Men's Basketball 1/10/2014 2:13:00 PM

OCU at St. Gregory's men's basketball preview

Stars challenge second ranked opponent in a row

Kaleb Smith matched his career high with six steals against John Brown.

5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 11
W.P. Wood Fieldhouse in Shawnee, Okla.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University travels to face St. Gregory's, which has climbed to its highest national ranking ever.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU upended 22nd-ranked John Brown (Ark.) 76-66 on Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars (7-4, 3-1 SAC) forced at least 20 turnovers for the second game in a row and won for the third consecutive time.
Terry Johnson, a 6-foot senior from Chicago, spurred OCU with 21 points, three rebounds and four steals Thursday. He connected on 7 of his 10 field-goal attempts. Johnson compiles 17.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.64 steals per contest.
Terrence Walker, a 6-8 senior from Jonesboro, Ark., collected 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor. He has put together 10.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game and a 59.1 percent field-goal percentage this season. Walker is averaging 16.0 points and 4.3 rebounds per contest the past three games. Kaleb Smith, a 6-5 senior from Choctaw, Okla., picked up 11 points, four rebounds and a career high-tying six steals. Smith equaled the six thefts he pocketed against Central Bible (Mo.) on Nov. 6, 2010 at Abe Lemons Arena. Smith posts 12.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.91 steals a game.
OCU ranks ninth in NAIA Division I with 4.00 blocked shots per game. See how the Stars stack up statistically against the rest of the NAIA here.
The Stars have been picked to finish fourth in the SAC in the preseason coaches poll. OCU has won national championships in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008.
OCU has gone 32-2 against St. Gregory's over the years. The Stars won 88-65 over St. Gregory's on Feb. 16, 2013 at Abe Lemons Arena as Johnson provided OCU with 19 points.

ABOUT THE CAVALIERS: St. Gregory's routed Southwestern Christian 92-68 on Thursday in Bethany, Okla. St. Gregory's improved to 12-1, 3-1 in league play to tie for the Cavaliers' third highest single-season win total since joining the NAIA in 1998.
Tilford Thornton, a 6-2 junior, matched his season high with 29 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field. Thornton averages 18.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists a game. Marty Wilkerson, a 5-9 junior, supplied St. Gregory's with 27 points and three 3-pointers. Wilkerson leads the SAC and ranks second in the NAIA at 23.6 points per game to go with 4.9 assists a contest.
St. Gregory's is ranked 12th in the latest national rankings. The Cavaliers rate fourth in the NAIA in defensive rebounding as a team at 31.5 per game. St. Gregory's had been projected to finish ninth in the 11-team SAC in the preseason.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Dionne Phelps owns a record of 36-30 in 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 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.
John Martin is in his sixth season as St. Gregory's coach with a 40-110 record since taking the helm. Martin played college basketball at St. Gregory's, when it was a junior college, and OCU.

QUOTABLE: "I feel like he got us off to a very good start. I loved his energy when we started the game, and that is how he has to play. He has to bring that type of energy each and every game, and that way it will spread and become contagious." – Phelps on Walker

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. 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 listen to the game, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Andrew Himes will provide the play-by-play.
St. Gregory's will provide live stats of the game. To follow the live stats, click here.

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