Men's Basketball 11/4/2013 3:01:00 PM

OCU vs. Langston men's basketball preview

Stars meet Langston in Lions' season opener

Jamaal Crayton chipped in six points, three rebounds and two steals Saturday.

7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6
Abe Lemons Arena

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University hosts cross-town rival Langston aiming to build to its homecoming win.
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: OCU trampled Champion Baptist (Ark.) 88-46 on Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars (1-0) posted overwhelming advantages in points in the paint (50-20), points off turnovers (34-4), points in transition (29-6), points off the bench (37-11) and second-chance points (20-8).
Kaleb Smith, a 6-foot-5 senior from Choctaw, Okla., generated 15 points, four rebounds and three steals Saturday. Smith averaged 11.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.00 steals while shooting 52.9 percent from the field in OCU's exhibitions against Missouri and North Texas. He recorded 6.6 points and 4.4 rebounds a game last season.
Terrence Walker, a 6-8 senior from Jonesboro, Ark., supplied the Stars with 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots. Walker picked up 7.1 points and 3.2 rebounds a game in 2012-13. Terry Johnson, a 6-foot senior from Chicago, had 13 points and three steals vs. Champion Baptist. Johnson, an honorable-mention all-SAC selection last season, averaged 14.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.50 steals per contest.
The Stars received votes in the latest rankings. OCU has been picked to finish fourth in the Sooner Athletic Conference in the preseason coaches poll. OCU has won national championships in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008.
OCU owns an 18-3 record against Langston all-time. The Stars squeaked by Langston 75-70 on Nov. 20, 2012 in Langston, Okla., in the last meeting. Ivan Matip produced 16 points and six rebounds for OCU.

ABOUT THE LIONS: Langston will be opening its season against OCU. Langston went 12-18 in 2012-13, ending its season with an 87-79 loss to eventual national runner-up Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) in the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament on March 1, 2013.
Joey Atkinson, a 6-6 senior, provided Langston with 10.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.13 steals a game last season. He was an honorable-mention all-RRAC choice. David Harris, a 6-3 senior, averaged 9.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.14 steals per contest.
Langston has been predicted to finish sixth in the 10-team Red River Athletic Conference in the preseason.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Dionne Phelps owns a record of 30-26 his third season as OCU coach. He led the Stars to the SAC Tournament title and an NAIA Division I Tournament appearance in 2012-13. 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 five conference title teams as well as three NCAA Tournament teams during his 24-year coaching career. Phelps played for Texas Lutheran, eventually joining the Bulldog Athletic Hall of Fame.
Nigel Thomas has directed Langston to a 26-50 record in his third season. Thomas played point guard and served as assistant coach to Greg Webb prior to taking over the head job.

QUOTABLE: "Over the last couple games, Kaleb Smith has been really consistent for us. Sometimes it doesn't show up in the stats with some things that he does like blocking out and getting deflections and diving on the floor. He's been really consistent and that really helped us. Terry Johnson, in our first game against Missouri, which was a very tough game, and like I told him, 'You're not going to walk into an SEC gym and be the leading scorer of our team and think they're not going to guard you.' I think he's back on track now, so all of our starters have done a great job from one game to the next as far as competing for 40 minutes, and that's what we have to have." – Phelps recapping the Stars' early stretch of games

FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest on OCU athletics through several ways.
Help OCU win an NAIA contest and gain more followers on social media in 2013-14. 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.

ON THE AIR: OCU athletics has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide live and on-demand audio, stats and video of the Stars' games. Andrew Himes provides the play-by-play. To follow the game via live audio, stats or video, 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. 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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