Men's Basketball 1/16/2013 4:19:00 PM

OCU vs. Rogers State men's basketball preview

Stars take on another ranked SAC foe

Elhadji Wade has made six consecutive starts for OCU.

8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17
Abe Lemons Arena

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University has a challenge on its hands with top 25-ranked Rogers State visiting Abe Lemons Arena.
Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students, while OCU students, faculty and staff are allowed into all regular-season OCU athletics events for free with their ID.

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars suffered a 70-68 setback to Wayland Baptist (Texas) on Saturday in Plainview, Texas. OCU (8-4, 1-3 SAC) rallied from a 13-point deficit to go up by seven points – Terry Johnson's jumper put OCU up 60-53 with 9:12 left. Johnson hit another jumper to tie the game 68-68 with 1:03 remaining.
Troynell Adams, a 6-foot-4 senior from Chicago, produced a career-high 25 points while grabbing three rebounds and two steals. Adams puts together 13.4 points and 4.6 rebounds a game.
Johnson, a 6-foot junior from Chicago, accrued 22 points and six rebounds. Johnson paces the Stars with 15.7 points to go along with 3.6 rebounds and 1.42 steals a game. Elhadji Wade, a 6-9 senior from Dhakar, Senegal, added eight points, five rebounds and two blocked shots. Wade averages 6.3 points and 4.4 rebounds a game.
OCU ranks fifth in NAIA Division I with a 75.3 percent team free-throw percentage, while Jamil Donovan leads the nation with a 6.50-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. To see how the Stars rank among national statistics, click here.
The Stars received votes in the last national rankings. OCU owns six national championships won in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008. The Stars were projected to finish fifth place in the Sooner Athletic Conference in the preseason.
Rogers State has a 7-3 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to 2007-08. The Stars slid past then fifth-ranked Rogers State 65-64 on Feb. 16, 2012 at Abe Lemons Arena in the most previous meeting. Orlan Jackman converted a 3-point play with eight seconds left to make the difference.

ABOUT THE HILLCATS: John Brown (Ark.) edged Rogers State 81-80 on Saturday in Siloam Springs, Ark. E.J. McWoods had a putback with two seconds left to pin the loss to Rogers State (13-5, 1-3).
Donald Williams, a 6-5 senior, recorded 24 points, four rebounds and two steals. Williams owns team highs in scoring average (18.7 points a game) and 3-point shooting percentage (41.7 percent). Williams garnered the SAC player of the week award. Kendrell Thompson, a 6-2 senior, had 20 points, four rebounds and three steals. Thompson averages 13.3 points and 3.9 rebounds a game.
Rogers State, currently ranked 20th in the NAIA, had been expected to finish second place in the SAC before the season.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Dionne Phelps has led the Stars to a 20-19 record in his second season as OCU coach. Phelps took over the Stars after serving as assistant coach for Oklahoma, which featured future No. 1 NBA Draft pick Blake Griffin during his tenure. Phelps has been a part of four conference title teams as well as three NCAA Tournament teams during his 23-year coaching career. Phelps played for Texas Lutheran, eventually joining the Bulldog Athletic Hall of Fame.
Justin Barkley has a 59-26 record in his third season as Rogers State head coach. He previously served as assistant coach for two seasons at Rogers State. Barkley played on Northeastern State's 2003 NCAA Division II championship team and a state championship team at Inola (Okla.).

FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest on OCU athletics through several ways.
Become a fan of the Oklahoma City University Stars on Facebook by going to www.facebook.com/ocustars.
Become a follower of the OCU Stars on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ocustars.
Check out video of the Stars in action at www.youtube.com/ocustars.
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 featuring Desiree Jeffries and OCU men's golf coach Kyle Blaser or see our video channel in the upper right-hand corner of our home page.
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: OCU athletics has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide live and on-demand audio, stats and video of the Stars' games. To access the live audio, stats or video for the game, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here.
Andrew Himes will call the action. The live audio and stats will be provided free of charge, while the cost to see the video will be $7.95 per game. A men's basketball season pass that allows you to see all the Stars' 2012-13 home games costs $29.95, while an 2012-13 all-sports pass costs $79.95.

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