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WICHITA, Kan. _ The real season begins Monday night for the University of Central Arkansas Bears when they take on the Wichita State Shockers at Charles Koch Arena.

The Bears and Shocker will be meeting for just the second time in history when they tip-off at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. The Shockers beat the Bears 95-69 back in 2019.

UCA, under the direction of head coach Anthony Boone, played a closed scrimmage early and an exhibition game against Champion Christian last Tuesday in preparation for the opener. UCA beat Champion 115-79 at the Farris Center, connecting on 12 three-pointers and getting double-figure scoring from seven players, led by sophomore guard Camren Hunter's 24 points. UCA also scored 33 points off 22 Champion Christian turnovers.

Wichita State won its exhibition game 83-52 over Newman University on Wednesday night at home. The Shockers had scoring runs of 17-0 in the first half and 20-0 in the second to put the game away. The win was WSU's 28th straight preseason exhibition win.

I n the first meeting between the teams on Dec. 5, 2019, UCA"s Eddy Kayouloud led all scorers with 23 points, hitting 8 of 12 overall, 3 of 5 from three-point range and 4 of 5 at the free-throw line. Kayouloud is UCA"s only senior on this year's squad. The Shockers had five double-figure scorers, led by Grant Sherfield with 15 points. WSU made 11 threes and forced UCA into 30 turnovers and turned them into 39 points. UCA has four current players who saw action in that game.

The Shockers, under head coach Isaac Brown, finished 15-13 overall last season, and went 11-6 at home at Koch Arena. They had a 6-9 mark in the American Athletic Conference and lost to Tulsa in the first round of the AAC Tournament.

UCA, playing its first season in the ASUN, finished 11-20 overall and 7-9 in league play a year ago. The Bears beat Stetson 74-73 in the first round of the ASUN Tournament at home at the Farris Center before losing to Jacksonville 79-69 on the road in Jacksonville, Fla. 

The Bears will play their first of five non-conference home games on Friday, hosting Hendrix College on Salute to Service Night.