Preview: KU and Wichita State to revive long-dormant in-state matchup

By Henry Greenstein     Dec 29, 2023

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Kansas head coach Bill Self directs his players during the second half on Friday, Dec. 22, 2023 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

The Kansas men’s basketball team has one last tune-up before conference play, and this one is three decades in the making.

For the first time since January of 1993, the Jayhawks will take on in-state foe Wichita State during the regular season. The Shockers, who just lost to Kansas State at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City on Dec. 21, will now face KU at that same venue on Saturday at 3 p.m.

The Jayhawks lead the all-time series 12-3, but the rivalry, such as it is, went so long without getting rekindled that on multiple occasions state legislators considered and even officially introduced actions to force the teams to play each other during the regular season — most famously in 2013 with a bill proposed by Michael O’Donnell, R-Wichita. That never came to fruition.

Instead, head coach Bill Self said Thursday, he reached out to WSU last winter about setting up a one-off neutral site matchup. He said it was “a way to create some interest,” though stressed the teams won’t play often enough for it to be a significant rivalry.

“I hope that our players look at it as an in-state rivalry game, and certainly we’ll educate them to that point,” Self said. “But this isn’t going to be a Missouri-type setup.”

They have faced off once during the long drought. Two years removed from its Final Four run, but still at the height of its powers under Gregg Marshall, WSU knocked KU out of the 2015 NCAA Tournament with a resounding 78-65 victory.

The Shockers have receded from the spotlight in recent years, particularly since Marshall resigned following allegations of verbal and physical abuse. They are currently going through their first season led by Paul Mills, one that started strong with six wins in their first seven games — they did have a 17-point neutral-site loss to Liberty — but has slowed down substantially in December. WSU lost by 10 points to Missouri, 10 to South Dakota State and nine to K-State, and needed to stop two shots at the rim by one of the nation’s leading scorers, Xavier Johnson, in order to beat Southern Illinois at home 69-68.

The player who blocked Johnson’s final shot, Ronnie DeGray III, recently made his first appearance for the Shockers following the NCAA’s new guidance on two-time transfers (he was previously at UMass and Missouri), and former Oklahoma guard Bijan Cortes also debuted against Kansas State.

article imageAP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Wichita State forward Ronnie DeGray III (3) beats Kansas State forward Arthur Kaluma, back, to a rebound during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. Kansas State won 69-60.

article imageAP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Wichita State guard Bijan Cortes drives during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Kansas State Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. Kansas State won 69-60.

WSU’s roster is in all pretty transfer-heavy, though some of the key players arrived prior to last season. Colby Rogers, formerly of Siena, is an excellent 3-point shooter in his second year with the Shockers and is shooting 42% from deep while averaging a team-high 16.8 points per game. Wichita native Xavier Bell, a Drexel transfer combo guard, has expanded his role to the starting lineup this year and isn’t far behind with 14.7 points.

“You would think (the two guards) could be a good matchup for Juan (Harris) and Kevin (McCullar), even though I’m not sure that’s how we’ll do it,” Self said. “I could certainly see it being a tough matchup.”

The rest of the starting lineup comprises guard Harlond Beverly (10.3 points, 5.1 rebounds), forward Kenny Pohto (12.0 points, 8.0 rebounds) and center Quincy Ballard (7.1 points, 6.9 rebounds). In fact, the Shockers have been one of the nation’s top teams on the glass at 43.5 rebounds per game.

One area where they’ve been deficient is creating havoc on defense. They have forced just 120 turnovers on the season and only create 5.4 steals per game.

article imageAP Photo/L.G. Patterson

Wichita State’s Colby Rogers brings the ball up court during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Missouri Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023, in Columbia, Mo.

article imageAP Photo/L.G. Patterson

Wichita State’s Xavier Bell, left, brings the ball upcourt in front of Missouri’s Sean East II, right, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023, in Columbia, Mo.

No. 2 Kansas Jayhawks (11-1) vs. Wichita State Shockers (8-4)

• T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, 3 p.m.

Broadcast: ESPN2

Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KKSW FM 105.9)

Keep an eye out

Anomaly or not: Nick Timberlake received some well-deserved plaudits after delivering off the bench last Friday against Yale, and doing so in ways that went beyond spot-up shooting. That was also just his second strong performance of the season and came with Johnny Furphy unavailable. Timberlake now has to prove he can keep the offensive and defensive production up in far less than the 29 minutes he got versus Yale. Wichita State is still a mid-major and a nonconference opponent, and it ranks right near Yale in KenPom, but the game presents the added challenge of a neutral site; so far this season, Timberlake has shot 4-for-17 (23.5%) away from Allen Fieldhouse.

Possible rust: Speaking of Furphy, he had been away from the team attending to a family commitment in Australia since the Indiana game before returning just after Christmas, an absence of more than a week. He’ll face the steepest test in getting ready for Saturday, though all the Jayhawks will be working their way back from a layoff of some kind as they get reacclimated following their Christmas break and work toward Big 12 Conference form. On the plus side, Self said his players looked reenergized in practice since returning.

The future: Wichita State athletic director Kevin Saal said in a press release upon the announcement of this matchup back in June that he hoped it would yield a “renewed relationship between our storied and tradition-rich programs.” Self, for his part, was a bit more cautious in his characterization at the time, calling it “a good start to whatever a good relationship looks like, but in my opinion there was never a bad relationship.” On Thursday, he again stressed that he has never had an issue with Wichita State and responded to the notion that KU might not have much to gain from playing WSU by noting, “I know when I was at Tulsa, I made a lot of calls to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and they weren’t returned.” Ultimately, with how few nonconference slots remain available for KU to schedule games, it could be tough for WSU to find its way back onto the schedule in the future.

Off-kilter observation

Self (1993-97) and Mills (2017-23) are both former Oral Roberts head coaches.

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Kansas guard Dajuan Harris Jr. (3) pushes the ball past Yale forward Danny Wolf (1) after a steal during the second half on Friday, Dec. 22, 2023 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

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Kansas guard Kevin McCullar Jr. (15) puts down a dunk off an inbound pass against Yale during the second half on Friday, Dec. 22, 2023 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

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Written By Henry Greenstein

Henry is the sports editor at the Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com, and serves as the KU beat writer while managing day-to-day sports coverage. He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (B.A., Linguistics) and Arizona State University (M.A., Sports Journalism). Though a native of Los Angeles, he has frequently been told he does not give off "California vibes," whatever that means.