8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13
Abe Lemons Arena
THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University meets top 25-ranked and preseason league favorite Southern Nazarene in a Sooner Athletic Conference showdown.
Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 students and free to OCU students, faculty and staff with their ID.
ABOUT THE STARS: OCU pounded Oklahoma Christian 67-44 on Saturday in the Backyard Brawl at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars (11-5, 4-4 SAC) surrendered a season-low 44 points and held Oklahoma Christian to 36 percent shooting from the field.
Nate Flowers, a 6-foot-5 senior from Waldorf, Md., notched his 10th double-double of the season with 14 points, 16 rebounds and two steals. Flowers leads OCU with 14.3 points and 10.9 rebounds a game, ranking fifth in rebounding in NAIA Division I.
Brandon Moton, a 6-3 junior from Beaumont, Texas, came off the bench to record 13 points, five assists and two steals for OCU. Moton sank three 3-pointers. Moton averages 13.1 points and 3.1 assists a game. Bryant Williams, a 6-9 senior from Austin, Texas, had 11 points and seven rebounds. Williams hit 5 of 8 shots from the floor. Williams chips in 6.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.38 blocked shots a game, ranking fourth in the NAIA in blocks.
OCU leads the NAIA in assists per game at 20.4 and total assists with 326. The Stars have the third best team field-goal percentage in the nation at 51.4 percent. To see where OCU stacks up statistically in the NAIA, click here.
The Stars were unranked in the latest NAIA Division I rankings. OCU has been picked to finish fifth in the SAC according to league coaches. Six-time national champion OCU has captured the SAC regular-season crown 13 times.
OCU has gone 37-18 against Southern Nazarene over the years. The Stars defeated Southern Nazarene 84-73 on Feb. 20, 2010 at Abe Lemons Arena to halt the then fifth-ranked Crimson Storm's 14-game win streak.
ABOUT THE CRIMSON STORM: Southern Nazarene picked up a 55-45 win over Wayland Baptist (Texas) on Saturday in Plainview, Texas. Southern Nazarene (12-3, 5-2 SAC) limited Wayland Baptist to 26.1 percent shooting from the floor.
A.J. Thomas, a 6-foot senior, scored a team-high 15 points. On the season, Thomas has provided SNU with 10.2 points and 1.9 rebounds a game. C.J. Henry, a 6-4 sophomore, added 10 points and six rebounds. Henry averages 12.8 points and 4.4 rebounds a game.
Southern Nazarene is ranked 14th in NAIA Division I. SAC coaches installed Southern Nazarene as the preseason favorite to win the conference.
ABOUT THE COACHES: Kevin Morrissey has posted a 43-31 record in his third season at OCU. Morrissey spent the previous four seasons as St. Gregory's coach. He also has been an assistant at Missouri State and Texas-Pan American. Morrissey played his college ball at Oklahoma Baptist and Oral Roberts and high school at Bishop McGuinness in Oklahoma City.
Adam Bohac has guided Southern Nazarene to a 60-23 record in his third season as head coach. Bohac shared SAC coach of the year honors last season with Oklahoma Baptist's Doug Tolin. Bohac was an assistant at SNU from 2004-07 and an assistant at Army in 2007-08.
QUOTABLE: “He's really taken over that role in the last couple weeks, he's done great vocally and being a leader.” – Morrissey on OCU's Shane Rogers
FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest on OCU athletics through several ways.
Be sure to catch the OCU Athletics Update video program weekly on ocusports.com, the OCU YouTube Channel or on OCU Athletics' Facebook page. Click here to see the latest edition or see our video channel in the upper right-hand corner of our home page.
View OCU's 2010-11 men's basketball media guide by clicking here.
Listen to past game broadcasts and pregame and postgame interviews on the OCU pod center by clicking here.
Know when the game is happening by calling the OCU athletics hotline at (405) 208-5400. Get conference scores and highlights by calling the SAC Hotline at (405) 878-2110.
ON THE AIR: The game will be broadcast via the OCU athletics web site. Greg Merick calls the action, while Andrew Himes provides commentary. Click here to listen to the broadcast, here for the live stats and here to access the video stream.
To order the video on ocusports.com/showcase, click on "Women's Basketball vs. Southern Nazarene." Then either enter a user name and password or select "Sign up for a new all-access subscription."
