Men's Basketball 10/31/2013 4:08:00 PM

OCU at North Texas, vs. Champion Baptist men's basketball preview

Stars face North Texas, Champion Baptist on consecutive days

Kaleb Smith scored 15 points against Missouri.

7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1
at North Texas
The Super Pit in Denton, Texas
2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2
vs. Champion Baptist (Ark.)
Abe Lemons Arena

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University heads to Denton, Texas, for an exhibition contest with NCAA Division I North Texas then returns home for its regular-season opener against Champion Baptist (Ark.) on homecoming.
Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students. OCU students, faculty and staff get in free to all Stars regular-season home events with their university ID. It's homecoming, and this year we honor the class of 1963, so make plans now to come home to OCU. Miss Oklahoma and OCU student Kelsey Griswold will sing the national anthem.

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars opened the exhibition season with a 73-48 loss on the road against Missouri on Oct. 25.
Senior Kaleb Smith, of Choctaw, Okla., led the Stars against Missouri with 15 points. The 6-foot-5 forward shot 68 percent from the floor and added five rebounds and four steals in 31 minutes of action.
Freshman guard Terence Bonhomme added 10 points off the bench in his OCU debut. The six-footer from St. Martinville, La., went 2-for-4 from behind the 3-point line and pulled down three rebounds.
Junior Dema Sane, of Mermoza, Senegal, added nine points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field. The 6-foot-8 center grabbed four rebounds and swatted two shots on the night.
The Stars received votes in the NAIA Division I preseason coaches' poll and have been projected to finish fourth in the Sooner Athletic Conference in the preseason coaches' poll. OCU owns six NAIA national championships won in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008.
OCU holds a 20-6 advantage in the all-time series against North Texas. North Texas won an exhibition 67-54 on Nov. 19, 2011 in Denton, Texas.
In the only meeting between Champion Baptist and OCU, the Stars came away with a 79-62 victory on Nov. 3, 2012.

ABOUT THE MEAN GREEN: The Mean Green went 12-20 a season ago and posted a record of 7-13 in Sun Belt Conference action. North Texas enters its first season in Conference USA in 2013-14.
North Texas is led by Junior Jordan Williams. The 6-foot-6 guard, of Dallas, averaged 14.2 points and 3.7 rebounds per game for the Mean Green a season ago and was named one of Conference USA's preseason players to watch.
Alzee Williams, a senior from Dallas, averaged 11.1 points and corralled 3.4 rebounds a season ago for the Mean Green. The 6-foot-4 guard led the team with 34.5 minutes per game in 2012-13.
Guard Chris Jones, of Garland, Texas, averaged 9.2 points and 4.6 assists a season ago for North Texas. The 6-foot-2 junior was third in the SBC is assists and steals per game last season.

ABOUT THE TIGERS: Champion Baptist fell 79-62 to the Stars in the 2012-13 season-opener. The Tigers return five players from last year's squad including starter Tim Gillespie. Fellow returners Josiah Capaci, Cole Johnson, William Oliver and D.J. Schnell each scored two points against OCU.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Dionne Phelps is set to begin his third season as OCU coach. He owns a two-year record of 29-26 and led the Stars to the 2012-13 SAC Tournament title and an NAIA Division I Tournament appearance. 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.
Tony Benford enters his second season as North Texas head coach. The Mean Green went 12-20 a season ago. Before taking over at North Texas, Benford was an assistant at Marquette (2008-12), Nebraska (2006-08), Arizona State (1998-06) and New Mexico (1992-98).
Champion Baptist is coached by Eric Capaci. Capaci has led the Gospel Light Lions high school basketball team for over 15 years. He has led them in winning seven state championships over the course of his coaching career.

QUOTABLE: "North Texas, just like Missouri, has done a great job the last couple years, so we expect those guys are going to be really tough and physical. They are going to give us another opportunity to find how mentally tough we are, and that's going to be key down the road." – Phelps on playing NCAA Division I opponents

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 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: Keep up with the action against North Texas via live stats by clicking here.
OCU athletics has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide live and on-demand audio, stats and video of the Stars' games. Andrew Himes will be the voice of the Stars in 2013-14. To access the live audio, stats or video for the game, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here.
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' 2013-14 home games costs $29.95, while a 2013-14 all-sports pass costs $79.95.

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