Story Links
UNC ASHEVILLE (0-0) at WICHITA STATE (0-0)
Tuesday, Nov. 4 | 6:30 p.m. CDT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
TV: ESPN+ with Shane Dennis & Bob Hull
Radio: KEYN 103.7 FM with Mike Kennedy & Dave Dahl
Student Giveaway: The first 500 students receive the official student section t-shirt for the 2025-26 season.
OPENING TIPS
• Year 3 of the Paul Mills era officially opens Tuesday night in the Roundhouse vs. UNC Asheville.
• This will be the first-ever meeting between Wichita State and UNC Asheville. The Shockers are 9-0 all time vs. current members of the Big South. The last matchup vs. a team from the Big South came in 2022 when Wichita State defeated Longwood, 81-63.
• For the second straight season Wichita State opens its season on Nov. 4, tied for the earliest start to a season in program history. Prior to last season, Wichita State had never played on Nov. 4.
• Since 1992, Wichita State teams are 30-2 in season openers. The Shockers are 89-29 all-time in openers.
• In the program’s history, Wichita State is 100-18 in home openers. They have won 28 of their last 30 home openers, including six in a row.
• Wichita State has won 30-straight preseason exhibitions dating back to 2001 after the Shockers defeated Emporia State a week ago.
• Wichita State did not have a traditional exhibition game for the first time since 2020 due to COVID. It’s only the second time since 1970 they haven’t played a traditional preseason exhibition game. Wichita State played Drake on Oct. 11 in a charity scrimmage that featured different situations and two 20-minute halves with the score resetting at halftime and Santa Clara in Denver in a closed door scrimmage on Oct.18.
• Wichita State returns only three letterwinners from the 2024-25 roster, and less than 1 percent of its points.
• The Shockers were picked to finish 5th in the American Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. The league’s coaches project Memphis to win the conference.
• Kenyon Giles was named to the American Preseason All-Conference First Team.
• Mills added much needed outside shooting from the transfer portal during the offseason in the way of Giles (15.3 ppg, 40% 3-PT Pct.), Michael Gray Jr. (11.1 ppg, 41% 3-PT Pct.) and Brian Amuneke (7.7 ppg, 40% 3-PT Pct.).
• Wichita product TJ Williams will make his collegiate debut after redshirting last season as a true freshman.
• The Shockers open the season ranked No. 128 according to KenPom. Seven of Wichita State’s potential 13 non-conference opponents are ranked in the Top 80 of KenPom’s preseason rankings.
• The American Conference is rated the 8th best conference according to KenPom.
• Head Coach Paul Mills has won 34 games over his first two seasons, 3rd most in program history.
THE SHOCKS, IN SHORT
• Wichita State returns just 0.9 percent of its scoring from a season ago. The Shockers lost their top nine scorers from 2024-25 and 12 total letterwinners. Wichita State lost seven players to graduation (Xavier Bell, Harlond Beverly, Matej Bosnjak, Bijan Cortes, Ronnie DeGray III, Justin Hill, AJ McGinnis, Zane Meeks) and four to the transfer portal (Quincy Ballard: Mississippi State, Corey Washington: SMU, Yanis Bamba: Maine, Zion Pipkin: South Plains JC).
• Wichita State brings back only two returners that logged minutes in 2024-25: Joy Ighovodja (87 minutes) and walk-on Henry Thengvall (8 minutes). TJ Williams is the only other returner, but he did not see any action after redshirting.
SCOUTING UNC ASHEVILLE
• The Bulldogs are led by eighth year head coach Mike Morrell.
• Morrell is coming off his third consecutive 20-win season with the Bulldogs, as he has compiled a program-record 70 wins over the last three seasons. In the last four seasons of Big South Conference play, Morrell has a league-best .712 winning percentage and a 47-19 Big South record.
• The 2024-25 season also saw the men’s basketball program set a new school record for most Big South Conference Awards received and most individuals recognized, as five Bulldogs earned seven league awards at the completion of the regular season. The Bulldogs finished the 2024-25 season 21-11 and 11-5 in conference action.
• Morrell oversaw one of the biggest turnarounds in Division I men’s basketball during the 2019-20 season. The Bulldogs improved by 11 victories from his first season at the helm, tied for the third-largest improvement that season, and were one of just four teams in the nation to increase its win total by double digits.
• UNC Asheville was picked to finish second in the Preseason Big South Poll, 12 points behind the preseason favorites – High Point.
• The Bulldogs return Big South All-Conference Second Team honoree Toyaz Solomon, who averaged 15.7 points and a team-high 7.2 rebounds, while blocking 51 shots and converting 61.0 percent of his field goal attempts.
• After a standout 2024-25 campaign, Solomon enters his final season with high aspirations, as the Big South named him the Preseason Player of the Year. He is the third Bulldog in the last four seasons to earn Preseason Player of the Year honors, joining Drew Pember, who took home the preseason accolade in both 2022-23 and 2023-24.
• Solomon is the Big South’s active leader in scoring, rebounding and blocks per game.
• Joining Solomon on the Preseason Big South All-Conference Team is sophomore Bulldog Kameron Taylor – a second team selection.
• Taylor made an immediate impact in his collegiate debut season, emerging as a reliable sixth man for the Bulldogs. The freshman from Charlotte, N.C., finished as Asheville’s fifth-leading scorer, averaging 8.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.
OPENING NIGHT
• Wichita State has won 75 percent of its season openers all time (89-29, .754) and over 80 percent (65-15, .813) in the modern era.
• Wichita State is 21-1 in home openers since Charles Koch Arena’s 2003 renovation. The lone loss came in 2018 to Louisiana Tech.
• Wichita State is starting its 70th season at the Roundhouse (1955-Pr.). Shocker teams have lost just eight home openers during that span (61-8, .884).
• Forty seasons ago (Nov. 30, 1972), Antoine Carr set the school record for most points by a freshman in his Shocker debut (19 points). He dunked five times in the first half of a 76-61 win over Northern Michigan.
• Wichita State’s highest-scoring varsity debut came Dec. 1, 1972 at Oregon State when Bobby Wilson put up 29 points. Wilson went on to play parts of four NBA seasons with the Bulls, Celtics and Pacers.
MILESTONE WATCH
• Karon Boyd is 160 points away from 1,000 in his collegiate career, and 6 games shy his 100th career game. He needs 20 steals to reach 100.
• Kenyon Giles needs 280 points to reach 1,500 career points. He is 2 games away from playing his 100th career game. He needs 21 assists to reach 200 career assists.
• Jaret Valencia is 12 blocks away from 100 career blocked shots.
ON THIS DATE: NOVEMBER 4
• 2024 – Wichita State recorded a road win at Western Kentucky, 91-84, behind a record-breaking debut from Justin Hill. Hill dropped a career-high 31 points on the Hilltoppers, the most ever by a Shocker in a debut and tied for the 4th most in a season opener. He became the fifth player in American Conference history to put up 30 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists in a game.
• 2025 – Tied for the earliest season opener in program history, which was set just last season when the Shockers opened on the road at Western Kentucky.
NOVEMBER/FEBRUARY SUCCESS
• Wichita State has experienced early season success over the last two seasons since Paul Mills arrived on campus. The Shockers were 7-1 during the month of November in 2023 and finished 2024 at 6-1.
• Under Mills, Wichita State is 8-0 at home, 2-0 on the road and 3-2 in neutral site games in November.
• With Wichita State’s 6-1 February this season, the Shockers are 9-6 under Mills.
NON-CONFERENCE NOTABLES
• Wichita State will face five first-time foes in the non-conference slate (UNC Asheville, Boise State, Mount Marty, Wofford and Eastern Kentucky).
• Wichita State is a perfect 9-0 all time vs. current members of the Big South (UNC Asheville).
• The Shockers could play five teams ranked in the Top 80 of KenPom’s preseason rankings (Vanderbilt, #19; Boise State, #53; Saint Mary’s, #55; VCU, #60; Virginia Tech, #71; DePaul, #78; Colorado State, #79).
• Wichita State has won 10 of its last 14 non-conference true road games, dating back to the 2019 NIT run. The Shockers have two true non-conference road games in 2025 (Boise State and Northern Iowa).
GILES PICKED PRESEASON FIRST TEAM
• Senior guard Kenyon Giles was named Preseason First Team All-Conference by the American coaches. Giles, a transfer from UNC Greensboro averaged better than 15 points per game on 40 percent shooting from three-point range as a junior at UNCG.
• Giles is just the fourth Shocker to earn American Preseason All-Conference honors and first since Tyson Etienne in 2021. Three of the four Shockers to collect preseason accolades have been named to the first team (Giles, Etienne and Landry Shamet). Markis McDuffie was a second team selection in 2018.
A SHOCKER WIN WOULD…
… Make them 1-0 for the seventh straight season.
… Move them to 1-0 all time vs. UNC Asheville.
… Improve their record to 10-0 over current members of the Big South all time.
… Make them 31-2 in season openers over the last three decades.
… Make Paul Mills 35-34 as Wichita State head coach.
… Give Mills 141 career coaching victories.
… Run their record to 1,692-1,280 all time.
A SHOCKER LOSS WOULD…
… Snap a six-game win streak in season openers.
… Drop them to 0-1 all time vs. UNC Asheville.
… Drop them to 30-3 in season openers over the last three decades.
… Make Paul Mills 34-35 as Wichita State head coach.
… Lower Mills’ career record to 140-119.
… Drop their record to 1,691-1,281 all time.
GAME 2: PRAIRIE VIEW A&M
• Wichita State is 4-0 all time vs. Prairie View A&M.
• All four previous meetings have come in Wichita.
• Wichita State and Prairie View last met on Dec. 22, 2021 – a 102-66 win for the Shockers in the Roundhouse.
