Tuesday, November 24th, 7:45 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Sprint Center (18,500) -- Kansas City, Missouri. Television: ESPNU. Home Record: WSU 2-0, Iowa 1-2. Away Record: WSU 0-0, Iowa 0-0. Neutral Record: WSU 0-1, Iowa 0-1. Conference Record: WSU 0-0, Iowa 0-0. Series Record: Iowa leads, 4-3.

GAME NOTES: Sporting just a single victory through the first four games of the 2009-10 season, the Iowa Hawkeyes try to get back into the win column tonight as they contend against the Wichita State Shockers as part of the championship round of the CBE Classic at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.

Aside from a 68-46 bashing of Bowling Green last Friday, the Hawkeyes have had nothing to cheer about because they are now showing a 1-3 record. Last night, the team demonstrated some potential by playing even with third-ranked Texas through the first 20 minutes of action, but then the roof caved in and the Hawkeyes were left staring at an 85-60 setback in Kansas City.

As for the Shockers, they beat up on both Fairleigh Dickinson and Arkansas- Monticello during the early rounds of this event, but on Monday the team could not keep up with Pittsburgh and were turned away in a 68-55 final.

The Hawkeyes lead the all-time series between these two schools by a count of 4-3, although Iowa did lose the one game played on a neutral floor. This game marks the first meeting since 1981.

The Shockers made just nine field goals in each frame last night, but after connecting on a pair of free-throw attempts in the first half, the team made a bit of a charge in the second with a 13-of-16 showing at the stripe before landing in the loss column for the first time this season. Toure' Murry accounted for a game-high 20 points for WSU, hitting on 6-of-11 from the floor, while JT Durley tacked on 15 points as he mirrored the shooting effort of Murry from the field. With the duo combining for 12 made field goals, that means the rest of the team was a mere 6-of-22 from the field. Heading into the meeting with the Panthers, WSU had committed only 19 turnovers in two games, but Pitt exposed the Shockers and forced them into 24 miscues. On a team that is producing 71.3 ppg and outscoring foes by almost 11 ppg, the Shockers are led by Murry and Durley with averages of 17.0 and 15.0 ppg, respectively. The squad doesn't have one, single dominant rebounder who rises above everyone else on the roster, but with a concerted team effort the Shockers are still able to beat opponents on the glass by 4.6 rebounds per outing on average.

Tied at 38-38 at the break, the Hawkeyes had to be feeling good about themselves going into the locker room, but that was before the team had to endure the final 20 minutes of action against the Longhorns. Texas shot a staggering 66.7 percent from the floor and, at the same time, limited the Hawkeyes to a mere 18.8 percent, en route to the 25-point swing. Brennan Cougill and Matt Gatens were the lone double-digit scorers for Iowa with 11 points apiece, the former doing his damage on 4-of-5 shooting from the field before fouling out. Iowa let fly with 37 shots behind the three-point line, knocking down just 10. Gatens leads this team in scoring after four games with his 10.8 ppg, but that has come with a significant price. Gatens is shooting a woeful 26.7 percent from the field overall, which is actually lower than his accuracy from behind the three-point line (.273). Because of him and Anthony Tucker (10.5 ppg) who is making only 32.7 percent of his field goal tries and 25 percent on the perimeter, the team as a whole is suffering from just 35.7 percent from the floor and 28.4 percent from long range in the early going.

The numbers for the Iowa shooters are beyond poor at the moment and that's not something that's going to literally change over night, so expect to see the Shockers turn up the defense and force the Hawkeyes into even more difficult shots tonight.

Predicted Outcome

Wichita State 76, Iowa 58