Wichita St. at Illinois St.
When: 8:05 PM ET, Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Where: Redbird Arena, Normal, Illinois
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THE STORY: Wichita State prides itself on winning away from Koch Arena, and the 19th-ranked Shockers have a chance to clinch the Missouri Valley Conference title outright on the road against Illinois State. Wichita State will have a great shot if Joe Ragland comes anywhere close to duplicating his last performance. The senior point guard scored 30 points on 11-of-14 shooting in a 91-74 rout at Davidson on Saturday. The Redbirds, however, nearly rallied from a 23-point deficit in the first meeting Jan. 10. Ragland scored 15 points and Garrett Stutz and Toure’ Murry each hit free throws in the final 30 seconds to seal a 65-62 victory. Nic Moore scored 20 of his season-high 23 points in the second half for Illinois State. Wichita State has won the last four meetings. The Shockers ended a three-game losing streak in Normal, Ill., with a 65-61 victory last season.
TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, Kansas 22 (Cox)
ABOUT WICHITA STATE (24-4, 14-2 Missouri Valley): The senior-laden Shockers are playing their best basketball as March rolls around. Wichita State has won 22 of 24, including six straight since a triple-overtime loss to Drake on Jan. 28. Stutz, a 7-foot senior, is the leading scorer, but Ragland has been red-hot, averaging 18.2 points over the last seven games. Ragland and the Shockers shot a scorching 80 percent (20 of 25) in the second half against a solid Davidson team. Murry broke out of an 11-for-31 slump by scoring 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting versus the Wildcats. The eighth-most efficient offense, according to Ken Pomeroy’s ratings (1.18 points/per possession), ranks 18th in the nation in scoring (78.6) and eighth in field goal percentage (49.2. The Shockers also play lock-down defense (39.9 field goal percentage – 38th) and are 18th in rebounding margin (8.5).
ABOUT ILLINOIS STATE (17-11, 8-8 Missouri Valley): The Redbirds ended a two-game losing streak with a 79-75 victory over Oakland on Saturday. Jackie Carmichael scored 25 points and pulled down 19 rebounds. The 6-foot-9 junior forward, who leads the MVC in rebounding (9.3) and is third in blocks (1.2), is averaging 18 points and 13.7 rebounds over the last four games. Junior guard Tyler Brown is the conference’s second-leading 3-point shooter (42.1), but has hit just three of his last 15 attempts and now faces the MVC’s stingiest perimeter defense (30.5 percent). The Redbirds boast the third-best field goal defense in the conference (41.4). They held the Shockers to 41.5 percent from the field in the first meeting.
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1. “We step into every day with the mindset that we’re road warriors,” –Ragland, on the Shockers’ 10-1 road record.
2. This is the highest the Shockers have been ranked since 2006, when they reached 16th. Wichita State is 8-3 against teams in the top 100 of the RPI.
3. The last five meetings have been decided by an average of 7.2 points.
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