The Sunflower v.122 i.6

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2017 • VOL. 122, ISS. 6

WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1896.

‘THIS IS PART OF MY JOB.’

COURTESY OF NASA

NASA satellites captured images of Irma as a Category 4 hurricane over the caribbean before it made landfall Sunday in Florida, where recent WSU graduates Shelby Reynolds and Caitlin Mullan waited out the storm in their newsrooms.

Recent journalism grads weather Hurricane Irma to cover storm, aftermath

S

By CHANCE SWAIM

COURTESY OF SHELBY REYNOLDS

COURTESY OF CAITLIN MULLAN

SHELBY REYNOLDS

CAITLIN MULLAN

LOCATION: NAPLES, FLORIDA EYE OF THE STORM: 5 P.M. SEVERITY: CATEGORY 2 NEWS OUTLET: NAPLES DAILY NEWS GRADUATION DATE: SPRING 2016

LOCATION: TAMPA, FLORIDA EYE OF THE STORM: 10 P.M. SEVERITY: CATEGORY 2 NEWS OUTLET: 10NEWS WTSP TAMPA GRADUATION DATE: SUMMER 2016

@_shelbyreynolds

@CaitlinMcGehee

ON FACEBOOK

helby Reynolds and Caitlin Mullan are no strangers to storms. They grew up in Wichita, where high winds and hard rain can spring from nowhere, but their 20-odd years in tornado alley didn’t prepare them for this.

Reynolds, back-to-back Kansas college journalist of the year and former editor in chief of The Sunflower, graduated from Wichita State in the spring of 2016 and took a reporting gig at the Naples Daily News in southwest Florida after graduation.

Mullan graduated after the summer of 2016 and took a job at a Tampa, Florida, television news station — 10News WTSP. “Miami and Tampa get slammed by hurricanes all the time, but southwest Florida never gets hit,” Reynolds said she remembered people telling her when she was considering accepting the job in Naples, Florida.

See Shelby Reynolds’s livestream 20 minutes before the eye of Irma hits her newsroom in Naples, Florida.

2 Phi Delta Theta members suspended by fraternity for ‘Free House Tours’ banner

By ANDREW LINNABARY

SEE IRMA • PAGE 3

Doctoral engineering student arrested depositing $150,000 check from sale of house

By JENNA FARHAT

A banner encouraging new sorority recruits to visit for “free house tours” was hung from a window at Phi Delta Theta fraternity Friday, the first day of Greek recruitment, leading to the suspension of two chapter members and a Title IX investigation.

One student tweeted a photo of the banner before it was taken down. Two men are visible in the photo.

The banner, reading “new members … free house tours,” was up for about five minutes, Director of Student Involvement Nancy Loosle said.

The incident — reported to student conduct by a student Friday afternoon — is being reviewed to determine if a further investigation is warranted, Mandy Hambleton, assistant vice president for student advocacy, intervention and accountability, said.

“In this situation, I think there probably is [enough to warrant a further investigation],” Hambleton said.

COURTESY PHOTO

SEE PHI DELTA THETA • PAGE 3

Sattar Ali, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering at Wichita State, said he and his family were racially profiled and arrested while depositing a check Wednesday.

Ali, who is originally from Iraq and came to the United States in 1993, said he was depositing a check for nearly $151,000 at the Emprise Bank location at 21st Street and Woodlawn Avenue when over 15 police cars showed up and arrested him. Ali’s wife and 15-year-old daughter were also arrested. He said the check came from a house he sold in Michigan.

“No one told me why I was being arrested until we were being released,” Ali said. “They didn’t read me rights or anything.”

Ali said he was later told that

the bank had trouble verifying the check and called the police.

Ali said he provided all the necessary documentation and information needed to verify the check, including the information from the company that issued the check. He also said that police did not take steps to verify the check until after the arrest was made.

“They jumped to conclusions,” Ali said, because the check was “presented by someone named Sattar Ali, not James or Robert.”

Ali said he and his family were arrested at 11:30 a.m. and held in separate cells until they were released around 3:00 p.m., when police confirmed that the check was legitimate.

“We were devastated. Terrified.

SEE ALI • PAGE 3

INSIDE

MUSIC FEST TURNS UP

ARENA TO EXPERIMENT

THREATING NOTE FOUND

KOCH GETS A FACELIFT

39 bands. Two days. One head-banging good time.

New adjunct lecturer gets $100,000 grant for “Horizontes” mural.

Cryptic note taped over a light switch inside a dorm room threatens students.

A new-and-improved basketball court was unveiled in Koch Arena.

CULTURE • PAGE 2

CULTURE • PAGE 2

NEWS • PAGE 3

SPORTS • PAGE 4

CULTURE

2 | MONDAY, SEPT. 11, 2017

www.thesunflower.com

THE STAFF EDITORIAL

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ARENA TO EXPERIMENT

Editor-in-Chief Chance Swaim Managing Editor Jenna Farhat Culture Editor Marissa Campbell Sports Editor Matt Crow Opinion Editor Evan Pflugradt Copy Chief Matthew Kelly Design Editor Madeline Deabler Photo Editor Brian Hayes Digital Editor Nicole Byrne

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BRIAN HAYES/THE SUNFLOWER

Armando Minjarez is an adjunct instructor at Wichita State this year. He was awarded the Knight Foundation Grant for his mural called “Horizontes.”

Knight Foundation Grant winner to adjunct at WSU

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By CASSIDY CANAWAY

ew adjunct-lecturer Armando Minjarez, who won a $100,000 grant for a mural called “Horizontes,” will continue to make the work he loves while teaching Community Arts Engagement at Wichita State.

“Wichita has provided an arena to experiment and work at the intersection of art and social justice and activism,” Minjarez said.

Minjarez was approached to teach the class after receiving the Knight Foundation

Grant, so his students will also be involved in the project.

“I hope the students are able to understand, organize and lead small and large scale projects, understand layers and network to produce art projects,” Minjarez said.

A native of Mexico, Minjarez said he decided to get into fine arts because, as an undocumented immigrant in the United States, he was unable to attend architecture school.

“I grew up in a very artistic household around just general awareness of music, literature and fine arts,” Minjarez said. “My hometown has a lot of emphasis in cultural events.”

After leaving Parral, Chihuahua in Mexico, Minjarez went to Kansas State where he received a degree in ceramics.

Before coming to Wichita, Minjarez made his home in Ulysses, Kansas. He became accustomed to the new environment of the plains and fell in love with western Kansas.

“It (moving) was rough — the language barrier and small community of mostly farmers,” Minjarez said. “I do enjoy going back to Ulysses to drive across the plains.”

Minjarez said that after completing “Horizontes,” he plans to move back to Mexico.

Minjarez said he hope to make the most of his time in Wichita while helping students broaden their experiences in the field of art.

“It’s an opportunity for me to have a group of people interested in engaging in the projects I am working on, and local budding artists, to carry the torch.”

ICT FEST turns up downtown 2-day fest is a headbanger’s ball

By MARISSA CAMPBELL

Wichita has a surplus of music genres to choose from — and plenty of room for all of them.

Two-day, ICT Fest is just that place to immerse Wichitans in all things indie, alternative, punk, and metal, along with the many subcultures in between.

With a jam-packed schedule complete with two pre-show sets and two-after party sets, the fest rounds out with 39 bands packing as much music as possible into their 30-minute set allotment.

That means 39 underground bands have half an hour to make it or break it.

Bands like Mystery Blood, Bummer, and Kill Vargas already have their own cult following, but for some groups, ICT Fest is their shining moment — their first opportunity to showcase their potential.

KILL IT WITH FIRE

Since 2008, Kill it With Fire has been spewing punk-rock madness into the Wichita music scene. With a Blink-182 punch and an AGAINST ME! kick, the band combines so-cal, 90s punk with fast-paced thrash.

The 7 p.m. set-time made for a thin crowd, but the band put on quite a show.

With intense, energetic instrumentals and two vocalists, the in-your-face performance was easy to headbang along with.

At times the instrumentals drowned

MARISSA CAMPBELL/THE SUNFLOWER

Darby Orion Smith and Brian Sleffel take turns with fronting vocals for the band Kill It With Fire.

out some of the band’s impact. The punchy, raw vocals had their occasional moment to shine, but it just wasn’t enough.

If KIWF could clean up their sound without losing the punk edge, they could be among the best on the local scene.

THE CENTRAL

From Madison, Wisconsin, two-piece death-metal band The Central characterizes their music as “aggression” metal — an accurate description to say the least.

This 30-minute set could have ended 20 minutes earlier for me.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when The Central opened their set up with a classic piano track, but when the disconnected

instrumentals began and the ripping, screaming vocals never ended, I realized they were just striving to be as loud and kick-in-the-throat intense as possible.

Although they occasionally showcased their skills as musicians throughout the set, it was evident that wasn’t their focus.

Metal isn’t for everyone.

The Central seemed to want to express themselves as individuals, using their music as an outlet to exercise their rage.

In a fest with 39 bands, there are going to be some sets that you absolutely hate. That doesn’t mean local music isn’t superb. Groups like Team Tremolo, Mystery Blood, Tideway and Honeyblush, for example, had killer sets and made the most of their ICT Fest exposure.

KILL VARGAS THRIVES IN WICHITA MUSIC SCENE

By RAY STRUNK

Wichita-based rock band Kill Vargas headlined an evening full of music Friday at Harvester Arts for day two of ICT Fest.

The trio, made up of brothers Logan and Griffin Bush, both Bishop Carroll High School graduates, and Austin Engler, a Maize High School graduate, were one of six Wichita-area bands to perform downtown Friday. Day two also featured groups from Kansas City, Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa.

Kill Vargas put on an energetic, 30-minute set as members of the crowd danced, sang along, and even crowd-surfed.

The band, which has been together for over four years, has become a staple in the Wichita music scene.

“It’s incredible. The fact that we could literally write these songs in my bedroom and then 30 kids

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Alternatives: Free Testing 265-0134

COURTESY OF JULIAN KINCAID

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Kill Vargas performs in the Gallery Alley in May.

SEE KILL VARGAS • PAGE 3

NEWS

www.thesunflower.com

MONDAY, SEPT. 11, 2017

|3

JOURNALISTS WAIT OUT HURRICANE IRMA IRMA

FROM PAGE 1

Mullan graduated after the summer of 2016 and took a job at a Tampa, Florida, television news station — 10News WTSP. “Southwest Florida never gets hit (by hurricanes),” Reynolds said she remembered people telling her when she was considering accepting the job in Naples, Florida.

Never say never. Both Reynolds and Mullan are now in the path of Hurricane Irma, which experts have called one of the most powerful storms ever recorded. Last week it tore a path of destruction through the Caribbean, leaving at least 23 people dead and many more missing as of Saturday night.

Sunday, Irma made landfall in Florida.

As Irma made landfall, Reynolds was hunkered down in her newsroom in the northern part of Naples with a couple dozen other young reporters — and their pets — about to experience their first hurricane firsthand.

Mullan was in a different newsroom on the other side of the state.

Both WSU alumna had the option to evacuate as the most powerful storm ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean — with winds up to 185 mph — barreled toward their new state. Both chose to stay and do their jobs.

As of Sunday night, they’re waiting for an all clear, so they can leave their newsrooms and witness the aftermath of Irma firsthand.

In Naples, Reynolds and her fellow journalists set up cots Friday and converted their newsroom to living quarters to brave out the potential dangers of the storm, which could bring storm surges as high as 15 feet.

“I pretty much expect to come out of this without a car and without an apartment,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds’s family and friends are worried, she said, but they stay in close contact.

“My parents both get it, and they support me being here,” Reynolds said. She said they have offered to help her with her housing and transportation needs if she loses her apartment or her car.

Reynolds’s apartment is on the third floor, above the expected high water mark, but she took extra

COURTESY OF LIAM DOYLE/NAPLES DAILY NEWS

WSU graduate and former Sunflower Editor-in-Chief Shelby Reynolds works by generator power as the eye of Irma passed over the Naples Daily News newsroom in Naples, Florida.

measures before she left to ensure her prized possessions — including her diploma from Wichita State — were as safe as possible.

“I stuffed them in the dryer,” Reynolds said. “I figure that’s a pretty sturdy, secure place.”

She said she and the other reporters with the Naples Daily are hunkered down, waiting out the storm, but Monday morning the hard work begins — the work of telling the story of Hurricane Irma.

Monday morning, Reynolds will go out with a local fire and rescue crew to assess the damage in the northern quadrant of Naples.

Reynolds said they have a generator and provisions to last at least three days, should anything go wrong.

No one in the newsroom is panicking, Reynolds said. Having a large number of pets around doesn’t hurt. She said she’s counted 15 dogs, three cats, and even a guinea pig running around the newsroom.

Reynolds said there are brief moments when she thinks, “a year ago I was in Kansas, and now this,”

but those moments are fleeting.

“There’s not a lot of time to think about it because you’re working,” Reynolds said. “And this is part of my job.”

Asked what the group of reporters is doing to keep their minds off the coming storm, Reynolds had a simple, if unexpected, answer.

“We’re setting up Mario Party,” Reynolds said. “And it doesn’t hurt having all of the dogs around to keep us happy.”

‘NOT IN THIS ALONE’

“MY MOM’S BEEN FREAKING OUT, BUT I KNEW WHAT I WAS GETTING INTO WHEN I SIGNED UP FOR THIS JOB.”

Like Reynolds, Mullan didn’t have to stay in Florida. But a storm like Irma goes with the territory in a journalism career. And even though Irma is supposed to downgrade to a Category 2 storm by the time it hits Tampa, Mullan said it’s still scary.

“My mom’s been freaking out,”

KILL VARGAS FROM PAGE 2

COURTESY PHOTO

Suspicious notes allegedly left for Shocker Hall residents

By MATTHEW KELLY

Shocker Hall residents reported receiving suspicious notes last week according to a Wednesday entry on the WSU police crime log.

A Shocker Hall resident who wished to remain anonymous said she and her roommate found a note in their dorm, taped to the light switch.

PHI DELTA THETA FROM PAGE 1

Never say never. Both Reynolds and Mullan are now in the path of Hurricane Irma, which experts have called one of the most powerful storms ever recorded. Last week it tore a path of destruction through the Caribbean, leaving at least 23 people dead and many more missing as of Saturday night. Sunday, Irma made landfall in Florida.

As Irma made landfall, Reynolds was hunkered down in her newsroom in the northern part of Naples with a couple dozen other young reporters — and their pets — about to experience their first hurricane firsthand.

Mullan was in a different newsroom on the other side of the state.

Both WSU alumna had the option to evacuate. Both chose to stay and do their jobs.

But for as of Sunday night,

The note reads: “When the clock strikes two, He’ll be looking for you, “Who?” you may ask, The man in the black mask.”

The student said she was present when a male placed the note, but that he claimed he was “’making a delivery’ for another person.”

The WSU police department was unavailable for comment on Sunday.

they’re waiting for an all clear, so they can leave their newsrooms and witness the aftermath of Irma firsthand.

In Naples, Reynolds and her fellow journalists set up cots Friday and converted their newsroom to living quarters to brave out the potential dangers of the storm, which could bring storm surges as high as 15 feet.

“I pretty much expect to come out of this without a car and without an apartment,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds’s family and friends are worried, she said, but they stay in close contact.

“My parents both get it, and they support me being here,” Reynolds said. She said they have offered to help her with her housing and transportation needs if she loses her apartment or her car.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen with my apartment,” Reynolds said. Her apartment is on

INFOGRAPHIC BY MADELINE DEABLER/THE SUNFLOWER

­—CAITLIN MULLAN

are singing them,” Logan Bush, the band’s drummer said. “It literally means the world. I don’t think we’d get that anywhere else but Wichita.

The support is unreal here.”

Engler, the band’s bassist, agreed that fans have embraced Kill Vargas and their music.

“It’s the best feeling ever,” Engler said. “People are taking time, out of all the music in the world, to listen to our songs and learn the words.”

Griffin, the guitarist and lead singer, said he credits local musician and ICT Fest organizer Matt Clagg with introducing Kill Vargas to the local scene.

“When we first started, we didn’t really know how to tap into the whole music scene,” Griffin said.

“We were just kinda playing around and we finally got booked by Matt [Clagg]. . . and through him we found a bunch of contacts.”

Engler said that he can’t stress enough how important the support from the community is to Kill Vargas and other local bands.

“We wouldn’t be able to do what we do if people weren’t coming to shows and supporting us,” Engler said.

the third floor, above the expected high water mark, but she took extra measures before she left to ensure her prized possessions — including her diploma from Wichita State — were as safe as possible. Where did she put them?

“I stuffed them in the dryer,” Reynolds said. “I figure that’s a pretty sturdy, secure place.”

She said she and the other reporters with the Naples Daily are hunkered down, waiting out the storm, but Monday morning the hard work begins — the work of telling the story of Hurricane Irma.

Monday morning, Reynolds will go out with a local fire and rescue crew to assess the damage and possibly aid rescue missions in the northern quadrant of Naples.

Reynolds said they have a generator and provisions to last at least three days, should anything go wrong.

No one is panicking, Reynolds

Mullan said, “but I knew what I was getting into when I signed up for this job.”

Mullan has been holed up in a newsroom in Tampa for more than two days. She said she has slept less than three hours in that time.

“It’s work as long as you can, sleep for a while, and then get back to work,” Mullan said.

In their four years together, Engler said Wichita’s music scene has experienced rapid growth.

Logan said that, to promote Wichita’s music scene, Kill Vargas must pass on the kind of support they received to other up-and-coming bands.

“It’s come around and now we’re kind of trying to be that band that gets our friends into the scene too,” Logan said.

Logan said that he sees a bright future for music in Wichita.

“It’s really exciting because, just this year alone, like five or six new bands have popped up and they’re all like 15 or 16 [years old],” he said.

“It’s only going to get bigger and better from here, I really believe that.”

Engler added that a growing music scene causes each band to improve.

“I think that the other bands challenge us to be better,” Engler said. “We hear their records and we’re just like, ‘Wow, now we have to step up.’”

The trio agreed that Wichita is a great place to be right now — and it will only get better.

“It’s a nice, big community,” Griffin said. “We couldn’t have asked for a better place to be brought up.”

said. Having a large number of pets around doesn’t hurt. She said she’s counted 15 dogs, three cats, and even a guinea pig running around the newsroom.

“But I’m pretty sure there are more,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said there are brief moments when she thinks, “a year ago I was in Kansas, and now this,” but those moments are fleeting.

“There’s not a lot of time to think about it because you’re working,” Reynolds said. “And this is part of my job.”

Asked what the group of reporters is doing to keep their minds off the coming storm, Reynolds had a simple, if unexpected, answer.

“We’re setting up Mario Party,” Reynolds said. “And it doesn’t hurt having all of the dogs around to keep us happy.”

‘Not in this alone’ Like Reynolds, Mullan didn’t have to stay in Florida. But a storm

Mullan said the reason journalists stay to cover dangerous storms is because it’s important to let their viewers and readers know they’ll be there through anything, to gain their trust.

“We’re going through this together,” Mullan said. “We’re letting people know they’re not in this alone. That’s important.”

ALI

FROM PAGE 1

Crying the whole time,” Ali said.

“We had no idea what the arrest was for.”

Ali said he was especially troubled by the fact that his wife and daughter were arrested.

“Let’s assume I made a mistake and gave them a bad check,” Ali said. “Why would they arrest my wife and daughter?”

Ali said his wife and daughter were waiting in their car, outside the bank.

“How would they know those people are with me?” Ali said.

“The only reason I can think of is racial profiling,” Ali said. “We have some discrimination issues.”

Ali lived in Wichita from 1999 to 2008. He and his family moved back to Wichita Aug. 21.

Ali said it was the first time he felt unwelcome in Wichita.

“I would expect this in the 1950s.

Not now,” Ali said.

“I don’t want people to feel sad for me. I just want people to be aware that we have an issue,” Ali said.

“This shouldn’t be a product of 21st century,” Ali said.

Ali said he plans to take legal action in response to the incident.

like Irma goes with the territory in a journalism career. And even though Irma is supposed to downgrade to a Category 1 storm by the time it hits Tampa, Mullan said it’s still scary.

“My mom’s been freaking out,” Mullan said, “but I knew what I was getting into when I signed up for this job.”

Mullan has been holed up in a newsroom in Tampa for more than two days. She said she has slept less than three hours in that time.

“It’s work as long as you can, sleep for a while, and then get back to work,” Mullan said.

Mullan said the reason journalists stay to cover dangerous storms is because it’s important to let their viewers and readers know they’ll be there through anything, to gain their trust.

“We’re going through this together,” Mullan said. “We’re letting people know they’re not in this alone. That’s important.”

SPORTS

4 | MONDAY, SEPT. 11, 2017

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Wichita State Athletics unveil upgrades to Koch Arena

By ALIYAH FUNSCHELLE

W

ichita State will move into the Charles Koch Arena.

The resurfacing of Devlin Court began the first week of September. The new look includes a slimmer black trim with an even bigger Wu Shock logo at centercourt.

“I like the Wu Shock in the middle,” Men’s Basketball Head Coach Gregg Marshall said.

“Probably the biggest Wu Shock around.”

The key, where the Missouri Valley logo once was, is now solid black with one white arch.

The American logo is featured twice on the corners of the court.

Along with the court resurfacing, the lights in the arena were replaced over the summer with quick-start, energy-efficient LED lamps.

The new lighting system makes it possible for complete blackouts and various light

FILE PHOTO MATT CROW/THE SUNFLOWER

Wichita State’s Mikaela Raudsepp gives praise to her teammates after scoring in a match last season. Raudsepp returns to a loaded roster this year.

Shocker Volleyball drops two straight at the Nike Classic

By RAY STRUNK

The No. 23 Shocker Volleyball team finished 1-2 over the weekend at the Nike Classic in Eugene, Oregon.

The Shockers swept Duquesne before falling to No. 14 Oregon and dropping a five-set stunner to Cal Poly. The Shockers now sit at 7-2 on the season.

Senior Emily Hiebert collected 103 assists over the weekend, including a season-high 53 in the five-set loss to Cal Poly, putting her at over 4,000 career assists.

Hiebert is only the fourth player in Shocker history to reach the 4,000 milestone.

Mary Elizabeth Hooper, a 2011 alumnus, holds the Wichita State record with 4,820 career assists.

The Shockers started off strong on Friday, tallying their seventh straight victory of the season with a sweep of Duquesne in their opening match. The Shockers, led by Tabitha Brown’s 11 kills and Abbie Lehman’s 10, won by scores of 25-16, 25-15, and 25-11.

The Shockers picked up 44 kills to Duquesne’s 29, committing just

nine errors to Duquesne’s 27.

Later in the day, the Shockers suffered their first loss of the season to the No. 14 Oregon Ducks.

The Ducks swept the Shockers by scores of 25-16, 25-19, and 25-12.

Oregon picked up 47 kills to Wichita State’s 27, and committed just eight errors to Wichita State’s 21.

The Shockers held a two-set lead over Cal Poly in the final game of the weekend on Saturday, before giving up three straight to drop the match. The Mustangs came from behind to win by scores of 23-25, 21-25, 28-26, 25-16, and 15-9.

The Mustangs edged the Shockers in total kills, 87-63.

Brown picked up 23 kills in the match, one short of her season-high. The junior from Spring, Texas put away 41 total kills over the weekend, bringing her season-total to 132 over nine matches.

Wichita State is set to host the Shocker Volleyball Classic at Charles Koch Arena beginning Friday. The Shockers will face Creighton on Friday before taking on Iowa State on Sunday.

effects during game introductions,marketing promotions, and videos. The seats are left in darkness while the court is illuminated — a style popularized in NBA arenas.

“YOU PUT ALL THE ELEMENTS TOGETHER AND THEN YOU HAVE GREAT FANS THAT CREATE A LOT OF NOISE. IT’S TRULY ONE OF THE TOUGHEST PLACES TO PLAY IN THE COUNTRY.” ­—KEITHA ADAMS, WOMEN’S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH

“The lighting is interesting; I like it,” Marshall said. “In the seats it’s dark and on the court it’s really light so it’s kind of like a stage type setting.”

Not only does the new lighting system

provide creative freedom, but it saves energy and university money.

The project was funded from the Physical Plant budget and had a total cost of $442,269 with a payback date of less than 12 years.

The upgrades to Koch Arena can be used as a recruitment tool for Wichita State athletics.

“We have a first-class facility here,” Women’s Basketball Head Coach Keitha Adams said.

“The more pizazz, the more jingle, the more bells and whistles. . . [the recruits] like it.”

Adams said she believes the upgrades to Koch Arena will intimidate Wichita State’s competition.

“You put all the elements together and then you have great fans that create a lot of noise,” Adams said. “It’s truly one of the toughest places to play in the country.”