Davidson, NC – Two conference leaders will square off today ranked Wichita State Shockers travel to John M. Belk Arena to tangle with the Davidson Wildcats in the 10th Annual BracketBusters event.
This will be the first encounter between WSU and Davidson in history. The Shockers will be representing the Missouri Valley Conference, which they currently lead with a 14-2 record in league action. The Wildcats are currently in first place in the Southern Conference standings with a 14-2 conference record.
WSU is a win or a Creighton loss away from outright ownership of the MVC title. Head coach Gregg Marshall had done a terrific job leading the program to its first ranking since 2006-2007. The Shockers won for the 13th time in 14 tries on Wednesday as they topped Missouri State 73-58 behind 59.5 percent shooting from the floor. Wichita State has only lost once in a true road game this season. The Shockers could not be playing any better coming into today, as they have outscored their last three opponents by an average of 20.0 ppg.
The Shockers are led by the trio of Garrett Stutz, Joe Ragland, and Toure Murry. Stutz is carrying team-high averages of 14.3 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. Ragland contributes 13.0 points and 3.5 assists per game, while Murry adds 12.0 points and 3.2 assists per contest. Stutz led the way with 21 points and 10 boards in the team's recent win over Missouri State, while Ben Smith and David Kyles chipped in 14 and 12-point efforts, respectively.
While the Shockers have been impressive, Davidson has been quite good itself. The Wildcats improved to 20-6 overall on Wednesday with an 81-54 triumph over Samford. Head coach Bob McKillop can only hope his squad repeats its excellent 14-of-29 shooting from beyond the arc performance it had against the Bulldogs. The Wildcats showed earlier this season they will not back down from ranked opponents, as they upset then 11th-ranked Kansas. Davidson is going to be a difficult team to slow down, as it is ranked 15th in the nation with 78.8 ppg.
De'Mon Brooks leads the balanced Wildcats with 15.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Jake Cohen is almost as productive with averages of 13.5 points and 6.1 boards per outing. J.P. Kuhlman, Nik Cochran, and Chris Czerapowicz all own double-digit scoring averages as well. Kuhlman is coming off of a hot- shooting performance as he hit 6-of-10 from the floor including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc to score a team-high 16 points against Samford.
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