Men's Basketball 2/4/2013 4:51:00 PM

OCU at Mid-America Christian men's basketball preview

Stars visit SAC foe Mid-America Christian aiming to avenge Jan. 22 loss

Elhadji Wade contributes 6.2 points and 5.2 rebounds a game for OCU.

8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5
Gaulke Activity Center in Oklahoma City

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University brings a three-game winning streak into a contest against Sooner Athletic Conference rival Mid-America Christian.

ABOUT THE STARS: Oklahoma City University cruised past Lubbock Christian (Texas) 88-69 on Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars (11-7, 4-6 SAC) sank 8 of its first 9 shots from the field to create an early 18-4 advantage.
Terry Johnson, a 6-foot junior from Chicago, topped OCU with 19 points while dropping in all six of his free throws. Johnson provides OCU 15.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.33 steals a game.
Troynell Adams, a 6-4 senior from Chicago, supplied the Stars 15 points while shooting 5-for-10 from the field and 5-for-6 from the free-throw line. Adams records 15.9 points and 4.7 rebounds a game. Adams took SAC player of the week. Kaleb Smith, a 6-5 junior from Choctaw, Okla., put together his first career double-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds, two blocked shots and three steals. Smith averages 5.9 points and 4.7 rebounds a game.
OCU ranks sixth in NAIA Division I with a 74.3 percent team free-throw percentage, while Jamil Donovan rates second nationally with a 4.00-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. To see how the Stars rank among national statistics, click here.
The Stars were projected to finish fifth place in the Sooner Athletic Conference in the preseason. OCU owns six national championships won in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008.
OCU has a 13-3 advantage in the overall series vs. Mid-America Christian. Mid-America Christian won 81-74 on Jan. 22 at Abe Lemons Arena. Johnson had 25 points.

ABOUT THE EVANGELS: Mid-America Christian knocked off Wayland Baptist (Texas) 80-70 on Saturday in Oklahoma City. Mid-America (12-7, 7-3 SAC) moved into a tie for second place in the league standings.
Charlie Shorter, a 6-1 senior, spurred Mid-America with 26 points and four rebounds. Shorter hit three 3-pointers and 7-of-10 from the free-throw line. Shorter leads the SAC with 21.2 points a game. Angelo Lewis, a 6-4 junior, had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Milam averages 11.0 points and 3.6 rebounds a game.
Mid-America Christian had been expected to finish eighth place in the SAC in the preseason.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Dionne Phelps is in the midst 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.
Willie Holley is in his 39th season as head coach at Mid-America Christian. Holley has a career record of 763-491. He has led MACU to four NCCAA Division II national championships.

QUOTABLE: “He's a great young man who's very patient. He's very deceptive to say the least. It was a big night for him, I mean, a huge night for him. He helped us out on the glass, and that's what I'm most proud of him about is that he got after it. Kaleb has a really good instinct on how to score. He's really patient about going about doing that. He wanted to step it up on the glass, and he did it. It really helped our program.” – Phelps on Smith

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: Mid-America Christian will provide live stats and video of the game. To watch the game, click here. To follow via live stats, click here.
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 for the game, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Andrew Himes will provide the play-by-play of the game.

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