 13 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals, Jayla with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocked shots, and Bre'Yon with 8 points and 9 rebounds led the way for the Shocks.

The Shocks ended up shooting 47.7% from the field including 8-20 (40%) on three pointers vs 53.3% and 6-15 (40%) for MSU. Both teams were poor from the free throw line with the Shocks 7-13 (53.8%) and MSU 12-25 (48%). The 5 point advantage in free throws made was the difference in the game. The Shocks out-rebounded the Bears 37-34.

Another loss but this one leaves some hope that the Shocks are making some progress.

[1972Shocker]

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks looking for their 1st D-1 win of the year against St. Thomas-Minnesota who is in their 4th year of D-1 ball playing in the Summit League.

The Shocks started going small and that didn't work out too well. Once they inserted 6-6 Aicha Ndour there offense they started to score easier. However, with 5:50 left in the half the Shockers, trailing 18-24 went event bigger inserting 6-4 Ella Anciaux. On top of that the Shocks starting getting some open looks from three and knocked then down. Jordan Jackson, Jameson Taylor, and Ornella Niankan all knocked down treys and looked smooth and in rhythm doing it then Taylor capped it with a half court buzzer beater topping off a 20-2 run to close the half with a 38-26 lead.

I thought the Shocks defense was very good throughout the half, especially Taylor Jameson who pretty smothered the St. Thomas point guard and leading scorer.

The Shocks offense (including their free throw shooting) went on hiatus in the 3rd quarter and St. Thomas methodically worked their way back into the game ad tied it up at 47-47 heading into the 4th quarter. The Shocks shot 3-15 from the field and 3-8 from the line.

The Shocks answer the bell in the 4th quarter with a 10-2 run behind three-pointers by Taylor and Jordan to take a 57-49 lead with 7:30 to play.

The Shocks hang on (barely). The Tommies pulled to within 1 at 64-65 with 33 seconds to play. The Shocks closed it out with 4-6 free throws (1-2 from KP and 3-4 from Taylor).

The Shocks outrebounded the Tommies 18-7 on the offensive boards but allowed them to stay in the game only making 11-24 free throws (7-18 heading into the final 33 seconds.

The Shocks don't win this game without Taylor Jameson. 18 points on 6-11/3-6/3-4 shooting, 6 assists with no turnovers and 4 steals and shut down defense on the Tommies leading scorer holding her to 4 points. The Shocks need every bit of that plus a combined 18 points from Aicha (10) and Ella (8) and 11 points from Ornella

St. Thomas' 6-2 center Jo Langbehn led the Tommies with 30 points on 14-17 from the field and 2-4 from the line plus 7 rebounds. While the Shocker bigs gave the Tommies fits when the Shocks were on offense they could not slow down Langbehn who had a big quickness and foot speed advantage against the Shocker bigs.

A lot of peaks and valleys in this game for both teams.